Well, bummer, I made the wrong reservations. I'm going to Italy tomorrow morning. But I think I'll be able to find pizza, just no pizza box. And few bromeliads. : ( Have a ton of fun, friends, and I expect to see many many photos!!! With faces, not just bromeliads, but the bromeliads are important, don't misunderstand me. (Oh, I wish I could go to that Skotak talk! Lisa and Chester can settle the score...)

A couple years after the article Sharon posted was published. This was published. I can’t link to it since I am searching for these articles through my workplace at Caltech, and you would get a broken link, but here is abstract copied below. It seems that an important consideration for a banker plant used to host the predator mites is “tuft domatia”, which are little chambers on the leaves that are meant to house the beneficials. The plants provide little hidey-houses along with pollen :-) The predator mite Amblyseius swirskii is an omnivore, eating both pollen and other mites, thrips, whitefly etc. Selecting an ornamental pepper banker plant for Amblyseius swirskii in floriculture crops. By: Avery, PB et al. Abstract: Preference of phytoseiid mite, Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot) was assessed on four cultivars of ornamental pepper banker plant candidates; Red Missile (RM), Masquerade (MA), Explosive Ember (EE) and Black Pearl (BP) for potential control of pestiferous insects in floriculture. Significant differences in cultivar preference by A. swirskii was observed in choice experiments whether the test was pre- (with pollen) or during bloom. Overall, female mites laid more eggs when pollen was provided as a food source. The number of tuft domatia per cultivar leaf appeared to positively influence host preference in the choice plant tests pre-bloom. In addition, cultivar RM had the highest mean number +/- A SEM of tuft domatia per leaf (5.1 +/- A 0.3) and motiles per plant (4.0 +/- A 1.2), followed by MA, EE and BP. In choice tests on blooming plants, A. swirskii showed preference for both cultivars RM and MA compared to EE. These experiments indicated that the number of tuft domatia and availability of pollen can influence the host preference of A. swirskii for an ornamental pepper banker plant cultivar. Results from this study will help growers, researchers, educators and extension personnel in understanding the plant phenology promoting adoption of suitable banker plants for managing greenhouse and landscape insect pests.

Aww. Jody I'm sorry to hear this. My step father had this injury when in his 70''s the surgery was 100% successful. Of course you will be in my Prayers. Please try to check in when you can and let us know how you are. ((((HUGS))))

Sorry everyone on Texas Gardening. I'm not sure how it ended up on Texas Gardening as I did not scroll down and check that one. This post was meant for Round Robin only. Round Robin members please post on OBF April 2020 Swap……Roll Call