Losing the battle against those damn |=king fruit flies so have had no choice but to move all my blooming bellinas inside. Why'd you have to be so fruity fragrant anyway and attract this pest? I'd never had a single bell pollinated by these pests, they just destroy! It's so frustrating. Many of the flowers wilt or rot in a week or two once they have been stung by the little bastards!
Hanging them all together like this is a little overwhelming though... the fragrance I mean.
That's a Vascostylis Veeraphol in the middle, itself very fragrant as well.
This also helps shelter them from the rain which can cause leaf rot on the young tender leaves such as the one below.
The fruit flies also sting and leave pock marks on the shiny, succulent leaves which then get infected and become highly susceptible to rot. The one below, for example:
Notice the black parts on the tip of the leaf? That part was stung by insects when the young leaf was emerging.
I have to check the plants daily and quickly remove and remedy any rot I see. This is also why my bellinas do not have perfect foliage... there's almost one or two leaves cut in half on almost all my phals.
Even though the flies fill up my fruit fly traps quickly:
More come every single day to terrorize the phal bellinas (and only bellinas!). If any Bulbo macranthum is in flower, they will quickly cause the flower to close as well by pollinating it.
*sigh* they look so much prettier outside, but gotta do it to protect the flowers and young leaves.
