Orchidacea. There is a very fine line between hobby and mental illness...dave Barry. Orchidacea. July 10, Inside this issue:

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1 July 10, 2001 July s Speaker Gene Monnier, J.E.M. Orchids was born in Dayton,OH. He is a Graduate of FL Atlantic Univ. with a BS in biology I have to blame my wife for my orchid addiction. The year after we got married, Jean, my wife, decided she wanted a staghorn fern. A local orchid nursery had ferns and orchids on sale. When we went there I was awed by these beautiful and unusual flowers. We left with a staghorn fern and 6 orchid seedlings. I quickly killed the orchids with over watering, but didn't give up. In two weeks I was back to try again. This time I stayed for a short lesson in how to grow orchids. I was definitely hooked, and was back every weekend for more. I soon started visiting other orchid nurseries, and my collection grew. Within a year I was growing out seedlings of my own crosses, mainly Oncidiums. I started J.E.M. Orchids in 1976 as a spare time, back yard, mail order business in Boca Raton, Florida. The name is an acronym using my wife's initials. In 1979 we bought 5.25 acres in West Delray and built a 6000 sq. ft. greenhouse for retail walk-in customers. The business expanded to include three more greenhouses and two acres of exotic fruit trees by In 1989 I sold the nursery property at th St. and moved to a new location at 6595 Morikami Park Rd. near the entrance to the Morikami Museum. The new facilities now include 32,000 sq. ft. of greenhouses, 5 acres of exotic fruit trees, and our residence. When the AOS announced they would be building their new headquarters about two thousand feet down the street from us, we expanded our greenhouse to over 50,000 sq. ft. and increased the variety of the orchids we grow. We now carry most commercial varieties of orchids as well as many botanical types. (continued page 3) Inside this issue: This month s Speaker 1 Minutes of last meeting 2 Pictures from JEM Orchids web page Treasurer s Report 3 Announcements 5 Growing Tips for June 4,5 Calendar of Future Speakers 6 Free Raffle Ticket when you bring your plants for the show table. They may also win a ribbon in the greenhouse or windowsill and under lights group. There is a very fine line between hobby and mental illness...dave Barry

2 Page 2 Officers: Minutes of the TOS March Meeting Nick Plummer, Secretary President Bill Swallow (919) Bill_swallow@mindspring.com Vice President Jeff Baldwin (919) Orchidfm@emji.n Secretary Nick Plummer (919) Nplummer@duke.edu Treasurer Buck Flintom (919) MBFlintom@aol.com Board of Trustees: 2001 Past President Rick Cavallaro 919/ ricav@mindspring.com Jack Webster At-Large Trustee (910) Jwebster@pinehurst.net Board of Trustees: 2002 JohnStanton At-Large Trustee (919) Board of Trustees 2003 Merlise Clyde At Large Trustee Clyde@stat.duke.edu Donna LaRoche At Large Trustee (919) ldlaroche@aol.com The monthly meeting of the Triangle Orchid Society was held on June 12, 2001 at the Brooks Avenue Church of Christ. The President, Bill Swallow called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. The Treasurer's report and minutes of the April meeting were approved. The President thanked the volunteers who were helping with the June meeting: Nancy Cavallaro at the welcome table, Frances Porter with refreshments, and Mike Cory with the plant raffle, and Michael Meiners with the library. He then acknowledged the first-time visitors. The members were told that Jack Webster is coordinating a group order from Timber Press. Catalogs were available, and orders should be given to Jack Webster at the July meeting. Jack Webster discussed the plants on the Show Table. After a break for refreshments, Arthur Chadwick gave a talk describing ten Phalaenopsis species that have been important in hybridizatuon. The ten (or eleven, depending on which taxonomist your believe) species were Phalaenopsis amabilis, P. aphrodite, P. amboinensis, P. venosa, P. equestris, P. philippinensis, P. schilleriana, P. stuartiana, P. luedmanniana, and P. violacea (including P. bellina). Mr. Chadwick described the influence of each species in Phalaenopsis breeding and then answered question about Phal culture. Following the talk the Jack Webster Show Table Awards were presented. First Place in the greenhousegrown cate- gory went to Phrag- mipedium wallisii grown by Buck Flintom, second place to Bulbophyllum Cirrhopetalum) graveolens grown by John Stanton, and third place to Promenea xanthina grown by Paul Fever. In the non-greenhouse category, first place went to Cycnoches loddigesii grown by Donna La- Roche, second place to Sophronitis cernua grown by Nicholas Plummer, and third place to On- cidium Golden Sunset grown by Tom Wentworth. A blooming specimen of Miltassia Shelob was raffled off. Mormodes rolfeana JEM

3 Page 3 (continued Gene Monnier) My first crosses were equitant Oncidium types, with Rdcdm. JEM (Onc. henekenii x Rdza. Burgundy) being registered in I spent a lot of time at Bill Osment Orchids (a local Oncidinae breeder) and soon started breeding more complex Oncidium intergenerics. From Oncidium intergenerics I moved to minicatt type breeding, using Psychilis (Epi.) truncata as the base parent in my first line of these hybrids, registering Ephs. Orange JEM (Epi. truncatum x Soph. cernua) in I also started breeding Catasetinae and Zygopetinae as well as seed propagations of new world species. My main emphasis is currently in these last three lines, as well as Paphiopedilums, with several breakthroughs in both the Catasetinae and Zygopetinae. The most acclaimed of these was Catamodes Black Magic which received an 88 pt. AM as well as an Award of Distinction for the blackest orchid seen to date. I have traveled extensively through parts of the tropical Americas including Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, and Panama. I have visited several nurseries in each of these countries to buy orchids for my species breeding program, and have worked with both Universities and the private sector to help set up laboratories for the propagation of orchid species within these countries. Several of my articles have been published by the American Orchid Society, The Florida Orchidist, and the Orchid Digest. These publications include a series of three articles on Catasetum alliance breeding in the October through December 1990 A.O.S. Bulletin, an article on the misidentification of Catasetinae in the orchid judging system published by the Orchid Digest in August 1994, and an article on Paphinias for The AOS in April I have also collaborated on two books; a cultural handbook for growing orchids in South Florida where I wrote the chapter on Paph. and Phrags, and a book on the genus Catasetum where I wrote the chapter on hybrids. You can Pre- Order from JEM s web site. Gene will bring your ordhids with him to the meeting. No shipping charges. Specify Triangle Orchid Society Meeting on the 12th and the Date in your or phone conservation. www. Triangle Orchid Society.org Sales@jemorchids.com phone & fax (561)

4 Page 4 Growing Tips for May By Courtney Hackney Hackneau@bellsouth.net Now is the time when many Orchids put on most of their growth. Those with pseudobulbs often have very discrete growth periods when they add new roots and leaves. Many vandaceous Orchids grow anytime there is an adequate amount of heat, light, and water, but again this happens mostly during summer in the Carolinas. Providing your Orchids with everything they require will maximize the quality and quantity of the flowers you will see later. Fertilize now just about every time you water with a weak solution of a growth-type fertilizer. My favorite is Peters Cal Mag The Nitrogen is mostly in a useable form and the extra Calcium and Magnesium make hard growths. The ideal strength is 100 ppm Nitrogen. If you use pure water at 0 ppm and the addition of fertilizer raises the soluble solids to around 220 ppm then you have reached your maximum. It is always better to add less than more when it comes to fertilizers. Too much fertilizer makes soft growth that is susceptible to rots and which is easy to damage. Over-fertilized Orchids do not produce good flowers even though the plant looks great. Well-grown Cattleyas have leaves that are slightly yellow. Phals and Vandas should have light green leaves that are relatively hard and thick. If you are not sure how much fertilizer to add, be cautious and use a quarter of what you think you need. Most fertilizers that recommend ½ to 1 teaspoon per gallon are best at 1/8 to ¼ teaspoon per gallon. There are many tricks to adding fertilizer, some of which are useful for the hobbyist and some of which are not. One obvious one is to fertilize after the plant is wet. Dry Orchid roots shed water and any fertilizer it contains. Wet roots have already absorbed water and will not be damaged by fertilizer even if you add too much. How do you get the proportions just right when you fertilize? If you have a few plants a bucket of water or watering can is perfect for mixing fertilizer. Immerse the whole plant in the fertilizer mix. Plants will absorb fertilizer through leaves as well as through roots. When you remove plants be sure that you get all water from the crown of Phals and other soft-tissue Orchids. Soft tissues of Cattleyas and even Vandas can develop rots if fertilized water is left standing anywhere in the plant. Most hobbyists are surprised at how infrequently many commercial growers fertilize. To fertilize in the ideal manor is a time consuming task so most commercial growers use stronger concentrations once a month or less. Others use Osmacoat or some other slow release fertilizer. A new product from Japan, Nutricote, supposedly releases nutrients slowly enough that roots are not damaged. There are several plants in my greenhouse that are now getting this treatment. By next year it will be obvious if this is a product worth recommending. Carter & Holmes sells small amounts of this if you want to try some. Use it on plants that are not your favorites first. Many of my experimental plants never recover from the new, improved whatever. Several companies make liquid fertilizers that add methane to the mix, which causes the fertilizer to pass into tissues more quickly. There are many reports of improved growth with these fertilizers. In my experiments, they were no better that Peters Exel Cal Mag and actually seemed to damage seedlings that got too warm before their surfaces dried. Liquid fertilizers also tend to be more concentrated and so a mistake in dilution can have serious consequences. Remember, you are always better adding too little than too much. Keep your eyes open for insects, snails, and slugs as they also grow quickly in summer s heat. They will slip into plants placed outside and get into the greenhouse without being seen. Keep a close eye on your plants and look for signs of damage. Slime trails on the sides of pots in the morning will tell you they are there. I was surprised at the number of slugs found among the crock in the bottoms of pots when I repotted this year. Plants that have not been repotted for a few years are the best place to find both slugs and other pests. Systemic pesticides work well when plants are growing. They are much less effective during times of the year when plants are not growing. In an ideal world, you would not use any pesticides

5 but be ready to recognize these pests early so you have to use them only occasionally. At the beginning of this month s column, I noted that most Orchids are now in a growth mode. If you have any that are not, it may be time to take action before the growing season is over. Paphs are the ideal candidate to check because they suffer when they lose roots. Every Paph I checked this spring that was not growing well had lost most of their roots. I also repotted several that were doing well and they all had excellent root systems. Poorly growing Paphs and other Orchids repotted now will have a much better chance of surviving if repotted during the growing season rather than waiting until next spring. Page 5 Announcements: Bring your Timber Press Book Orders back at the July 12th meeting with a check made out to Jack Webster. Sandhills Orchid Society's annual fall auction to be held at the home of Joyce & Fred Patton; Sunday, September 9, 2001, starting at 1:00. There will be a covered dish supper to follow. Their address is 2519 Lockwood Road, Fayetteville, NC. There will be goodies from our members' greenhouses and some beauties from Carmela Orchids and a surprise or two. So come see what we have to offer. Visitors Glenn & Ann Jackman of Raleigh were visitors at last month s meeting Check or add your address to the membership list at the Welcome Table Cycnoches warscewiczii J.E.M. Orchids Volunters Please Welcome Table Refreshments Plant Raffle Library July 10 Nancy Cavallaro Frances Porter, Mildred and Mack Howell Suzanne Bertrand Ed Iv erson Aug. 14 Mike Cory Mitch Meiners ept. 11 Oct. 9 Nov. 13 Dec. 11

6 Page 6 Meeting Agenda: Speakers for Future Triangle Orchid Society Meetings TOPIC 7:00-7:30 Set Up Show Table and Chairs July 10th Gene Monnier, JEM Orchids Florida Cybiches and Mormodes 7:30-7:45 Business Meeting, Announcements August 14th Francisco Miranda-Boa Rio de Janeiro Brazilian Laelias 7:45-8:10 Show Table Review September 11th Margarite Webb, J & L Orchids, CT Miniature Species 8:10-8:30 Refreshment Break October 9th John Kukosky Smithfield Orchids, VA Miltonias & Miltoniopsis 8:30-9:20 Program 9:20-9:30 Show Table, Awards, Raffle and Door Prizes 9:30 Meeting Ends November 13th December 11th Jose Esposito Homestead Florida Norito Hasegawara Paphanatics unltd What's new in Phalaenopsis Paphs of the Future Alan J. Miller, Editor 5703 Orange Grove Rd. Hillsborough, NC (919) Fax (413) alanjmiller@att.net The Triangle Orchid Society meets at Brooks Avenue Church of Christ 700 Brooks Ave, Raleigh, NC on the Second Tuesday of the month at 7:30PM Dues are $18 per year single, or $24 per year for two persons living at the same address. Mail to Buck Flintom, 4400 Middle Creek Farm Rd., Holly Springs, NC VISITORS ARE WELCOME