New Mexico Orchid Guild Newsletter August 2015

Transcription

1 Subscribe Share Past Issues Translate RSS Facebook 0 Twitter 0 Google +1 Short URL Copy August 2015 Newsletter View this in your browser New Mexico Orchid Guild Newsletter August 2015 Our next regular meeting will be: August 9, 2015 at 1:30 PM Albuquerque Garden Center, Lomas Blvd NE (Just West of Eubank on the South Side of Lomas in Los Altos Park) As usual, please bring something to share. Members are encouraged to wear their membership badges August Grower's Forum: How to successfully grow Masdevallias in Albuquerque, presented by Karen Bryan and Lynn Hernandez. The growers forum begins before out regular meeting at 1pm August Program: Masdevallias Orchid Digest Program Masdevallias and Draculas: The Species, Hybrids, and Culture, presented by Sue Brych. We are offering a nice selection of robust Masdevaillia plants for sale and on the raffle table.

2 From the President's Desk: Orchids and ice cream, who could ask for anything more? I think those attending the July meeting enjoyed both. Our August 9th meeting will be a day of Masdevallias. Karen Bryan and Lynn Hernandez will conduct the growers forum at 1:00 PM prior to the general meeting. They will discuss how they successfully grow Masdevallias here in Albuquerque. At 1:30 PM Sue Brych will present the Orchid Digest Program Masdevallias and Draculas: The Species, Hybrids, and Culture. We are offering a nice selection of robust Masdevaillia plants for sale and on the raffle table. September 13th brings a much requested in house program of re potting. Veteran growers will be on hand to help you. There will be a nominal charge to cover our media costs. Pots and other supplies will be available for you to purchase. We will also offer for sale bare root Cattleya seedlings and an exceptional selection of blooming plants. Our October 11th guest will be Jason Fischer of Orchids Limited (Orchidweb.com) speaking on phragmipediums. Watch your newsletter for pre order opportunities. November 8th closes our meeting year with Ron Coleman of Tucson, Arizona speaking on native orchids of the Southwest. Ron Coleman is the regional authority on the native orchids of Arizona and New Mexico. The author of several native orchid books and numerous contributions to various botanical journals and floras, he has explored, photographed, and described native orchids throughout the Southwest. Ron is the author of The Wild Orchids of Arizona and New Mexico. Save the date. December 13th is our annual Holiday luncheon party. This year we will meet at Seasons Restaurant. Details and menu choices will be announced soon. The Board has decided to extend the logo contest to allow additional entries. We hope to have a decision soon. Help needed! I will be absent from the September meeting and would appreciate volunteers to help the Board set up prior to the program. If you are able, please be at the Garden Center at noon. See you for the Masdevallia program on August 9th. NMOG Website: American Orchid Society Website: July Show and Tell Winners Advanced Division First Place

3 Jane Cole Paphiodedilum Magic Lantern Advanced Division Second Place Karl Siegler Stanhopea oculata

4 Advanced Division Third Place Karl Siegler Maxillaria ringens Intermediate Division First Place Judith Richey Promenaea riograndensis 'Vera Cruz'

5 Intermediate Division Second Place Ana Benscoter Phalaenopsis equestris

6 Novice Division First Place Dorothy Duff Wilsonaria Aloha Sparks Edna's Flame

7 Novice Division Second Place Barb Biel Dendrobium Green Flash Interview with an NMOG member By Kelly McCracken The New Mexico Orchid Guild is delighted to offer a new section in our monthly newsletter! Each month, one of our members will be interviewed and their grow areas photographed, both to be featured in the newsletter and on NMOG s facebook page. The purpose of this section is to learn about eachother s grow areas and the different ways our members make New Mexico s arid climate work for growing orchids. We want to see a variety of grow areas, and talk to a variety of growers. Whether that means you just grow on your bathroom windowsill and have a handful of plants or if your whole backyard is a greenhouse packed with orchids, we are very curious to see how you grow! If you are interested in being featured, please call Kelly at or kelly@dunnassoc.net

8 Nicole Dunn is relatively new to the orchid growing phenomenon, but that hasn t slowed her momentum for acquiring the mysterious plants. Nicole lives and grows in Los Alamos, NM, a slightly cooler and higher altitude environment than Albuquerque. Right: A blooming Den. phalaenopsis in Nicole's collection K: How long have you been growing orchids? N: About 3 years What got you started? I've always admired orchids and acquired a few here and there but was never successful in blooming them. Then my daughter showed a real passion for growing orchids and it's become contagious. I've bloomed several plants this year and last! Do you grow any other plants? I have a few beloved plants but not very many. Orchids that bloom are so rewarding! How could I resist? What do you most like to grow? Right now I feel like I'm still figuring that out. I'm attracted to different beautiful shapes and colors that are new to me and I love the fragrant ones. So I guess I don't prefer any one kind as of yet. What do you least like to grow? I guess that would be any orchids that don't have much foliage. After all, I have to look at the plant and foliage as much as or more than when it is blooming! Do you still have your first orchid? Yes, I believe I do. It s a miniature phaleanopsis from Trader Joes. Tell me about your grow areas. I have three primary grow areas. One is a south window, one a west window, and one a north window. I rotate plants around depending on how much sun they are getting, too much or too little. I don't do much else other than keep a close eye on them to see if they look unhappy or happy. They are roughly divided by how much watering they need and again, I try to keep a close eye for changes and adjust accordingly. It's pretty unscientific but it seems to be working for now.

9 These orchids grow in a north window and enjoy daily water. The terrarium is filled with moss and is misted occasionally as well. Looks like she has a Paph. in there that's about to bloom!

10 Here s a close up of the terrarium. I cant wait to see that Paph. open up!

11 These orchids grow about 3 feet away from a south window. Here, Nicole grows a Lycaste, a Dendrobium, a few Oncidium hybrids and some stunning Phalaenopsis hybrids. How do you water? Do you use municipal water? Either put them directly under the faucet or soak in the sink adding fertilizer as needed. Sometimes I will mist the smaller mounted ones with the squirt bottle if I'm in a hurry. My daughter tells me my water is excellent for orchids. (Nicole s city water measures at an astoundingly low 80ppm) How often do you water? Some get watered every day some get watered once a week. Do you fertilize? How do you do that? What kind do you use? I'm just learning about fertilizing but I try to soak in fertilizer once a week in the summer. I use K lite fertilizer I got from the guild Apart from actually blooming the orchids, what is the biggest challenge of growing orchids? Having several plants means they all have different needs, so I would say learning the middle ground that makes the majority of them happy enough to bloom without spending my whole day tending to plants. Where do you learn about orchids? Do you google? Books? Mostly I ask my daughter! It's more fun that way! But I also have enjoyed attending the lectures by the orchid guild. I've learned a lot. My favorite was the board members showing me how to repot a very overgrown Phaleanopsis (We will be doing another repotting workshop in September) What is your biggest adversary in growing? So far I've been lucky. I've had one case of scale which I seem to have gotten rid of but other than that my biggest challenge has simply been to create the right conditions for my orchids to gift me with new blooms.

12 An awesome miniature! This Dendrobium lamyae is about to bloom. The canes are less than an inch tall. Cultural Note Bringing Home the Baby: When folks acquire new plants, they often just stick them in with the rest of

13 their collection and hope they do well, figuring that the seller knows what medium is best, etc. To be more successful, it is important to do some assessment of the plant, its stage of growth, and the pot & medium it's in, while thinking about your own growing conditions and watering habits. The very first thing you should do is inspect the plant for insects and diseases. Check every nook and cranny, and treat, if necessary. Next, make a good, critical assessment of the potting medium. What condition is it in? Is it compatible with your conditions and watering tendencies i.e., will it hold enough water, or will it require morefrequent watering than you're accustomed to? Will it hold too much water and suffocate the roots? If you decide that a repot is in order, there's more to consider. If the plant is showing signs of new growth, with new root tips emerging from the base of the plant, it is probably wise to repot it immediately into your preferred medium, as it will get re established much more quickly. If the plant is in bud or bloom, can you just "baby it" a little, giving it more time to dry out between waterings to avoid root suffocation? If the medium is just "too far gone", you really have no choice but to repot, so soak the potting medium to loosen it up and make the roots more supple, carefully extract the medium while doing as little damage as possible, trim any dead roots, and pot it up. Keep the plant shady, warm and in maximum humidity, and it should recover quickly. Ray Barkalow First Rays Orchids Facebook Website Copyright 2015 New Mexico Orchid Guild, All rights reserved. unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences