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Post by dvg on Nov 3, 2021 20:34:05 GMT -5
ellsie, do you think it could be an orchid weevil? I believe there are some species in Canada, but not sure what their damage looks like. When i was googling through all the species of weevils in Canada, (there are a lot!) i learned that not all weevils have the typical long weevil nose. I thought geez, i wouldn't know a weevil without a nose. dvg
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Post by gj on Nov 3, 2021 21:22:07 GMT -5
I checked my photos, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures that happened to catch some of the damage. Best clues I can give (relevant or not) are:
A) the holes were about 1/8" in diameter, always perfectly circular, and always straight through one side and out the other. Never in from the front.
B) I'm fairly sure the damage was being done at night, as I never caught a glimpse of anything bothering them during the day, and seemed to notice the damage most often in the mornings when I went out to check the water level.
C) Whatever it was didn't seem to touch the flowers on the other plants (S. purpurea, and flytraps) though they flower much earlier than the egret orchids, so if it was pollen our suspects were after, it would make sense that they wouldn't have bothered with those.
Can't think of anything else at the moment. Perhaps I owe whatever it was a debt of gratitude for the huge corm. When it damaged the flowers before blooming, the plants didn't have to use resources to go through the latter stages of the flowering process, so perhaps the plants had a little energy leftover that it got to redirect to prepping for dormancy.
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Post by ellsie on Nov 3, 2021 22:06:00 GMT -5
dvg: that's a good guess! There's a goog chance it could be an orchid weevil. gj: do you recall seeing any "debris" around your plants? Some scatterings that look like your plants were just given a sparse black pepper shower perhaps? There are more pests that leave similar damage markings. We might be totally going off course with the weevil thing; it could even be damage from the Heliothis virescens (Tobacco Budworm). I believe the adult moths typically lay their eggs at night.
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Post by gj on Nov 4, 2021 17:07:16 GMT -5
ellsie, while I could have very well missed it having not been looking for it, I don't recall seeing any of the described debris around the plants.
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Post by dvg on Nov 4, 2021 17:17:41 GMT -5
gj , how many of those flowerbuds were spoiled this year, do you estimate? Did you get a lot of flowerbuds this year? Just trying to get an idea of the scope of time and number of flowerbuds involved, because if there were a lot, it seems a bit odd that every one of them were drilled through... ...unless they're like an irresistable tasty comfort food -- like fried chicken. dvg
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Post by gj on Nov 4, 2021 18:48:41 GMT -5
dvg, it must have been nearly just shy of ten flowers that were devoured over the span of a couple weeks. Around three or four made it to bloom, and once they made it to bloom they remained untouched for the short while they last.
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Post by dvg on Nov 5, 2021 14:04:38 GMT -5
Thankfully you got a few blossoms to admire this year, gj . Suppose the silver lining is that the aborted flowers made room for a better tuber crop harvest, as you said. Best of luck with them next year and do try to be extra vigilant and on alert for that mystery pest. dvg
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Post by gj on Oct 8, 2022 13:52:46 GMT -5
Had a brutal year for these guys. The corms molded in the last month before it was time to plant them. I'm thinking I might have put them in storage before they had dried sufficiently. Only one plant made it, though it put on a good little show of flowers. Fingers crossed it gives me a couple extra corms and I can start rebuilding my little colony of egrets.
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Post by dvg on Oct 12, 2022 13:36:59 GMT -5
Looking good there gj! Best wishes on getting your flock restocked - there is strength in numbers. dvg
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