Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Patience
Good morning,
Patience rewards those who do not give up.
When a neighbour relocated to elsewhere, he gave me four pots
of his well loved and carefully tended beautiful phalaenopsis.
I gave two pots to a friend and put the others among my own
phalaenopsis and cattleyas. They have showed their gratefulness
by giving me flowers regularly.
One day, my daughter, who was studying biology, cross pollinated
the red and white flowers. Pods resulted. Then, she experimented
with them in the laboratory. One day she brought home a few
plastic cases containing some young plants growing in jelly. The
leaves of these plants were about an inch long.
I was curious to see the outcome. I potted eight of them in tiny
pots, using chips of brick and charcoal. They grew nicely. Strangely
one day, I found them all messed up, scattered and damaged. The
crows had dug them out to get at the lizard eggs in the big pots in
which they were placed. These crows had the keen sense to detect
such hidden things.
Carefully, I salvaged most of the damaged plants and nursed them
back to a healthy state. It took many months. When the plant's
leaves grew to about two inches long, I put them into larger pots.
The progress was good.
Then, something else happened. This time the leaves were torn
and tattered. It was not the crows; it was the mynahs. The mynahs
are community birds, but when they quarrel and fight, they can
cause quite a raucous. They had used my pots as a battleground
and my plants were trampled, almost done away with. This time,
it took several months for the plants to recover, but no fatality.
After about three years, the plants were in good shape, the leaves
about six inches long. Then again, something happened. The new
leaves and roots were nibbed as they sprouted, eaten; they were
tender and succulent. It was not grasshoppers which I suspected
initially, but something else which as yet I cannot deduce. It could
have been sparrows though.
Without new leaves and roots, how do plants survive? Three
attacks and three setbacks, how daunting!
Well, there is always a solution to a problem. I protected them with
wire netting. And now things look quite fine. There are about eight
leaves in a plant and the leaves are more than nine inches long,
thick, dark and healthy.
A few days ago, I noticed a root of a different colour. It was pale
instead of dark. To-day, I am certain that it is not a root but a new
stalk where the flowers will spring forth.
After about five years, I am beginning to see something fruitful
and satisfying. If there are no further setbacks by a month's time,
I should be able to see the result of over these many years of
patience and tender care.
What is the colour and the size of the flowers of this hybrid ?
This does not matter really, although I am very curious.
What matters is that there is a hybrid which blooms !
Have a nice day.
Ronald
Patience rewards those who do not give up.
When a neighbour relocated to elsewhere, he gave me four pots
of his well loved and carefully tended beautiful phalaenopsis.
I gave two pots to a friend and put the others among my own
phalaenopsis and cattleyas. They have showed their gratefulness
by giving me flowers regularly.
One day, my daughter, who was studying biology, cross pollinated
the red and white flowers. Pods resulted. Then, she experimented
with them in the laboratory. One day she brought home a few
plastic cases containing some young plants growing in jelly. The
leaves of these plants were about an inch long.
I was curious to see the outcome. I potted eight of them in tiny
pots, using chips of brick and charcoal. They grew nicely. Strangely
one day, I found them all messed up, scattered and damaged. The
crows had dug them out to get at the lizard eggs in the big pots in
which they were placed. These crows had the keen sense to detect
such hidden things.
Carefully, I salvaged most of the damaged plants and nursed them
back to a healthy state. It took many months. When the plant's
leaves grew to about two inches long, I put them into larger pots.
The progress was good.
Then, something else happened. This time the leaves were torn
and tattered. It was not the crows; it was the mynahs. The mynahs
are community birds, but when they quarrel and fight, they can
cause quite a raucous. They had used my pots as a battleground
and my plants were trampled, almost done away with. This time,
it took several months for the plants to recover, but no fatality.
After about three years, the plants were in good shape, the leaves
about six inches long. Then again, something happened. The new
leaves and roots were nibbed as they sprouted, eaten; they were
tender and succulent. It was not grasshoppers which I suspected
initially, but something else which as yet I cannot deduce. It could
have been sparrows though.
Without new leaves and roots, how do plants survive? Three
attacks and three setbacks, how daunting!
Well, there is always a solution to a problem. I protected them with
wire netting. And now things look quite fine. There are about eight
leaves in a plant and the leaves are more than nine inches long,
thick, dark and healthy.
A few days ago, I noticed a root of a different colour. It was pale
instead of dark. To-day, I am certain that it is not a root but a new
stalk where the flowers will spring forth.
After about five years, I am beginning to see something fruitful
and satisfying. If there are no further setbacks by a month's time,
I should be able to see the result of over these many years of
patience and tender care.
What is the colour and the size of the flowers of this hybrid ?
This does not matter really, although I am very curious.
What matters is that there is a hybrid which blooms !
Have a nice day.
Ronald
# posted by chunmu @ 5:12 PM 
