WESTERN FLOWER THRIPS - FRANKLINIELLA OCCIDENTALS

摘要

As a result of my crie de coer in the April editorial I had a heartfelt response from Chris Rodgerson who sympathised with my plight of infestations of and death of many Lithops plants in my collection which has probably been exacerbated by Western Flower Thrips.Whilst Chris does not grow Lithops he does have an extensive and botanically important collection of Conophytums. To quote from his email to me .. "I suffered three seasons of deterioration of my Conos .... not so much vegetatively, but the flower production got poor to non-existent during that time. The first season 1 noticed misshapen blooms, the second were a mix of ugly and fewer flowers and the third I hardly saw a flower. I was quite perplexed - had I shaded too heavily - was there something wrong with the compost or maybe a lack of supplemental feeding?"