The orchid is nearly in full flower

I needed to move the two orchid plants downstairs so I could give them their regular soak in a bowl of water. I prepare Luke warm water from the tap and then add some orchid food. I’ve learnt to give each of the two different orchid species separate bowls for this process in case of cross infection. I have had incidences of tiny insect infestation as well as ‘scale’.

I found some scale a few weeks ago but managed to remove them by hand before they proliferated. Since then they seem to be clear.

These flowers have been opening slowly since I blipped its first flowers on 2nd January this year. Now there is one bud left to open and I may blip the orchid when all the flowers are finally open, as I will certainly photograph that moment.

My other orchid plant has now started growing a new flowering shoot, which I’m delighted about. This will hopefully be the fourth flowering stem which I’ve managed to nurture on the plant since I first got it several years ago. This is the last time it flowered in July of last year.

Scale on plants sounds like a disease, and it even looks like it, but this actually refers to an infestation by one of more than 8,000 species of small insects that suck sap and belong to the superfamily Coccoidea. These scale insects cling on to stems, branches, and even the leaves of plants they're feeding sap from.