SOS Newsletter. October Meeting The October meeting of the Society will be held on Oct. 25 th at John Dolan School, commencing at 1:30 p.m.

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1 October, 2009 Volume 27, Issue 2 SOS Executive President: Sherida Gregoire Vice President: Past President: Faithe Prodanuk Secretary: Laurel Duczek Treasurer: Heather Anderson Social Directors: Jocelyn Dʼeon Shirley Keith Plant Orders: Cheryl Adamson Heather Anderson Resources: Yvette Lyster Pat Randall Librarians: Ellen Ross Don Keith Newsletter: Bob Lucas Dave Robinson AOS Representative: Matthew Sackville COC Representative: Al Hartridge Visiting Speakers: Eugene Kucey Webmaster: Jennifer Burgess Mailing Address Saskatchewan Orchid Society Box 411 Saskatoon, Sask S7K 3L3 Web Address SOS Newsletter Announcements Editor s Note Headline The Newsletter will be distributed electronically to all members for whom we have an address. If you wish to switch from Paper to electronic Delivery, notify me at (Robert.Lucas@usask.ca). me if you have not received your electronic newsletter by the third Sunday of the month. October Meeting The October meeting of the Society will be held on Oct. 25 th at John Dolan School, commencing at 1:30 p.m. Meeting Location Change October will mark the First meeting of the SOS at John Dolan School, 3144 Arlington Ave. (just east of the intersection of Arlington and Preston Ave.). Directions: From the intersection of Preston and Circle Drive, drive north and take the first right turn and Park in the school parking lot. As you pass through the front entrance doors the meeting room will be the first thing you see. If you're coming in with your arms full of show-and-tell plants, you can use the open button near the entrance doors. The school is wheelchair accessible. Membership Renewal Society memberships for are due and will be on sale at the October Meeting. The fee is $25.00 for a single membership and $30.00 for a family membership. A new form (available from Heather) must be completed before purchase. Plant Sale Betty Bethieume has donated her extensive orchid collection to the orchid species preservation foundation. The foundation is selling many of her plants, as it cannot maintain the complete collection. The SOS has arranged to purchase a number of these plants and they will be available for sale at the October meeting. They will include many species, intergenerics and hybrids. Be sure to give your name to Heather in order to be eligible for a plant purchase. Meeting Presentation There will be a presentation on Pests and Diseases by members of the Society at the October meeting. Meeting Agenda Announcements Problem Corner Show and tell Coffee/Supplies Presentation Plant Raffle and Sale Adjournment

2 SOS Newsletter Page 2 of 6 Sept. 27 th meeting minutes Phal Bedford Gem The President welcomed guests and new members. Announcements Membership Renewal - It is time to renew memberships for the year. Memberships are $25 for single and $30 for family. This year early renewals (April and May 2009) receive a $5.00 coupon to be used for resources/supplies. The coupon expiry date is the January 2010 General meeting. Classes: The society is working on the speakers list for the upcoming year and a presentation on bugs and plant diseases is planned for October. Bring any orchid that you think is ill to find out what to do with it. Contact the President or Eugene Kucey with suggestions for other classes. Items for Sale: Ellen Ross has plants and light fixtures for sale. James Sather has light fixtures for sale. you are encouraged to bring orchid related items, pots, lights etc. to sell. Phal Bellina Plant Order: An order will be placed with Les Orchidees if there is enough interest. Contact Cheryl or Heather with your order and partial payment. New Meeting Location: September 27, 2009 is the last club meeting at Dutch Growers because the Bistro space was closed to make room for more retail. Starting in October, meetings will be held at John Dolan School, 3144 Arlington Avenue. There is a large parking lot just out front and bus service at the corner. The building is wheelchair accessible. Enter through the front door and go to the Common Room. We have a rental agreement with the School Board for one year and it is renewable in the spring. The Society is donating $ towards Choc lacure which is held in November to show our appreciation to Dutch Growers for allowing us to have our meetings here for the last 5 years. A letter was sent by the President to Dutch Growers advising them of our donation. Problem Corner Q An Oncidium, grown for several years in a slat box, now has all its new growth hanging outside of the box. How can it be repotted? A It is possible to put the smaller box into a larger one and add growing media, but this would not replace the old growing media which may be broken down and soggy. A better option is to take the box apart by pulling out the wires at the corners. Shake off the old potting material, split the plant if necessary and repot with fresh growing media. Show and Tell Plants were shown by Mary Orchard, Gwen Erickson, Heather Anderson, Sandi Kaufhold, Al Hartridge, Cheryl Adamson, Ellen Ross, Ruthanne Hanbidge, Tracey Thue and Bob Lucas. Raffle A large number of plants were donated by Safeway over the summer months and include miniature and regular-sized Phalaenopsis as well as some Cattleyas. There were too many

3 SOS Newsletter Page 3 of 6 raffle winners to list each individually. Speaker Tracey Thue on Orchids at the Thue s : Tracey s slide presentation described where and how she grows her collection of orchids. She showed how temperature and humidity can vary in different areas of the growing space and described how ph changes when using tap, rain or reverse osmosis (RO) water (with and without fertilizer). The slides included examples of species in her collection and the research she did to determine what habitat the plants grow in. She also showed how she adapted her growing practices to try and achieve the best conditions for each plant. Some examples of websites that contain information on orchid species and their habitat are: and for Brazilian species, Plant sale Web Page of the Month Each month we will feature a web page. If you have a favorite, send it to the editor. This month s page, courtesy of Tracey Thue, is As the name suggests, this site is dedicated to the Adjournment approximately 4:15 p.m. slipper orchid. It contains info on taxonomy and culture, and pictures of species as well as primary and complex hybrids. If you have a slipper orchid that is not doing well, check out this site and find out what the conditions are like in its native habitat. It is An indispensible site for those who love slippers. Phal Sun Je diamond Classified Ads (Editor s note: If you have orchid related items for sale, send me the details and I will run an ad.) One three-foot T5 florescent light (Tube and Ballast) for sale. Lightly used and priced to sell, $ Contact James at or three sets of 2-bulb 4-foot T12 lights and canopies, less than a year s use, 5.00 each. Pots and Table stand, miscellaneous orchid items, all priced to sell. Contact Ellen at

4 SOS Newsletter Page 4 of 6 Our Trip to Peru By Laurel Duczek In November 2008 a group of 10 people plus our trip organizer set out for a 3-week tour of Peru. The main reason for the trip was bird watching but people were also interested in Peruvian animals, butterflies, plants, culture and archaeology. Manu Expeditions ( m) customized our travel itinerary and provided local support and guides. We initially arrived in Lima and explored the area around the city. The next day we flew to Cusco to start a 2-week overland trip to Manu National Park. The first part of the trip used a special expedition bus to negotiate the narrow and twisty road that ran along steep mountainsides to climb over the Andes and drop down into the Amazon basin. The road eventually ended and we loaded our gear on a boat and continued down river to Manu National Park. During these 2 weeks we camped one night in the mountains and stayed in several back country lodges where day trips allowed us to explore different habitats. At the close of week 2, we travelled by boat to Puerto Maldonado near the Chilean boarder and caught a flight back to Cusco. The third week of our tour included visits to natural areas and several archaeological sites near Cusco, including Machu Picchu. Over the course of 3 weeks we travelled through many ecological zones and saw an amazing range of plants, butterflies and birds. There are over 35,000 plant species growing in different habitats from sea level to high altitudes in the mountains. Peru has a significant number of orchid species and the plants grow in abundance where the habitat is suitable. We were lucky to see orchids growing along the roadside or forest trails in their native setting. Others were cultivated in small botanical gardens maintained by local people as tourist attractions. A few pictures of the orchids we saw are included at the end of this article (the scale varies among the photos so direct comparisons of size are misleading). While our tour was not designed for orchid viewing, there are a number of tour operators who specialize in trips to see Peruvian orchids growing in the wild. The following sources will give you a sense of the types of orchids that occur in Peru. Orchids: Species of Peru authored by Harry Zelenko and Pablo Bermudez contains a complete listing of the 2,873 species of Peru. The book has more than 1,600 color photographs and up-to-date taxonomic information and culture recommendations for 175 genera. the Peruvian Orchid Club web-

5 SOS Newsletter Page 5 of 6 site: contains some background about the country, basic orchid information, articles and photographs. If you select Expediciones from the Spanish menu you can access links to slide shows. For example, Nororiente Peruano: shows Pragmipediums, Epidendrums, Masdevallias, Stanhopeas, Mormodes, Brassias, Pleurothallis, Cattleyas, Catasetums, Bletias, Brassavolas, Gongoras, Cycnoches, Psychopsis, Schomburkias, Selenkoas, Sobralias, etc. Sureste Peruano: shows Masdevallias, Pleurothallis, Bletias, Cattleyas, Lycastes, Maxillarias, Brassias, Encyclias. Idas, Epidendrums, Koellensteinias, Oncidiums, Odontoglossums, Otoglossums, Phragmipediums, Sobralias, Telipogons, Xyllobiums, etc. From the home page you can also access a photo gallery. Scroll down through several screens until you find Galería de Orquídeas Peruanas and click on the letters of the alphabet to access the photo pages. In the upper right corner of the home page there is also a link to English web pages and articles posted on this site. Phal texas fancy

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