December 1998 |
December Meeting - PARTY! PARTY! PARTY! by Harry, Editor December 1st, 1998 Starts at 6:00 PM in the Casa Del Prado, Balboa Park, Room 101 Can you believe its that time again. I remember having a great time last year, but the first thing that comes to mind is everyone telling me, more finger foods, less desserts!! (Come
earlier if you can help set up tables and chairs and
cover them with This is the big meeting we have all been waiting for. Every member in attendance will receive at least one free plant before the evening is over!! Dont miss out on this chance to acquire a new orchid to learn with and enjoy. Everyone brings something to eat and share with a few others. Members with names beginning with A to H bring desserts, and those with names beginning with I thru Z bring some of your favorite finger foods. All the beverages will be supplied by the Society. And if you dont want to eat off of paper plates with plastic forks etc., and drink from paper cups, then bring your own plates, glasses, candelabra and utensils!! During the evening there will be a Holiday Present Swap for those who wish to participate, the Plant Drawing where every member gets a free plant, Entertainment during the evening, and All You Can Eat And Drink from the offerings brought in to share. Fine orchid friends to chat with while all this is going on. All You Can Eat And Drink - After the evening is over
there are always some goodies left. If you want to stick
around and help clean up you can sure take some home with
you if you want, we dont want anything to go to
waste. But wait until after the evening to pile
those extra plates with food, surreptitiously cover it
with a napkin and back out the door. The present should not be anything but an orchid of some kind, no popcorn, potting material, used pots or wine bottles please. Some people will bring plants from their collections worth a considerable amount and you will find the nicest presents brought in will be picked first. They in turn will get an early choice from what remains to be given out. You must bring a present to participate in this exchange. If you dont go home with something nice from this event its your own fault! Bring something real nice and you will get to pick your choice early in the drawing. Bring something scudsy and,,, well,,, you may find it there on the table at the end of the drawing. It has to be nice enough that someone will want to pick it dont forget. I would judge plants brought
for this exchange last year ranged in value from $150 to
$2, and the persons that got the best, brought the best!
There were four items brought in no one wanted,
they were still there when the drawing was over and those
who brought them had to take them home. So if you
want to participate and get something nice,,, bring
something nice, and have a great time. Oasis of Orchids- We do not have enough of our young members involved right now. We would like to pass on the information on how to work at or how to manage all or parts of this show to some of our younger members. We need this to keep the society viable. Many of the show personnel are past 65, and we need some young blood!!! If you can spare some time contact Bud Close to see what tasks are available. Nearly all of the tasks will need to be done only the week of the show, its not a yearly job. And your input as to what you think will make a better show will be greatly appreciated also. What have you seen elsewhere or experienced in another part of the country. We are going to use a large screen TV and a Tape Deck to show American Orchid Society videos all during the show. There will probably be room here for a new volunteer group that will see that the machine is being used properly, that the tapes are changed, and that all gear and tapes remain in the room. We will show these videos all during the show for visitors and it will be another task we will need someone to take charge of, work out the timing for the videos interspersed with a few hands on lectures as we usually do. Please contact Bud Close, 444-8839 A.S.A.P. so we can better understand who is available to do what! Reed Stem Epidendrums - The Poor Mans
Orchid The Poor Mans Orchid?? Potting Mix - 4 parts fine (1/8 to 1/4) fir bark Pot Size - I wont have to repot so much! is the argument I hear. But using too large a pot you will find you still have to repot frequently because of two reasons. The pot being too big will hold way too much water for the plant. On top of the plant not growing well, the mix decays too fast and you will be repotting even faster than you did before. Keep it small, keep the drainage good and pot up to the next size when the plant earns it. The way the Epis grow that may be twice a year anyway, so relax,, start with the small ones and work up. The plants will also take to planter beds, but a little harder to keep looking as nice as the ones in the pots. Hail damage is a real threat to bedded plants. Take the large new growths off the bigger plants and spread them into a planter bed, or put six or so in a big pot. It wont be long before you can take them to a show. How long? Probably less that a year if they are all new large growths. The older plants that you took the new growths off of will not look as pretty now because all the growths will have flowered, and you just removed all the new growths. You can toss the older plant if you have plenty, but if you want to save it for reproducing keikis you can keep it and with the same culture as before the previous flowers stems will start producing keikis. (Some of the new hybrids dont do that as well or at all.) The pot with the new growths will be your show plant for a couple of years until you take keikis off it and make a newer plant, the older always becomes the breeder. If you let the plant get too full of the old growths it starts to look shabby even with the newer growths all around. A way to make it look better it to clip off the older bloomed out, keikid out growths just leaving the new ones. That will make you a fabulous plant in another couple of years. You will have to watch and make sure the mix is still fresh and repot in the meantime if necessary. Fertilizer - Insecticides Ortho makes a product for roses that is terrific for Epis also. Its called Ortho Rose Food and Systemic Insecticide. Comes in all sizes, you can get it at Walter Andersons or Costco or Armstrong. Sprinkle a little around the base of the plant every three months or so. Water it in, and presto, you have just fertilized the plants for three months and also sprayed them with a pesticide that will keep aphids and scale off them for the same three months. Very easy to do, hence, you might do it eh? Snails and Slugs can also mess up your plants so keep a good bait out for them all year long. A new one now available is called SLUGGO. Its not harmful for pets, birds, kids etc., but does a good job on the snails and slugs. This stuff doesnt break down and turn to mush in the rain either, so broadcast it about once a month to six weeks for good results. Diseases - The Epidendrums do get a fungus that shows up as black spots on the bottom of the leaves. Get a good fungicide at the local nursery to combat that. Spray the whole plant, especially those leaves just above the black spotted ones thoroughly with the fungicide about every three weeks until the new leaves do not show the spots any more. Some seem more prone to the spotting than others, one circulating around now called Gladiator needs to practically be dumped in the stuff. Then a maintenance spay periodically will help to keep it in check. The agriculture department in San Diego can recommend materials to spray for you and they respond to phone calls. The fungicide has to be sprayed on and dry there for a few minutes so dont do it on a rainy day. Give it time to dry completely and form the barrier you are looking for. The spraying will NOT get rid of any spots that are on the plant already, but it will stop any new leaves from coming up with them. DONT spray the flowers when you are applying the insecticide or it will destroy them, they will be brown the very next day. You can spray around them if you try. Some plants will get the spots up and down the main stems but you can get it done with a little effort. It would be good to set up a periodic spraying schedule so the spots dont sneak back when you arent looking. During the winter wet months that cycle may shorten to every three weeks if its wet like last year. The periodic spraying of fungicide on your plants outside in the winter is a good idea for any plant. It will cut down the chance of crown rot on those subject to cold and wet for long periods of time. Other Things To Watch For - And last but not least, try to protect your Epidendrums from hail. Nothing will make them look worse overnight than a short hailstorm. Symptoms after a spurt of hail are little white spots all over the leaves that will never go away. About all you can do is move the plants if you have warning,,,, or,, you can grow them under shade cloth. As much as 65 % shade will still give you great flower spikes although I think 50 % might keep the flower spikes stronger in the winter. Im planning a cover I can toss over them in the stormy weather because you can never predict when its going to hail. Hail screws them up so bad for so long its better to be prepared to either move them or cover them if you can, but a shade cloth cover is a permanent method. If it wernt for the chance of hail you can grow the best looking plants right out in full sun all year long. General Comments - The Next Mini Show -February 20th & 21st, 1999 I slipped up and forgot to mention the last mini show in October, but thanks to Forrest Robinson (50) plant display there were enough plants to make a nice show. But we can do better. Come February, try to bring at least one plant in for the show, and if you can swing it, at least one division or duplicate for a donation for the sales tables. We sell plants, divisions or otherwise for the mutual benefit of all in our society. The money pays for the doughnuts and coffee and whatever at our monthly meetings as well as helping in all other areas of our society. We will keep reminding you of this show each month until it happens, then shortly after that our March 18th, 19th, 20th & 21st,,, Big Annual Show will take place in the Scottish Rite Temple in Mission Valley. Keep checking with Bud Close our Show Chairman, or Bob Hodges or Bob Swanson, or Sam DeMaria if you need to know anything about the big show. Back to the mini show, February 20th & 21st. You can bring plants for show or donation the previous evening up till 8 P.M. or Saturday morning until 9:30 A.M. Judging is done on Saturday morning at about 9:30 t0 11:00 A.M., then the show opens Saturday morning at 11 or 12 A.M. to the public and closes at 5 P.M. then opens again Sunday at 10 A.M. and closes the doors at 4 P.M. Plants can be picked up at 4 P.M. Sunday, but not before. Notice to Orchid Businesses. Bring down a few plants for display, and a sign and a bunch of handouts and receive a free display area for your plants. If you need any additional information call Bob Hodges, Bob Swanson, Bud Close or Fred Weber, phone numbers are on page 2. Classified Ads - These ads are free to non business members, five lines maximum please, no more. New Otani East-West Orchid Show - Benny Bertsch - Yup! The Last One For Harry, Editor - Its not just Editor either. Folks seemed to call me when they were HOT about anything!!! Thats OK, because I just passed it along to the proper recipients!! I hope Rebecca will be able to do the same. If you can help Rebecca with notes or articles or anything please look her up and call her or e-mail her with any information at all about the orchid world. One of the largest fears of an Editor is fear of not filling the void each month. Ill tell Rebecca in front of the rest of you. Take anything anyone gives you and make sure it is spelled right. If you run out of that stuff, make up a story about members or events. When you run out of that, put in a bunch of pictures. When you run out of that, make the type really big. If there is still room for more, steal something from somewhere. Simple formula eh? As one of my friends put it, Im so full of Bull I would never run out anyway! I had a lot of fun in the ten years I was Editor and thanks to all the contributors, it didnt have to be all my stuff. One of the highlights of the whole ten years was when one of our members looked at my badge and said, You are the one who does the newsletter??? I thought Uh oh! Duck!! She threw her arms around me and said Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! I enjoy it so much!! That probably kept me doing it another couple years Irma, thanks for the great boost!! I know you will continue to submit things as you have in the past. When I took the job it was my first whack at really getting involved in the society functions. Little did I know how long it was going to last. On the bright side, I can now type lickety split!!! Cheers, and have a very Happy Holidays, please call and stop by some time if you can. Harry Tolen, Supreme Commander, Chula Orchids SDCOS Board of Directors Meeting The meeting was adjourned 7:05 P.M. Submitted by Siv Garrod SDCOS Board of Directors Meeting, November 10,
1998 REPORTS OLD BUSINESS NEW BUSINESS The meeting was adjourned 7:55 P.M. THIS MONTH'S GENERAL MEETING Oceanside Orchids serves our North County specializing in Phalaenopsis Orchids. For our Holiday Party they will provide a combination of Phals, Oncidiums and mini Catts. Close Orchids located in East County will provide a nice mixture of Cattleyas, Laelias and Encyclias. They are known for their award winning stock and will select from that stock to help make up a fine table. Crest Orchids is a far East County grower. Their stock centers on Vandaceous alliance, Ascocentrum and Philippine species. They promise a blend of the same. TKO Exotics took over a long established Phalaenopsis enterprise in the Spring Valley area. Most everything will be from their fine Phal collection. Andy's Orchids is the national hallmark for species orchid sales. The range of available stock is just too extensive to try to describe. All of those fantastic species are available right here in our own back yard up the coast a short distance in Encinitas. The surprise will be ours to see as to what exactly Andy's will put out for our table. Just expect the diverse. |