November 2011 Volume 65, Issue 4 About the November meeting Gerardus Staal on Pests, Diseases and other nuisances that effect Orchids NWOS Fall Sale: Nov. 5 and 6 at Swanson's Nursery 2012 AOS Calendars Report from the October Meeting Schedule of upcoming events Reminder for Officers & Board Members Advertisements About the November Meeting Want s omething printed in the newsletter? E-mail it to nwos_news@nwos.org no later than the 25th of the month. November 14, 2011 7:00 P.M. University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture 3501 NE 41st Street Seattle, WA 98105 November 14, 2011 - Gerardus Staal on Pests, Diseases and other nuisances that effect Orchids Gerardus is a Dutch native with a masters degree in tropical agriculture and a doctorate in insect physiology. He worked as a research entomologist for Bay Area companies developing novel selective pesticides based on the insect hormonal system as well as several more traditional insecticides. ENSTAR and MAVRIK were developed for greenhouse use and other compounds for the control of household and animal pests. He retired from entomology in 1990. His orchid interests started in 1974 and developed into an orchid hybridizing and propagating effort that continues today under the PENINSULA HYBRIDS label. The emphasis is on the creation of hybrids of cool and intermediate growing species and the propagation of rare species. Many new hybrids in the Cattleya, Pleurothallid and Odontoglossum alliances were registered in his name. More recently, the emphasis has shifted to hybrids and species in the Bulbophyllum, Dendrobium and Huntleya breeding alliances. Another effort has been the development of an alternative to cork slabs that eliminates most of the drawbacks: coco poles, suitable for all small species and hybrids. Spilotantha staaliana His hybridizing efforts have been rewarded with many AOS awards, among which 3 Awards of Quality (all in Masdevallia) and several Awards of Distinction stand out. In addition, numerous Certificates of Botanical Recognition awards were obtained for species newly introduced to the judging system. New trigeneric hybrid genera with his name are: Staalara (originally with the hybrid Staalara Gerardus, AD/AOS) and Gerardusara.
He participated in several trips to Ecuador. One species found in that country was named Masdevallia (now Spilotantha) staaliana in his honor. Gerardus has served in various capacities in 4 local orchid societies and has served 5 presidential years in 3 of these. He also served a term as president of the Pleurothallid Alliance and has been a member of the AOS Research Committee. Display Table: Bring your blooming Orchids so everyone can enjoy them! Sales Table: Members may bring up to 10 plants to sell. Include a tag with your name and the price in the plant. Raffle: Win a new orchid, from Out on a Limb Orchids or Seattle Orchid, for your collection. NWOS Annual Fall Sale: Nov. 5 and 6 at Swanson's Nursery Mark your calendars and bring your orchid-loving friends to the Northwest Orchid Society s annual fall sale on Nov. 5 and 6 at Swanson's Nursery in Ballard (9701 15th Ave. NW, Seattle, WA 98117). Doors will open both days at 9 am. The sale will close at 6 pm on Saturday and at 4 pm on Sunday. Our sale will be in their north glass house. We especially need volunteers from 3 to 6 on Saturday afternoon to help cashier and bag. If you haven't done it before, it's an easy, fun way to participate in our club's activities. There are experienced people to show you the ropes. It's a great way to spend a few hours chatting about orchids with your fellow hobbyists and the vendors. If you can help us out on Saturday afternoon or at any other time, email or phone Kathy Murray (kandmmurray@frontier.com, 425-257-0583) or Leanna Fox (l_fox@comcast.net, 206-295-6351). In order to have a great show, please remember that your blooming orchids are needed for the display table. Either bring these to Swanson s on Friday afternoon or contact George Grantham to drop them off at his house in Shoreline (georgegrantham@hotmail.com). Mike Cory will give a talk on orchids at 10 am on Saturday and there will be potting demonstrations at various times on both days. Vendors will include Emerald City Orchids, Seattle Orchid, Sorella Orchids and Out on a Limb Orchids. There will also be a NWOS member sales table. If you want to sell on that table, be sure to fill out the seller s sheet with information about how your tag is marked, to whom the check should be payable, and your mailing address. Please be sure to have double tags (one removable with the price and your identifying information) to assure that you are paid. If you re unfamiliar with Swanson's, it is a large nursery with indoor and outdoor sales areas. There is even a café that serves breakfast and lunch (hours: 9 to 4 daily). For more information about Swanson's, including a map, click here.
2012 AOS Calendars The 2012 American Orchid Society calendars will be available for purchase at the Swanson's sale and at the November NWOS meeting. This full-color 14 month calendar features miniature orchids. The price: $10. Act quickly if you want one since the society ordered fewer calendars than usual...just 24. Report from the October Meeting Jamie opened and lead the meeting with about 42 people in attendance. George Grantham reported on shows. Joe Grienauer talked about the upcoming Northwest Flower and Garden Show and explained the ideas for the Symphony Orchid-stra. He brought several props including a music stand and asked for comments, suggestions and additional ideas. He reminded us that we'll need our blooming orchids as well as volunteers to help make the display at the show a success. Speaker Norito Hasegawa gave a talk that he also gives to AOS judges. He spoke about how we tend to change the original flower forms. Usually we want them bigger, flatter, sometimes unnatural colors. Sometimes we use selective breeding, sometimes line breeding. Sometimes we strive for deeper colors. Sometimes we go for white, alba colors. Norito engages in great conversation due to his experience and knowledge. He asked the question: how far do we go with these changes? He then showed pictures of some extreme examples. When breeding, he showed how sometimes using a parent for one attribute has unexpected results. Or it takes the progression towards bigger, flatter, fuller, whiter. Or with the whites, it could take it back a notch and re-introduce color into the bloom. He also talked about some new species that have been recently discovered and the CITES influence on imports and distribution of new species. He showed how judges sometimes give high awards when they first see a new cross or new special development. This sometimes leaves little room for future development. In some cases he suggested that we may have to reset the standard to allow for new awards.
Members choose from a nice selection of plants that our speaker had for sale. As one person bought, the rest of us had fun crowding around flashing our cash waiting to acquire some of Norito's plants. Andy Wright reviewed the plant table which was very full. Sometimes you just have to lean in to get a better look. Trichocentrum albococcineum Blc. Jester's Gold 'Rare Spice' Blc. Images x Blc. Liese Pigors
C. brabantiae x Penny Kuroda Bc. Green Dragon 'Lenetta' AM/AOS There were lots of wonderful yellows, from large to small: Cymbidium Rodco's Creation Peter Maunsell received an HCC at a recent show for this Eplc. Don Herman 'Autumn Joy' Potinara Hoku Gem Epi. Fresh Valley 'Lemon Tea'
There were many fine slipper orchids as well: Paph. Pedro s Moon Paph. Doctor Jack x fairieanum Paph. henryanum x charlesworthii Paph. (helenae x Pacific Shamrock) Paph. Friedrich Mellin 'Faireo' Phrag. Cameo Queen Phrag. Meditation And as always we had a very nice selection of "little guys" Bulbophyllum dennisii George Krasle mounts and grows beautiful orchids on a piece of doormat
Last but not least, this Masdevallia Vin Rouge 'Marsh Hollow' from Rebecca Northen & Betty Lyons represents one plant that survived the fire at Rebecca Northen's home by being in a pail of water at the time of the fire. Scaphosepalum endresianum And what would our meeting be without the camaraderie of our fellow members? Break times are some of the best times at our meetings. We have fun, we learn from each other, and we share a lot. Here we see Al and Shelly Kaas sharing a humorous moment near the speaker's sales table. You may have heard that talking to your plants helps them grow better. But do you listen to what they say back? It helps to check out each orchid as you water them. Soon you'll be able to understand "orchid". They'll tell you whether or not they like their potting medium, lighting or position on the greenhouse bench or windowsill. And they'll also tell you if they're itching from some pest that shouldn't be there.
Schedule of Upcoming Events December 12, 2011 - Annual Christmas Potluck: with awards and plant giveaway to each MEMBER January 9, 2012 - Steve Beckendorf: Odontoglossum and their culture February 8-12, 2012 - NW Flower & Garden Show February 13, 2012 - Abigail Chang: Recent AOS Awards March 12, 2012 - The Annual Orchid Auction March 19, 2012 - Annual Potting Clinic, lower classroom April 9, 2012 - David Edgley: New trends in Phalaenopsis breeding and culture April 14-15, 2012 - AOS Orchid Show and Sale at Sky Nursery May 14, 2012 - Sam Tsui: Multi-flowering Paphiopedalum June 11, 2012 - Annual Potluck & Gary Baker Service Award Reminder for Officers & Board Members The schedule of meetings for the rest of this fiscal year is: 11/8/11, 1/3/12, 3/6/12 and 5/8/12. Meet at 7 p.m. at Mike Cory's house unless notified that it's been moved elsewhere. ADVERTISEMENTS