Orchid Society of Coral Gables

Transcription

1 AUGUST 2016 Orchid Society of Coral Gables The Orchid Society of Coral Gables is a non-profit organization established for the purpose of showing the cultural and economic importance of the orchid, as well as the intrinsic beauty, and biological and ecological importance of this group of plants. We promote the scientific research and study of orchids including their classification, evolution, propagation, culture, care, and development. Additionally, we support the conservation of orchids in nature, and disseminate educational information and knowledge about the orchid family to the general public. (Note our new website address!!) Highlights in this Issue Beginner s Class - NO CLASS THIS MONTH Jim is out of town for work. Beginner s class will be back next month. Important! Dues are Due! Renewal form on page 5 Photos from the June Auction and the July Meeting! Great photos by Ron Rosenthal! Pages 9, 10, & 11 Dr. Motes Talks About August Culture What to do this month in our collection! Pages 7, 12 & 13 August Meeting Tuesday, August 2, 2016 No Beginner s Class; General Meeting 7:30 pm Larry Cox with a Brand New, Never Before Seen, presentation on KEW Gardens - A Carnival of Orchids! A travelog and an orchid experience! We welcome our own member, Larry Cox, to our floor this month. Larry recently returned from a wonderful experience at the KEW Gardens in England, and he has been kind enough to make a presention/travelog of his time there to show us. This talk promises to be relaxing and beautiful! In honor of the Olympics being held in Rio de Janeiro this year, KEW Gardens paid homage to the colorful nation for its annual orchid festifal held in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. The Carnival spirit was in fullswing with tropical colors taking over, Rainforest Tree sculptures covered in orchids, and Brazilianinspired craft making and carnivalthemed headdresses for the kids. The presentation of this event by Larry should be wonderful and a time we can all just sit back and enjoy the beautiful pictures and pretend we are all in England! Larry Cox has been a long time member and past board member. He acquired his first orchid, a cattleya, over 40 years ago. His second orchid was a paphiopedilum. He has grown cattleyas, dendrobiums, phalaenopsis, oncidiums, Continued on page

2 ORCHID SOCIETY OF CORAL GABLES President s Message Heat, ma am! it was so dreadful here, that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones.. ~Sydney Smith, Lady Holland s Memoir PAGE 2 Hello fellow OSCG members, Is it just me, or does this summer seem especially brutal this year? I don t know what the records say, but it seems to me we ve had less rain than usual. I ve had to water in-between showers, and that is unusual for us. But even so, summer is a time for growth if not blooms. The warm weather promotes fast growth so we have to be diligent in several respects. First, we have to nourish our plants; more growth means more feeding. Second, we have to watch for pests; tender new growth is very appetizing to insects and snails. Lastly, we have to inspect our plants for rot; along with the rain comes the dreaded black rot for which the best medicine is prevention. Make sure your plants are well spaced and have adequate air movement to help leaves dry quickly. All too often, we inspect our plants and do nothing until we see signs of decline. Then we jump into action. It happens for many orchid ailments, but is especially true for repotting. When we wait until we have a problem to take action we find ourselves committing all of our time to the plants that are weak. We soon find ourselves managers of orchid convalescence. We lose track of the plants that are strong. They don t get the attention they need until they too become ill. Be conscious of this trap and manage your orchid collection rather than letting your collection manage you. I will be out of town for work this meeting, so Melana will be running it. I m sure she can handle it. But this means I will not be able to give a Beginner s Class. However, this brings up something - Are there any other members who would like to help with the Beginner s Class? We all have knowledge and we all should share it. I m sure that the other members would like to hear from someone other than me. Please let me or Melana or any other board member know if you d like to help out occasionally! Another area the society needs help in is with the newsletter. Melana is swamped between work, grandkids, and starting our orchid nursery. She is stretched very thin, and has been doing the newsletter for the past 8 years. Could anyone give her a hand? Please let her know if you could help. I hope you all enjoyed the movie by Stig Dahlstrom on Machu Picchu in June. I found it very interesting and entertaining. It made me wonder why I ve never visited there before. But speaking of travel, our speaker this month is one of our own members, Larry Cos. Now, we all know Larry and his wonder Paphs, Lycastes, and Catts, but this time he will be giving us a different presentation. A travelog, so to speak. Larry traveled to England in February to go to the Annual Orchid Festival held at Kew Gardens. It was so breathtaking that he decided he d like to share it. And you will be so glad he did! Please note our new website address: Our thanks to Karina Motes for updating our website. It is still a work in progress, but you can access it and see the changes. And don t forget that we also have a facebook page! Lastly, I just want to say again what a great society we have! I am so proud to be a part of it and to be friends with all of you! Have a great meeting! Jim Davison A photo from our new home. Melana always wanted a Poinciana tree but never thought she d have one. It was a special treat when it bloomed as we were moving in. Almost as if it was welcoming us to our new home!

3 AUGUST 2016 August Speaker - Larr y Cox (Continued from page 1) vandas, and less popular genera; but paphs eventually became his favorite orchids and the heart of his collection. In 1989, he moved to the Redlands area of south Miami-Dade County where he built his dream orchid house of 3000 square feet and continued to increase his collection with emphasis on multifloral paphs. Larry enjoys showing his orchids and has earned forty-six awards, including five FCC s, from the American Orchid Society. In 2005 Larry retired from an education career of thirty-seven years, the last fifteen teaching Advanced Placement English. Since retirement, he has devoted most of his time to orchids: maintaining the collection, involvement with OSCG, and giving programs on paphs, lycastes, and, now, travelogs! He also finds time do all the reading he so loves! Come to the meeting and rest for a while in the serene beauty you will see on Larry s presentation! Special Raffle This Month! We are having a Chinese raffle on several beautiful, larger plants. To refresh your memory, this type of raffle is where there is a box placed in front of each plant. You purchase your raffle tickets, and then you can put your tickets in any box you desire. You can put in one or all tickets, it is your choice. We will still have special raffle plants for food, membership, AOS, and shirts. Remember, all the proceeds of the raffles go to paying for the plants, and then for supporting the society! New Website Address!!! One of our board members, Karina Motes, has been working very hard on updating our website. It was down for a short time, but is now back and is better than ever! Some of the changes are behind the scenes but you will notice the difference in ease of use. Our members spoke and we listened! The old address was hard to remember so we bought a new URL and it is: Check it out! A website is always a work in progress and we are trying to provide you with the best! Thank You Karina! PAGE 3

4 ORCHID SOCIETY OF CORAL GABLES Tasks for August from Dr. Motes Finish cutting teretes and reed stem epidendrums early in month. Reset strap leaf vandas early or not at all. Dry hard once or twice. Continue anti fungal spray program. Prune trees and shrubs to increase light and air circulation and to reduce hurricane potential damage. August in Your Orchid Collection from Dr. Motes August Climate Data Average high: 90.6 Average low: 76.5 Average mean: 83.6 Average rainfall: 8.63" July and August are the two most similar months in South Florida. Most of the advice on watering, disease and pest control in last month's calendar still apply but subtle changes are taking place. Although it may not seem so, as temperatures climb into the low nineties most afternoons, summer is in retreat: each day a little shorter, each night a little longer. With shorter days the importance of watering as early in the morning as possible comes to the fore. With less hours of sunlight to dry the plants, extra care should be taken in choosing when to water. Back to the basics of the classic saying : If a Vanda looks like it needs water, water it; If a Cattleya or Oncidium looks like it needs water, water it tomorrow. If a Paph or a Phal looks like it needs water, you should have watered it yesterday. If plants retain water even from an early morning watering, allowing them to dry a bit harder before the next watering is always a good idea. An extra day of drying rarely does harm. August should provide numerous opportunities to dry each orchid to its desired level of dryness. Take the opportunity to dry your orchids "hard" at least once but preferably twice in August. This will give your orchids a PAGE 4 leg up on their mortal enemies, the fungus, before the drizzle of September switches the advantage to our adversaries. August is definitely not the month to over indulge in water. September, the soggiest of months, is next up. The corollary to this calculated drying is the concept that when watering in August above all water thoroughly. If watering is necessary be sure that the roots and medium are totally saturated with the application. The drizzling rains of September are so detrimental precisely because they keep the foliage of the plants wet unduly long. We want our plants which are still growing to receive plenty of water but also plenty of drying time. Good air circulation and proper watering are the keys to disease prevention. Remember that your plants will have increased considerably in size by this point in the growing season. They have added extra growths and extra leaves across the summer. August is a good time to evaluate the spacing of our plants. Remember the old Florida saw that one needs a cat to grow good orchids because when properly spaced a cat should be able to navigate the benches between plants without knocking them over. While we can not recommend specific chemicals, the county agent recommends Banrot, a convenient combination of Thiophanate-methyl and Truban which controls a number of leaf-spotting diseases and soft rots, for home owner use. A combination of Thiophanate-methyl and mancozeb has also been recommended. This can be found pre-

5 AUGUST 2016 packaged as Duosan. If one can over come the aversion to chemicals and can learn the safe application of them, they are valuable tools to better orchid growing. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure especially before the soft, slow drizzle of September sets in. Lengthening nights in August mean cooler nighttime temperatures. Many sympodial orchids are reaching the end of their growing cycle and require less nitrogen. Cattleyas and oncidiums have maturing bulbs. Genera that become deciduous in winter like nobile dendrobiums, calanthes and catasetums should be given much less nitrogen in August to prevent them producing an unwanted off season growth and perhaps forgetting to flower. Substitute an additional application of potassium nitrate and Epsom salt (1TBS each per gal) instead of the balanced Vandas will respond well to this also, as several of the parental species of our hybrids produce blooms on shortening day lengths and lower levels of nitrogen in their fertilizer seems to egg them on. As explicated in the last chapter, modern research indicates that orchids require less phosphorous than previously thought. This concept should lead us to more judicious use of phosphorus. Fertilizer high in phosphorus may still be of some value at the end of the growing season, perhaps not so much as stimulus as shock. One or two heavy applications in succession, a week or so apart will certainly provide all the phosphorus and all the stimulus (or wake up shock) our plants require to bloom. Snails can be somewhat of a problem in August too, but left to multiply they will be in their full glory when those slow unrelenting rains of September set in. Control them with baits in pellet or liquid/paste form. Remember, these are baits, the pests are drawn to them. Therefore apply lightly, but frequently. Because they wash away in the heavy rains, baits should be reapplied every two weeks. One pellet every two to three feet will do the job, but one application will not. Given a choice, the smallest pellets baits are best. They keep us from over applying and also pose much less threat to neighborhood pets. A small bait in a Vanda crown is a nuisance, a large bait can be a disaster. If you have been waiting to make cuttings of the terete vandas or reed stem epidendrums, you can wait no longer. The potting season is drawing absolutely to a close. Pot up those overgrown phals before they even think of spiking. Re-set those strap leaf vandas early in August whilst they still have just enough time to reestablish themselves in the September humidity and before the cool weather arrives and their root growth slows or stops. As in all seasons be sure that the plants are firmly set in their containers. There is no "wiggle room" this late in the growing season to restart tender roots that have been chafed off a loosely set plant. As the cooler weather approaches try to give plants that have been repotted late more protection from the first cold snaps. (We thank Dr. Martin Motes for allowing us to reprint his monthly web newsletter.) Our thanks to Dr Motes for allowing us to reprint from your newsletter. Sign up to receive Dr. Motes newsletters at You can also text ORCHIDS to PAGE 5

6 ORCHID SOCIETY OF CORAL GABLES P h o t o s f ro m t h e Ju n e A u c t i o n! Thank you to Ron Rosenthal for photos. PAGE 6

7 AUGUST 2016 PAGE 7

8 ORCHID SOCIETY OF CORAL GABLES Photos from the July meeting! Again, Thank you to Ron Rosenthal for photos. PAGE 8

9 And a few More! AUGUST 2016 PAGE 9

10 ORCHID SOCIETY OF CORAL GABLES In Memoriam On June 17, one of our members passed away peacefully at South Miami Hospital. Janice Goodman was a long time member of OSCG and came to meetings faithfully with her daughter, Ann, for many years. It was only until the past year that she could no longer attend because of health. Rest in Peace, Janice, you will be missed. PAGE 10

11 ORCHID SOCIETY OF CORAL GABLES P l e a s e s S u p p o r t o u r A d ve r t i s e r s 2012 Tamiami International Orchid Festival Other Area Meetings: South Dade Society: Thursday, Aug 11 Coalition for Orchid Species: Monday, Aug 15 AOS Judging at Fairchild: Saturday, Aug 20 Pan Am Orchid Society: Tuesday, Aug 16 SFOS Meeting: Wed, Aug 17 East Everglades Meeting: Tues, Aug 23 PAGE 11

12 AUGUST 2016 Don t Forget to Wear Your OSCG Shirt to the Meeting! And don t forget to get your ticket for the special Shirt Drawing from the Welcome Desk! PAGE 12