Walking around my wild backyard, I discovered a flower on the Phalaenopsis bellina I tagged to this Syzygium malaccense tree about two years ago! The bug/snail eaten flower smells great, like all bellina flowers do and I hope it gets pollinated naturally.
Sadly, between the time I first tagged it to the tree until its first flower, the tree’s been badly damaged by borers and termites and is slowly dying. Most of its branches have dried up and broken off. It’s a sad sight indeed as this tree has been around for as long as I could remember.
Borers and termites are a constant menace but I keep them away from the orchid house by spraying Malathion or similar pesticides. I really do not like using chemicals but will have to take drastic action asap because the termites are now attacking the big mango tree on the right.
I tagged 4-5 plants to this tree but only 2 survived to this day (no flowers from the other one yet). Got inspired to do so when I saw a friend’s tree full of P. bellina plants which look like they had naturally colonized it. Coincidentally, his tree is also a Syzygium species. When I visited him a couple years ago, I saw baby bellinas that had apparently germinated naturally in the moss on the tree bark. Amazing sight!
1 comment:
the trick to successful Phal colonisation is watering and shade - they are found near rivers or swamps
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