Today whilst clearing Dave's area I noticed that some Vanda orchids that have been on display looked like they have been eaten possibly by cockroaches. Cockroaches are usually omnivores and eat a range of things, but they don't tend to eat plant foliage or flowers except orchid ones, which is interestingly selective.
 |
| Photo 1: Vanda nipped possibly by cockroaches. |
Petra showed me the bait that they put out for them - a beige brown gel called Maxiforce which comprises of something sweet and poisonous - cockroaches most love sweet. This I squeezed a little at the bottom of a thumb sized pot with a special gun that comes with it. These are then placed in beds away from the visible eye on its side in the beds affected.
 |
| Photo 2: The gel used to bait and poison cockroaches |
We also potted on some Nymphaea that were getting too big for their pots. We used a special horticultural clay based loam suitable for aquatic plants that gets very heavy and dense and helps pins the plant down.
First we take a big pot and line it with fleece. Then we place the soil in. We took off any the duck weed off the plant and potted it in a bigger plastic mesh basket. It begins in a pan and then when in active growth transferred in this basket approx. 2-3 more times than its size. We don't line this fleece as we want the roots to poke out from this. Then we place this in the bigger bucket and fill with soil until it is high enough and adequately covered, with about an inch gap at the top of the big bucket.
 |
| Photo 3: Placing the Nymphaea in a mesh basket first. |
 |
| Photo 4: Lining the big bucket with fleece and then placing enough soil into the bucket until there is sufficient space for the plant to just be submerged with an inch gap at the top. |