Phrag. Beauport? Aborted Spike?

[Heather]

So, my Phrag. Beauport 4N division has been totally struggling. It had the thrips in a very minor way, so it was sprayed (while in spike) with Conserve. Then I got some damping off on a few leaves. Blasted two buds...it looks as though the third bud could possibly do something but the jury's still out.

Should I just give up and cut the spike? It has two more mature un-bloomed growths so...I just really wanted to see this one now.

 

[likespaphs]

bummer.
(the only thing is that only seedlings suffer from damping off. perhaps it had something else?)

 

[Heather]

oh...okay. Well, I don't know but it was doing that nasty yellowing from the tip. Fast. On several interior leaves. I snipped them an inch back from the problem, cinnamon'd and stopped the progression.

I'm just happy the thrips are gone, but if I should cut this spike and let the plant concentrate on gaining strength I'm happy to. If it doesn't matter much at this point, perhaps I'd hold off. I'm not sure which would be best for the plant at this point (it has an extremely robust root system, as do all of my Phrags...their saving grace right now....)

 

[littlefrog]

If you think the plant is healthy enough, then go ahead and leave the spike. It will either bloom or not. Perhaps leave it on long enough to get an idea of the flower quality (although a summer blooming on a potentially stressed plant won't tell you much), and then cut the spike.

Damn thrips... Those and aphids are two pests that I had never seen before this year, and I'm really at a loss to get rid of them. Doesn't help that whenever my neighbor mows his hay field, the thrips decide my plants are the place to be.

 

[Heather]

Doesn't help that whenever my neighbor mows his hay field, the thrips decide my plants are the place to be.

oh! I read that about thrips and hayfields! Grr...

FWIW, the Conserve SC worked really well, and was very gentle, but I have had a few sheaths blast. So, you might lose flowers with it, but you'll also lose thrips. With the thrips, you'll lose the flowers anyway (though they seemed perfectly happy chomping on my leaves almost exclusively) so... I was impressed with how non-noxious it was as far as chemicals go.

 

[littlefrog]

Where did you purchase the Conserve? I'm having trouble finding it on the interweb...

 

[Heather]

Unfortunately, like all good killers, it isn't cheap...

http://rosemania.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/product103.html

 

[littlefrog]

You ordered a whole quart? How long is that going to last? *grin*

 

[likespaphs]

actually, compared to a lot of pesticides, i think it is fairly inexpensive....a little goes a long way.

 

[Heather]

I ended up cutting the spike on this. I don't think it was going to ever do anything so it might as well work on just recovering.