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January 2005
JANUARY MEETING January 10, 2005 Ask the Experts Are you a new member or just starting out with orchids? Got a question about orchid culture? Maybe a favorite plant won’t rebloom? The January meeting will feature a panel of experienced NWOS members to discuss general orchid culture and answer your questions. You may bring problem plants, but please keep diseased or pest-ridden plants in a bag for safety. Especially for novice growers, but advanced growers are welcome to try and stump our panel. Beginner’s program: (starts at 6 p.m.) Plant Table: Sales Table: Raffle: COMING UP The 2005 speaker schedule is in the works. Got a suggestion for a speaker or program? Contact Jay Perez at at jay98116@comcast.net or 206-818-4363. JANUARY/FEBRUARY ORCHID CHECKLIST Cattleya Watering and fertilizing will be at a minimum, as will potting. Be on the lookout for senescing sheaths on your winter-into-spring bloomers. Careful removal of the dying sheaths will still allow buds to develop without the danger of condensation-induced rot. Low light will lead to weak spikes, so, and as noted above, staking is critical. If you have a chance to get out to nurseries, there may still be a chance to acquire good plants in sheath for spring bloom. Getting them now not only ensures that you’ll have them, but allows them to acclimate to your conditions and bloom at their best. Lycaste The most glorious of all orchids, Lycaste, will be moving toward their flowering season. Make sure the palm-like leaves do not interfere with the emerging inflorescences. Tying them loosely together often is helpful. Some growers cut the leaves off at the pseudobulb, but this removes part of the attractiveness of this elegant orchid. Resist picking up the plant to inspect those beautiful buds and then setting it down in all different directions as the flower buds will be forced to re-orient themselves to the light source each time and will not open as nicely as they should. Keep plants a little drier during the shorter days. Odontoglossums Odontoglossums and their intergeneric hybrids offer a great splash of color now. Though once thought of as being difficult to grow and requiring cool temperatures due to the emphasis on odontoglossum breeding, the new intergeneric hybrids made using Oncidium and Brassia, for example, are just the opposite. These plants are quite content in more intermediate conditions. New growths generally emerge in the spring, later forming beautiful plump pseudobulbs. Look for the flower spikes to emerge from the inner sheath of the pseudobulb. If your plant’s pseudobulbs are shriveled, then the plants have been kept too dry or too wet. Inspect the roots to determine which condition prevailed. If the lead pseudobulb is large, plump and green (and back bulbs are shriveled) but no flower spike is evident, the plants may have been kept too dry. Paphiopedilum The standard Paphiopedilum insigne-derived hybrids, which are called “bull dogs” and “toads,” are at their peak. Unlike most other orchids, they can even be potted while in bud. There really is no wrong time to pot a paphiopedilum, and no other orchid responds so favorably to fresh mix and a cleanup. Keep an eye on watering until roots begin to grow. Phalaenopsis Now is the peak of spike development, with the first plants in full flower. Staking and plant preparation is a must for those all-important spring shows. Correct staking now will give a better display and also make it much easier to transport to your society meetings and shows. Care with watering is vital to avoid mechanical damage to the flowers, as well as rot-related problems. Keep spent blooms cleaned up to avoid botrytis inoculation. Do not repot this month. Now you’ll be seeing lots of phalaenopsis at orchid shows and sales. Zygopetalum For the most part, the flowering season will have ended for this group, providing the grower a chance to do some repotting. The plants will then have a chance to become well established before the hotter months of summer arrive. Most growers use bark mixes, but some exceptional results have been seen lately using rock-wool blends. You may want to try this mix, but do not change your whole collection over to this new media until you are sure it is right for you. First, experiment with a few plants to see how they respond. Prepared by Ned Nash and James Rose FROM THE PRESIDENT Hope everyone had a happy holiday season. It’s been some time since you’ve heard from me—working for a large retail outfit that never closes during the holiday season hasn’t been fun. Things seem to have slowed down which is good since I’m really behind on my repotting. And as usual, I’m out of space and there’s compots to pot out and more flasks to get potted up. One day I hope to have enough space for to put up a nice big greenhouse. But none of you have dreams like that I’m sure :) We put on a wonderful show this past fall and I want to thank everyone who helped with it. We had great attendence and sales far exceeded last year’s show. I know my sales from the society table were good and all the vendors I spoke to were happy with the way things were going. The show committee did a fantastic job this year! I’m looking forward to our spring sale at Sky Nursery—maybe I can sell a bunch of plants to make space for those new plants I want to buy.... One loose end from the show—would the winner of the President’s Trophy from our fall show please identify yourself? You had a very pretty and very dark Zygo hybrid. We’d like to give you your prize ($25). I hope everyone who attended the December holiday meeting enjoyed it as much as I did. Great food, good company and a fascinating talk. If you missed the meeting, Melissa Whitman spoke to us about the orchid research she’s been doing in Madagascar. I’m envious—I’d love to get to spend six months doing orchid research in orchid paradise. Jay did a nice job getting a broad selection of holiday gift plants—I hope everyone’s happy with the plant they received. Michael Corn and Cathy Tuttle won the Schoenfeld trophy for the second year running with their gorgeous Milt. Dream Girl. We need to get working on a slate of nominees for the next NWOS Board. If anyone’s interested in being on the nominating committee (which means you likely won’t get tagged by the nominating committee to join the board but there’s nothing to keep nominating committee members from joining the board), call, e-mail or see me at the January meeting. I’m especially interested in seeing some new members get involved—new blood generates new ideas which hopefully generate more interest in our society. You may recall, increasing our membership is my main goal for the year. Hope to see you all at the January meeting. Jerry Hoffmeister VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR NORTHWEST FLOWER & GARDEN SHOW The annual Northwest Flower & Garden Show will take place in the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in downtown Seattle February 9-13, 2005. NWOS will have a small presence at the show, primarily running the orchid hotel. There will be sign-up sheets for the show at the January meeting. Working a three-hour shift at the Society’s Orchid Hotel will get you into the show for free (tickets are $19 if purchased at the door). Wristbands for entry will be available at the meeting for volunteers. Members who can’t make it to the January meeting and want to reserve a time to work should call Kathy Murray at 425-257-0583 (evenings and weekends) or e-mail her at kandmmurray@verizon.net. SHOWS PAST AND FUTURE Thanks to everyone who helped, the NWOS display at our show in November was a resounding success and contributed greatly to the overall success of our show. Thanks especially to Jamie and Robin who put in countless hours preparing our orchid dragon and thanks also to all of us who assisted with set-up and tear-down and who provided plants. The participation of Mt. Baker, Tacoma-Olympia and Oregon (Portland) societies in our show was also extremely important in making our show a success. The Spring show season starts with the Tacoma-Olympia Orchid Society show at Windmill Gardens Nursery in Sumner on Jan. 15-16. Setup is Friday evening. I will be gathering orchids for a display on the Wednesday before, or by special arrangements. Alternatively, anyone is welcome to make the short drive to Sumner to bring your orchids and help with setup. Please call me to coordinate at (206) 440-9266. This nearby show is well worth attending. It is a judged show which always boasts some quality displays and the nursery setting has the feel of spring about it. It is a personal favorite of mine because my only two AOS awards were awarded at the Tacoma-Olympia show. Our good neighbors to the north, the Mt. Baker Orchid Society, hosts their show in the Skagit Gardens Nursery just south of Mt. Vernon March 5-6. More about that show later. George Grantham TRY SOMETHING NEW: PROJECT PLANT POTTING AT JANUARY MEETING First, I would like to thank Mark Bamber for his generous donation of six compots for this project. Okay, everyone that is interested in participating should meet in the kitchen area (at the front of the regular meeting room) at 6 p.m. on January 10. That’s one hour before the meeting starts. The reason we will be in the kitchen so that we will have a sink at our disposal. I will have most of the plants ready to be repotted, but there will be one of the compots intact so that I can show you how to remove the seedlings from it for repotting. There are five different plants, more of some than others, everyone will get at least three different things to try. Then, in a year, we will bring in our plants and compare how we are doing. Oh, boy! More plants to grow! Jamie Notman NOTES FROM THE SECRETARY We know everyone can’t make it to every meeting, so in an effort to keep members better informed about what is happening in the Society, the secretary will provide a synopsis of the last general meeting and board meeting. DECEMBER GENERAL MEETING (Held December 13, 2004) This was one of the best-attended holiday meetings we’ve had in the last few years! The potluck was quite a delicious smorgasbord of treats. In addition, we had the rare pleasure of an NWOS scholarship winner presenting actual research on orchid habitat. Melissa Whitman gave an excellent talk about her research on orchid conservation in Madagascar, looking at Angraecum sororium and a species of Cynorkis and how their habitat and growth are affected by fires (frequently arson) that are depressingly common. To cap the night, Michael Corn and Cathy Tuttle took home the Schoenfeld Trophy with their wonderful Milt. Dream Girl against some tough competition (12 entries total). George Grantham’s Paph. Faire Maud came in second in the voting. JANUARY BOARD MEETING (Held January 4, 2005) The board meeting was held after publication of the newsletter. It will be covered in the February issue. Brian Anderson WELCOME NEW MEMBERS Jean T. Ross NEWSLETTER EDITOR NEEDED The Northwest Orchid Society is seeking a member with an interest in writing and laying out the monthly newsletter. No real experience is necessary. Volunteers will need to have access to a computer and e-mail. The editor is also responsible for printing and distributing the newsletter. If you are interested or have questions, please contact Brian Anderson at nwos_news@nwos.org or (206) 818-4364. IMPORTANT DATES JANUARY 15 - 16, 2005 FEBRUARY 9 - 13, 2005 FEBRUARY 18 - 20, 2005 FEBRUARY 26-27, 2005 (CORRECTED 1/9/05) MARCH 19 & 20, 2005
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