A pair of birds moved into the crab claw orchid pot, and the balcony gardener handled it this way

Huahua recently saw a post: on a gardener's balcony, a little bird built a nest in a flower pot and even laid 4 eggs, but the crab claw orchid chose this moment to rot at the roots. What to do?

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The lovely gardener

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This happened this spring. Shuangshuang, a gardener in Linhai, Zhejiang, had a flower pot on her balcony in which a little bird family built a nest and laid a clutch of eggs. Shuangshuang was overjoyed, and usually went out to the balcony very carefully, afraid of disturbing the bird family.

The bird was all black with a yellow beak, apparently called the blackbird (dōng) by its scientific name, also known as the hundred-tongue bird. There are quite a lot of them in the neighbourhood, roughly like the picture below.

(Image from the internet)

In ancient times the blackbird was always kept caged by people as a pet bird like the myna. In addition, because the blackbird is fairly large, it was once a main target for hunting; by the 1980s this bird had become extremely rare in the wild. With the country's protection, the blackbird's numbers have now only recovered to a fairly good level.

(Image from the internet)

The first thing Shuangshuang did every morning was go see whether the bird was still incubating the eggs. The mother bird was very cautious, and it was quite hard to get a close-up photo; get a little too close and she would fly away.

There were 4 eggs laid in the nest, and the deadly thing was that at this moment the crab claw orchid was found to have root rot

This put Shuangshuang in a dilemma. If she did nothing, such a big crab claw orchid might die. If she dealt with it, she was afraid of startling the mother bird so that she wouldn't come back, and that would be terrible. While she was still thinking about what to do, the mother bird laid another egg...

The gardeners also each gave their opinions; it really was not easy to handle:

Gardener Nailuo Chen: It really is a hard choice, after all it's such a big crab claw orchid. You can cut off the triangular stem and re-root it as a cutting, and find some cover to shade the nest.

Gardener Dalonglong531: Not easy to handle.

Gardener Tudou Baobao Doudou: From eggs hatching to the chicks growing up takes nearly two months. Can that triangular stem hold out that long?

Gardener Hualuo Wuhen: Let the birds have their way! The crab claw orchid is hopeless.

Gardener Nianshiba: You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Gardener Juxie Yangxie: One tree, one bodhi; one flower, one world.

There were also those who supported Shuangshuang:

Gardener a Mingmingming Ge: Four lives! You decide! I have loads of triangular stems!

Gardener H Xiaorourou H: Let the birds have their way. If the original poster needs it, I can send a grafted crab claw orchid, free of charge!

There were also those analysing the cause of the root rot:

Gardener Dake Xiansen: The blackbird makes its nest with mud or twigs and such, so it's probably the medium rotting and getting too dirty that did it. The original poster is kind-hearted; the flower and the birds will surely both be fine.

Gardener Jingmo Zhong De Jing: Could it be caused by the bird often urinating there?

There were also many experienced gardeners offering suggestions:

Gardener Jiu Ai Kaihua: The triangular stem is beyond saving. Let me tell you a way to have it both ways: wrap a plastic bag around the roots of the crab claw orchid, put some sand inside, and let the crab claw orchid grow roots. That way the little birds aren't disturbed either.

One gardener made a detailed tutorial on the flat-grafting rescue method. She grafted a night-blooming cereus and a crab claw orchid onto a cactus. Because of mistakes in fertilising, watering and care, the bottom pad of the cactus rotted, and then the second pad also began to rot. In order to save the cactus, she began the flat-grafting rescue.

The cactus grafted by the gardener; this is how it looked before it got sick

First cut apart the rotted and unrotted parts

Find a somewhat larger cactus to use as rootstock

Cut off the upper part of the cactus used as rootstock so that the cut surface exactly matches the cut surface of the cactus on which the crab claw orchid was grafted, then fix the two together.

Put it in a cool, shady place for about a week or so and the join will heal.

Quite a few gardeners agreed: scrape off the rotted part, leave the pith core, and it can still live.

Gardener Zhaohua Xishi: It's fine if it's rotten, it won't die; the little birds will fly away in August

Gardener Zhilaohu Ai: Cut off a few branches and re-graft them

Gardener Xiaoxiao taoqi: You can scrape the rot clean; if the roots aren't rotten it can live

Gardener Zoujin Yangguangyu: Some gardeners cut away the rotten part and keep only the hard pith core in the middle and it still lives. Because the roots grow on the pith core.

Gardener Xingfu De Xiaocaoya: Dig out the rotted flesh, let the pith dry in the sun and it'll be fine. Don't water, and don't startle the bird nest.

Gardener Xiyou De Shuai: Don't worry, don't cut off the triangular stem; scrape away the rotten part, cut off some branches, apply some sterilising stuff, and it should recover. I hope the little birds won't be scared away.

Gardener Liu JIUCAI135: Scrape off the rotten part at the bottom, it should live; mine didn't die after scraping.

More gardeners were anxiously waiting for updates:

Gardener 5432 Ba: Update quickly

Gardener Baoma Qiong: How's it going, original poster, update quickly

Shuangshuang chose to scrape off the rotted part of the triangular stem, and leave the rest as it was for now, without any big moves, leaving it to fate, and waiting until the little birds hatched before saying anything more...

But the triangular stem kept rotting, so there was no choice but to scrape off another section; the mother bird was still incubating the eggs

About half a month later, two hatched

Within a few days all 5 little birds had hatched, crying out to be fed

Shuangshuang put some earthworms beside the nest to give the little birds an extra meal

Day 4

Day 6

Day 11

The big nest is almost too small to hold them. The mother and father birds take turns coming every four or five minutes; very diligent. Every few days I go dig up some earthworms to give them an extra meal. In about a week or so they should be ready to fly away.

Day 15, a nest full of birds.

So worried about the crab claw orchid; I don't know if it can hold on.

The little birds began flying away one after another.

The last one also flew off unsteadily, then fell to the ground and burrowed into the bushes.

Shuangshuang: From 11 April, when the fifth egg was laid, to 24 April, when the first little bird hatched, to today when they all flew away, exactly one month. Over this month, the first thing I did every day when I got up was go to the balcony to take a look. Although after the little birds hatched, every day at first light the mother bird looked for food to feed them, and the little birds chirped so loudly you couldn't sleep, and the balcony was covered in bird droppings, I still had no complaints.

Now, looking at the empty bird nest, I actually feel a bit of a sense of loss. I hope the little birds can fly freely under the blue sky and be happy all their lives. Next year, if my triangular stem is still alive, I'll put it outside the window and welcome you to come and settle down again.

The birds flew away, so I took the nest down and moved the flower pot back onto the balcony. Yesterday I put the flower pot out, and sure enough, birds started building a nest again...

This time 4 more hatched, and it's already been four or five days. After the little birds flew away last time, the next day I found a bird's mangled corpse on the lawn. I blamed myself for several days; they can't fly high, and got bitten.

The gardeners really found it both funny and exasperating...

Xiayutian 0333: I also hope the big crab claw orchid can hold on

Xiaoxiao taoqi: What I care about is whether your crab claw orchid is still okay!

According to Shuangshuang: the crab claw orchid is still fine

Huahua remembers a little story: a man bought a house and invited a feng shui master to survey it. When they were about to reach the back yard, they found a bird flying up. The man stopped walking and said the back yard had fruit trees planted in it, and if a bird was startled into flight then there must be children stealing fruit; if we go in, it wouldn't be good if the children got startled and fell out of the tree. The feng shui master clasped his hands to the man and said, I don't need to look at this house; wherever you are is auspicious land!

Thank you, Shuangshuang, for rescuing several little lives. People who love flowers are all kind-hearted, and the gardeners' regard for life is moving. Please also show this to other gardeners! Let us, while growing flowers, pass on love, and pay tribute to these gardeners who do good deeds!

Original post address: https://tieba.baidu.com/p/5066357109?pn=1

Flat-grafting method address:

http://elearning.teacher.com.cn/cms/detail/articleDetail.action?project=211&toolsId=5&toolsContentId=210712&pageType=classroom&blockId=4015