Bloom Event - Iwanagara Apple Blossom

What a mouthful. I usually call it Cattleya apple blossom because there's no way I'm going to try and pronounce that. At least not in front of people. Besides, it might not even be called that anymore. At any rate, this plant is a good grower and reaches frightening size rather quickly. Leaves are longer and strappier than many Cattleyas, and there are usually three or four to a pseudobulb. The flowers are on the small side for a Cattleya but they are produced several to a spike so the plant always manages to put on quite a show.

As I've probably stated in earlier posts, I'm not generally a fan of pastel colours; I find them rather wishy washy. I find the colour combination on this rather pleasing, though, and the colours really glow in sunlight. As a bonus, the breeder has managed to keep the fragrance of whatever species it has in its background (yes, I know its easy enough to find out, but is there really any point?). In sunlight, the scent is really very strong which earns it brownie points from me. Two flower spikes this time, one with six flowers, the other with four. On a plant this size, I expect better. This hybrid seems a bit weird actually, because it tends not to flower off the newest pseudobulbs; the two spikes we have now have come of quite old growths. Most of my Cattleya are a bit odd with their flowering habits, and they might not bloom until new growth has started, but all of them bloom on the newest mature growth. Don't get me wrong; it's not the end of the world, but it does make the blooming on this plant rather unpredictable. I'm sure its only a case of working out what the bloom trigger is.

The sharper eyed among my audience will notice that the foliage on this on is a mess. I used to put my plants outside for the summer (well, in an unheated greenhouse). The plants respond well in general to this, but there really is no way to control the dratted pests, and this plant in particular plant is just a magnet for scale insect. They like Cattleya in general, but this one must have some special attraction for them because it was just riddled with them. On the foliage and the pseudobulbs this isn't too much of a problem, but they like to hide away on the rhizome and places you can't reach with spray and you often don't realize there is a problem until there is a severe infestation.

Of course, I know my enemy a lot better than I used to, so infestations are getting rarer. Also I shan't be putting plants outside this coming summer. This plant is about to undergo an attack with the soap spray which is without a doubt the best bug killer I have ever encountered. I used to use Provado sprays and potions, with some effect, but I always felt that the pests were getting resistant to them. Since I have been using soap I have seen far fewer scale insect, mealy bug and spider mite in my collection and the plants are looking noticeably cleaner (no pun intended). I have a theory that systemic insecticides only have a limited effect on many orchids because they only have a limited amount of stomata (the pores through which gases and water vapour can pass in and out) which really limits how much of the chemical can make its way into the plant, thus limiting how effective systemic sprays can be. This means that sprays working by physical action should be much better. I use liquid soap flakes at a rate of two capfuls per five litres of water. The soap isn't poisonous to the bugs as such. what it does is lower the surface tension of the water (surface tension is what makes water form droplets on leaves) so the water forms a film over the surface of the leaves (and the bugs), so they effectively drown. Provided one sprays thoroughly, this physical control is very effective and there is no chance of the bugs becoming resistant. Frequent applications are necessary to catch hatching eggs but since the spray doesn't cause any harm to the plant that isn't a problem. Additionally, lowering the surface tension of the water also makes the spray an excellent wetting agent so if plants have become drier than is ideal, a soap spray is really useful for re-wetting them.