Weather woes

Gerberas love bright sunny hot days! We've had warm, often cloudy, humid days, and in fact inconsistent weather which they don't like. We are still fighting agains the little brown apple moth that has infested the place and we are still losing too many flowers.

They get in and burrow (that is the caterpiller) into the flower. They eat bits of the petals, and sometimes drag the petal over them. In any case the flowers are useless to us.

We've had lots of "seconds" so that is disappointing. The flower business is a bit slow after Christmas so it is not so bad for us. I guess at this time of the year many folk are concerned about their spending over the festive season, and for parents with school children they are bracing for the cost of returning to school.

We've upped the spraying and continuing with the de leafing as the moths find it easier to hide from the spray in the dense foliage. We've had a few patches of spider mite too, but that has been dealt with.

Roof Repair

We've been lucky - the weather has been kind to us, and we have managed to put on the new roof. It did rain a few times, and the plants under the holes suffered a bit, but we had plenty of flowers up until Christmas, and of course fewer orders over the holiday period so there were no problems.

We had a little rain - actually almost one inch on one occasion, but no damage done. I've had time to do some deleafing and fix up some of the plants that have grown wildly out of control.

We are still having problems with moths and they seem to laugh at the spraying. I think we are winning, but some days you'd wonder.