SOUTHERN ONTARIO ORCHID SOCIETY NEWS October 2011

SOUTHERN ONTARIO ORCHID SOCIETY NEWS
October 2011, Volume 46, Issue 9
Web site: www.soos.ca ; Member of the Canadian Orchid
Congress; Affiliated with the American Orchid Society, the Orchid
Digest and the International Phalaenopsis Alliance.
Membership: Annual Dues $30 per calendar year (January 1 to
December 31 ). Surcharge $15 for newsletter by postal service.
Membership secretary: Hesse Pommells 416-245-0369, #503-370
Dixon Road, Weston, Ontario, M9R 1T2
Executive: President, Yvonne Schreiber, 905-473-3405; Vicepresident, Elizabeth McAlpine, 416-487-7832; Secretary, Sue
Loftus 905-839-8281; Treasurer, John Vermeer, 905 823-2516
Other Positions of Responsibility: Program, Mario Ferrusi; Plant
Doctor, Doug Kennedy; Meeting Set up, Tom Atkinson; Vendor and
Sales table coordinator, Diane Ryley; Web Master, Max Wilson;
Newsletter, Peter and Inge Poot; Annual Show, Peter Poot;
Refreshments, Joe O’Regan. Conservation Committee, Tom
Atkinson; Show table, Iryna Bonya.
Honorary Life Members: Terry Kennedy, Doug Kennedy, Inge
Poot, Peter Poot, Joe O’Regan, Diane Ryley, Wayne Hingston.
Annual Show: February 11 – 12, 2012
Heinz Ernstberger with his plant of the month
Paphiopedilum Jogjae
photo pp
SOOS Annual Valentine
Orchid Show, February 11
and 12, 2012. We need you
to volunteer!
Meeting Program Sunday, October 2, Sales at noon, program at 1 pm. Our speaker on October 2 will
be Jose Esposito of Soroa Orchids (http://www.soroaorchids.com/). He is President of Soroa Orchids, Inc, located in the
heart of the Redland, Florida orchid-growing area. He is an accredited judge of the American Orchid Society and travels
around the world selling and lecturing about orchid breeding and culture, including lectures at the World Orchid
Conferences in Rio, Brazil and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Jose is a founder member of the International Orchid Alliance,
past president of the East Everglades Orchid Club, past president of The Coalition for Orchid Species, past member of the
Education Committee of the American Orchid Society, Vice President of the Redland Orchid Growers Association and
Redland Orchid Festival, Inc., as well as a past board member of the South Florida Orchid Society, where he served for
several years. Soroa Orchids expanded it‟s business to Canada in 2005, opening Soroa Orchids Canada in Toronto. Jose
was born in Cuba, and emigrated to the United States in 1980. In Cuba, he was an accomplished writer, considered to
this day the youngest published writer in Cuba, winning National prizes of Literature when he was a mere stripling of 16
years. Jose is also the new chairman of judging for the Florida Caribbean Region.
Be an early bird and give yourself a chance to win a free plant. 2012
Memberships are available now. Get your name into the early renewal draws to
be held in November, December and January.
2012 membership $30.
1
SOOS President’s Remarks
 SOOS – TBG library membership
liaison – send name and SOOS number
of new members to the TBG and
receive TBG number for access to TBG
library
 Hearts and flowers – send cards
and/or flowers to SOOS members who
are ill or have passed away
 Monthly Social Break co-ordinator –
putting out treats and napkins at the
monthly meetings
 Orchidfest and Christmas Party
kitchen organizer – solicit volunteers
to help, direct and organize the food
for these two special occasions. This
job could be split into two.
 Librarian – receive, process and put
magazines into SOOS collection at the
TBG library. Select and purchase new
books, etc. about orchids. Record and
prepare these items for inclusion in
the SOOS collection. (Please note that
TBG volunteers do all cataloguing).
Fellow orchid aficionados: Thank you goes out
to those of you who brought in treats to share
for our September 4th meeting. The letters of
the month for October will be S and last names
that start with the letters Ta. We are asking
anyone whose last name starts with these
letters to bring in a treat to share. These treats
should be finger foods only i.e. something that
can be picked up with your fingers and does not
require a plate or fork.
The C.O.O.S. show will be held on September
24rd and 25th. For those of you who will be
reading your newsletter prior to this date,
please
contact
Don
Wyatt
at
orchidsmyhobby@yahoo.ca if you have any
plants that he can use in the SOOS display. The
E.C.O.S. show in Montreal will take place on
October 22nd and 23rd and Laura Liebgott has
volunteered to enter the SOOS display. The
R.B.G. society has moved its show to the fall
from the spring and it will take place on
October 29th and 30th. We will be looking for
flowering plants to exhibit at these shows as
well. Is there anyone who would like to help
put together one of the displays? Please let me
know.
A new director would not be obliged to
assume one of these jobs. Perhaps you have
another idea about how you could contribute
to our Society. Or you can become a director
and take some time to pick out an area in
which you would feel comfortable helping out.
HELP!!
The election for the 2012-2013
executive will take place at the December 4th
meeting. We, that is SOOS, are in desperate
need of new people to form the next executive.
The positions that need to be filled include that
of president, vice president and directors. Any
of us on the current or past executive would be
more than willing to act as a mentor for any of
these positions. There are roles for more than
one new director. What could you be doing as a
director to help your society? Here are a few of
the jobs that are looking to be adopted:
The election will take place at the beginning of
the December 4th meeting. We need a slate of
candidates to present to the membership on
which they can vote. If you are not able to
stand for one of the positions, but you know
someone that you think would be willing and
able to do so, please let me know. We need
names prior to the December meeting i.e.
November or preferably October. Talk to me at
a
meeting;
e-mail
me
at
yvonneschreiber68@gmail.com, or phone me at
905-473-3405.
 Membership – record and collect
membership fees from new and
renewing members
Yvonne Schreiber
2
As our SOOS president, Yvonne Schreiber, has
mentioned, the present 2-year term of the SOOS
board of directors, or "executive" as we tend to
call this team, will end on December 31, 2011. I
want to add my voice to Yvonne's, and make the
case for why each of our members should give
serious consideration to becoming a director.
Please note that the first session is
on September 13, not 27 as
originally reported.
As many of you know, but the newer members
may not, I joined SOOS in April 2004, after
being blown away by the 2004 SOOS show that
February. At the end of 2005, Jay Norris
approached me to ask if I would consider
allowing my name to stand in nomination as a
society director. This was a very welcome
surprise, and it did not take much arm twisting
for me to accept. Did I know what a director was
supposed to do? Yes, and no. The yes part is
from experience on another society's board. The
no part is that I was green as grass to the world
of tropical orchids, and wondered if I would be
able to help much. As it turned out, the decision
to accept Jay's offer was the right one.
Coming Events
2011
SEPTEMBER
24-25, Central Ontario Orchid Society
Show,
Toronto Centre, October Toronto
AOS judging, Cambridge, Hespeler Arena.
www.coos.ca
October
1-2 , Central New York Orchid Society Show,
Baldwinsville, NY.
2,
SOOS meeting Toronto Botanical Garden,
sales 12 noon, program 1 pm
15, 2011 Niagara Frontier Orchid Society,
Buffalo, NY.
When you become a director, mentoring is
available to you, from any of the directors, past
or present. Your first assignment is a simple
one: attend the executive meetings, get to know
your fellow directors, understand how the
society works, and listen. As time progresses,
and as you feel more comfortable, see if there is
a simple task that you could take on. The rest
will flow naturally.
22,23, Montreal Centre - ECOS Orchidfête
2011 - Days Inn Hotel, Montreal+ Montréal
Centre
29, 30 RBG Orchid Society
Botanical Gardens, Burlington.
show, Royal
27-30 AOS meetings, San Antonio, Texas.
November
Please do not be bashful. We need new faces
and new ideas on the executive. Approach
Yvonne in her role as president, or me in my role
as immediate past president, and talk to us.
5, Toronto Centre, TBG, Semi annual meeting.
6, SOOS meeting Toronto Botanical Garden,
sales 12 noon, program 1 pm
Tom Atkinson, Immediate Past president.
12, The Essex County Orchid Society is
hosting an Orchid Show & Sale on November
12, 2011. This is the first time an Orchid
Show of this caliber is taking place in the
Essex County/Windsor area. This is a one
day event where you will see many beautiful
orchids artistically arranged in creative
displays by vendors and members. There is
no admission fee for the public and the event
is taking place at Colasanti's Tropical
Gardens in Ruthven on Saturday Nov. 12th
from 10 to 4 pm. This will be a great
opportunity for all orchid lovers and
admirers alike to view an elaborate
assortment of orchids and Orchid Art. A vast
array of orchids will be available for
Fall New Comers’ Meetings
Wayne Hingston (905-686-5697) will once
again present his excellent series on the culture
of the most popular types of hobby orchids.
These sessions are for members who have just
started in orchids and will be presented at the
Toronto Botanical Garden Board Room on the
following Tuesday evenings at 7 pm:
Sept. 13, Oct. 18, Nov. 22, Dec. 13, and Jan. 17
(2012).
3
Programme Notes by Inge Poot
purchase from our four vendors. There will
be speakers both in the AM & the PM on
orchid growing with an opportunity to ask
questions on growing orchids successfully.
For more info kindly check our website:
www.essexcountyorchidsociety.webs.com
The September 4, 2011 meeting featured Doug
Kennedy as our speaker on the topic “You
Can’t Grow That”
Doug made two points. One point was that this
is a most unhelpful comment and really only
means that the plant in question has some
cultural quirk that must be met to have success.
In other words you must know what it is and
then you certainly CAN grow it. He then
proceeded to go through a number of plants that
have the reputation of being difficult and telling
us what to do to make them grow miraculously
well! The other point was that (negative)
generalizations are misleading, since there are
always exceptions.
14-23, 20th WOC, Singapore
19, Montréal Centre – Jardin botanique de
Montréal
December
3, Toronto Centre, TBG
4. SOOS meeting Toronto Botanical Garden,
sales 12 noon, program 1 pm
17, Montréal Centre – Jardin botanique de
Montréal
AOS Judging Results
Please note, all of these awards are
provisional until published by the
American Orchid Society
Toronto Centre September 3 , 2011:
Paphiopedilum Fumimasa Sugiyama, AMAOS 81 points, Wendy Hoffman
Omoea phillipinense, CCM-AOS 82 points,
Dwaine Levy
Bulbophyllum Wilmot Candy Stripes x
echinolabium HCC-AOS 76 points, Cloud’s
Orchids
Angraecum Crestwood
photo pp
One such generalization is that Angraecums
are huge, warm and humid growers and if your
growing space and heating budget is limited,
then you can‟t grow them! But granted that
Angraecum sesquipedale
and Angraecum
eburneum plus the odd other species are huge,
most species in the genus are small, most
require intermediate temperatures, but they may
need lots of light. So grow A. compactum (cool
to hot, dappled light), A, magdalenae
(intermediate temp and light, but winters quite
dry, full sun and cooler) or A. perrieri (grow hot,
but shady).
Aerangis mooreana,
CHM-AOS 82 points, Cloud’s Orchids
Coelogyne usitane x lawrenceana, HCC-AOS
77 points, Doug and Terry Kennedy
Sudamerlycaste [Sud.] dyeriana, AM-AOS 84
points, CCE-AOS 90 points, Al Salzman
The next judging session is Saturday September
24 at the Central Ontario Orchid Society Show in
Cambridge. AOS Judging starts at approximately
11 am. Judging is a service of the American
Orchid Society and is open to all! Bring us your
flowering orchids. We need the practice.
And then there are the genera related to
Angraecum:
of
Aerangis
(intermediate
temperatures and light and with lots of snowy
white flowers) and Aeranthes (same culture as
Aerangis) with the long thin inflorescences on
the end of which dangle 3-4” (7.5 -10cm) flowers
in shades of cream or green. They give life to a
4
Phalaenopsis gigantea or violacea for sure! It
will overwhelm even the scent of Oncidium
Sharry Baby on the fragrance competition table!
display because the flowers move in the
slightest breeze.
Brassia is another genus with an undeserved
bad reputation, because the plants need a jolt to
flower! So if you have a huge plant that won‟t
bloom, stress it by keeping it cooler, cut the
nitrogen out of its fertilizer, mist but do not water,
give it more light. One or more of those tricks will
get out the flowers! Most of the species have a
nice strong fragrance but tend to be in yellowbrown tones. To get more colour try the
intergenerics made with Brassia and Ada
keiliana. The latter is a cuppy, orange flowered
species with a sweet scent. The resulting
Brassadas have delightful open flowers with
lots of red in them.
That said, there are many Bulbophyllums that do
not stink and some are quite pleasantly fragrant.
Just remember that all (or almost all) bulbos like
to be kept warm and wet, but must have good
drainage, good air movement and most like
Cattleya light. The perfect plant for the
compulsive waterer! A medium bark mix works
well for them.Try B. sumatrana (flowers close at
night), B. dearei and any of the pin-wheel bulbos
–formerly put into the genus Cirrhopetalum. Of
the latter the B. rothschildianum hybrid B.
Elisabeth Ann ‟Buckleberry‟ is a most
rewardingly easy grower.
Coelogynes also have a tarnished reputation.
They are said to be hard to bloom, hate
repotting and have nothing but white, off-white
or almost white flowers. And their white flowers
do not have that majestic mien you get from
Angraecums. They tend to be crinkly...Well that
reputation is probably all due to Coelogyne
cristata
which
grows
at
intermediate
temperatures and forms huge plants (that is why
so many people end up having it!) that will not
flower unless they are given a quite cool, dry
mid-winter rest.The so-called Coel. cristata alba
is almost always really the hybrid Coelogyne
Unchained Melody (Coel. cristata X Coel.
flaccida). It is easy to bloom.
Another lovely intergeneric combination is a
Brassia with a Brazilian (true) Miltonia the hybrid
genus Miltassia. Some need more light to
flower, but the wonderful lurid colour
combinations are worth the extra care.
The
combination
of
Brassia
with
Odontoglossum, the Odontobrassias also have
the most wonderful colour patterns and they
seem to need strong light to bloom. Grow them
where your Vandas bloom well.
The genus Brassavola the way it was defined in
the past gave all its species a bad name
because the species Brassavola digbyana and
B. glauca require very high light to bloom.
Luckily these two species are now given their
own genus Rhyncholaelia and all the remaining
species in Brassavola flower in ordinary Cattleya
light, but like to grow on the warm side. The
most famous of these species is Brassavola
nodosa, the Lady of the Night, with graceful
white and chartreuse flowers that emit a lovely
scent at night. The foliage is very round- like
soda straws.The intergeneric hybrids with this
species often produce flowers with boldly
speckled lips. If you like out of the ordinary
growth habits, try Brassavola cucullata which will
charm you with its dangling leaves and
gracefully arching white and pink or cream
edged flowers that sport a fringed lip.
To counter the “white flower” reputation one can
grow Coel. Burfordiense (Coel. aspirata X Coel.
pandurata) which freely produces hanging
inflorescences of ice green flowers with black
marked lips. But there are charming species with
colourful easily produced flowers too. Coel.
usitana has dangling 5cm(2”) chartreuse flowers
with black to brown lips and an orange column.
Coel. lawrenciana has large pale peach flowers
with a white lip that has a central lemon yellow
wide keel and bright gold and orange markings
in the throat of the lip. This species grows best if
kept in a saucer of low-solute (rain/ distilled)
water.
The genus Dendrochilum or the necklace
orchid has a bad reputation because people
tend to overwater the plants (they are so dainty!)
and then they rot away! Most species are dainty
little plants with slender spindle-shaped
pseudobulbs topped by two slender, but fairly
leathery leaves. The small flowers dangle in
profusion from gracefully arching stems. Grow
them with cattleyas and let them dry out
Next we come to the genus Bulbophyllum. The
first thing people will tell you is that their flowers
stink! That is certainly true of many of them –
with the prize going to the huge Bulbophyllum
phalaenopsis! The leaves may look like huge
satiny dangling Phalaenopsis leaves, but the
promising flower spike develops into a huge,
scaly, furry cone that absolutely reeks!! No
5
15cm/6”cream and dark purple flowers) are the
most common species in cultivation. Doug
mentioned his Stanhopea stevensonii with its
orange flowers. The latter species needs warmth
and high humidity to hold its flowers.
between watering, just like cattleyas. You may
need to water more frequently than the adjacent
cattleya pots, because they will be in smaller
pots -until they reach specimen size.
Dendrochilum magnum may have the largest
flowers in the genus and it comes in orange,
cream and white varieties.(The Kennedys grow
this species to perfection!) The rather small
species, Dendrochilum wenzelii, is even more
variable than the magnum since it comes in
deep orange, yellow and white varieties. Peter
Decyk is another expert Dendrochilum grower
and his specimen sized plants are a joy to see. It
is amazing what specimen dendrochilums he
can produce in his small greenhouse.
Stanhopea panamensis
A related genus is the genus Gongora.
Unfortunately many species have brown flowers.
Their inflorescences go up and then down, so
can be grown in a pot. Their flowers look like
trailing birds in flight. There are many species
with colours other than brown so pick yellow, red
or chartreuse species!
Lycaste is a genus of plants that usually have
root hairs on their roots-just like Paphiopedilums
–and must never dry out. If they dry out, the root
hairs die off and the plant quickly starves to
death. So the white and pink/red flowered plants
that are descendants of Lycaste skinneri must
be kept moist at all times. This chore would be
willingly done for a beauty like the Lyc. Jack Pot
„Dandy‟ with a georgeous large, red, flat flower.
However if you must have the notoriously
difficult or unforgiving Lycaste skinneri, pick a
third(F3) or fourth(F4) generation line-bred
clone, since these line-bred specimens are
selected for ease of culture as well as for
beauty.
The other group of Lycastes are the yellow,
deciduous species, such as Lyc. aromatica.
They should be misted with rain water daily in
the winter but not watered. The deciduous
species were illustrated with a superbly flowered
specimen of Lyc. deppeii – a mass of yellow and
brown flowers on short stems, with no new
leaves visible yet.
photo pp
Stanhopea is the next genus whose reputation
needs to be salvaged. Most people agree that
their bizarre flowers have the most wonderful
fragrances, but most last only 4 days. However
anyone who had seen Robert Johnstone‟s
Stanhopea
oculata
‟Jane‟
CCM-AOS
understands that when grown properly there are
a succession of inflorescences that more than
make up for the short duration of any one
inflorescence. Most species have downward
growing inflorescences and should be grown in
wire baskets. All but Stanhopea insignis (keep it
moist but not sopping wet) like to be kept very
moist and only a handful of species of the about
70 described so far need a more or less dry
winter rest to flower. Stanhopea jenischiana is
an extreme example of such a species- most
clones of it need a decided dry rest in winter to
bloom. Stanhopea wardii (cream to yellow
flowers with two big eye-spots) and the largeflowered
Stanhopea
tigrina
(pairs
of
For continuous bloom Doug recommended
Lycaste schilleriana and Lycaste dowiana alba.
You should also try the related genus, Anguloa.
Anguloa uniflora has pink very fragrant flowers
and when you see how well Glen Alm grew it with 235 flowers- you make room for the large
leaves that are there for the growing season, but
fall off in the winter. Grow it warm.
Maxillarias have a bad name because so many
species are rangy growers and have tiny
insignificant flowers. (Your transcriber must
admit that she threw some out after rescuing
them from a fallen tree in a burnt over South
American Jungle –the flowers were just too
insignificant,
and
I
don‟t
mean
just
small...)Howeverr the genus also contains such
gems as miniature black orchids eg Maxillaria
schunkiana. Then there is the stunning
6
Maxillaria sanderiana with downward growing
inflorescences bearing large white flowers with
dark red markings near the base of the flower
parts. It must have excellent drainage and be
humid and wet. It comes from cool to warm
cloud forests. Grow in a basket near a mister.
Less demanding is Maxillaria tenuifolia with
masses of 1”(2cm) dark red flowers that smell
like coconut. The plant is a bit rangy but will form
a ball of curving growths with lots of flowers if
left alone.
cloud forests. Mario Ferrusi grows them to
perfection and their wild colourful markings wow
us when he brings them to shows and judgings.
But Odontoglossum crispum and its hybrids are
not the only “Odontoglossums” that you can
grow.
Try
Rossioglossum
grande
an
intermediate to almost warm growing species
that just has to have a cool winter rest to grow
and flower well.
The other route to easier to grow
Odontoglossum is to cross them with warm
growing species of such genera as Oncidium.
Crossing the cool red Odontiodas with Oncidium
gives an intermediate temperature Wilsonara.
Oncidium leucochilum crossed with Ots Summit
(Rhynchostele bictoniense-may be a synonym
for
Odontoglossum
brevifoliumX
Odontoglossum brevifolium) gives the wonderful
Odontocidium Cherry Fudge with tall sprays of
smaller shiny brown flowers with deep red lips.
Doug and Terry registered this very lovely cross.
Miltonias, the pansy orchids have a bad rap
because just like in Brassavola two genera were
lumped and they just don‟t grow the same way.
The Brazilian Miltonias are grown like
Cattleyas,(high light, dry out between waterings)
but the Colombian section of the genus is now
transferred into the genus Miltoniopsis and it is
grown quite differently. Keep them evenly moist
with low-solute water- never dry out. Minimum
night temperature should be as close to
60F(15C) as possible and day maximums
should be as close to 70F(20C) as possible.
They also like air to move upward rather than
downward for best results. Repot once a year, to
avoid stale compost and root death.Keep the pot
as small as possible and pot in a bark-New
Zealand moss mix. These plants are good under
light subjects because of the more even and
cooler day temperatures found in many
basement growing areas.
Psychopsis formerly in Oncidium is a genus of
intermediate growing plants that do not like
repotting. So be very sure to repot only when
new roots are coming. They like high humidity
and good air movement, since they grow on
branches hanging over rivers. The hybrids are
much easier. So get one of the mericlones
available and enjoy a succession of “butterflies”
on tall stems.
The modern red Miltoniopsis hybrids were bred
from Miltiopsis roezlii. This species has two
large deep red spots on the petals and by
breeding it to species that lack the confining
gene of the roezlii it allows the colour to spread
all over the flowers of the progeny. Miltoniopsis
Bert Field „Ono‟ was the lovely example of a
solid red pansy flower chosen by Doug. To show
the wonderful lip “waterfall” markings found in
progeny of Miltoniopsis phalaenopsis Doug
chose a picture of Miltoniopsis Echo Bay
„MidnightTears‟ a fragrant, red flower with white
“drops” edged in black cascading down the lip.
Phragmipedium a genus of South-American
lady-slippers is only hard(for most species) if
you do not know this fact: The long-petalled
species caudatum, wallisii and the hybrid
Grande like to be grown on the dry side. All the
other species like to sit on a saucer of rain/pure
water to do well. For instance Phragmipedium
hirtzii may be two weeks under water in its
native habitat.
The most recently discovered species Phrag.
kovachii has enormous violet flowers, but it is
contributing to the “hard-to grow “ reputation of
the genus, since it grows very slowly as a
seedling. However it is being line-bred and that
will undoubtedly result in plants that grow well in
cultivation. Hybrids with it already grow well, so
grow those for now.
Odontoglossum is reputed to be hard to grow.
The genus may not exist in the future because it
has been combined into Oncidium. In future we
will have to talk about the hybrids of
Odontoglossum crispum ( I don‟t know the new
Oncidium name, just that the new name cannot
be Oncidium crispum, because this name is
already another valid species) Anyway Odm.
crispum has to be grown cold to cool and cannot
tolerate heat. It is at home in high elevation
The same history played itself out with Phrag.
bessiae the brilliantly red species found growing
on cliffs in Ecuador. The Peruvian form of the
species is usually considered as a separate
species Phrag.dalessandroi. There are now also
yellow and white varieties of Phrag bessiae
7
Dendrobium unicum is a plant a lot of people
have killed. Rosanna Li did a lovely job with her
plant. She gives it cattleya light and dries it out a
bit. She keeps it over the winter in a greenhouse
in an aquarium where it gets about 60%
humidity but no water. During November to
January it loses its leaves. The potting medium
consists of big chunks of coconut husks and
rocks. Alternatively you could grow it on a slab
and give it a dry rest for 2-3 months, but with
about 60% humidity.
available and it it getting easier to grow with
every generation. Doug recommended the
hybrid Phrag. Jason Fischer as it is a
spectacular deep red full-flowered hybrid.
Tolumneas used to be included in the genus
Oncidium and were known as equitant
Oncidiums.They are not easy unless you meet
their specific requirements. They are twig
epiphytes from the Carribean and like to get
wetted once a day with low solute water and
then quickly dry off. In the home this can be
done
by
mounting
them
on
cedar
shingles/shakes (do not use aromatic cedar),
oak slabs, but not evergreens. Put your mounted
plant into a clay pot, add a bit of moss loosely to
keep up the humidity and water once a day. Use
a fan, but do not blow onto the plants directly.
Zelenkoa onusta, formerly Oncidium onustum
grows in humid, but dry coastal areas in
Ecuador and Peru, sometimes on cacti. This
plant was grown by Synea Tan in high light in a
north exposure out of doors and was brought
indoors in October, again into full sun, when the
night temperatures go down to 2 C. It was grown
wet out of doors and cooler and drier in winter.
The last genus with a bad rap in our latitude is
the genus Vanda. The plants are often sold
bare-root because that is how they grow best in
their hot, humid, high light native habitats. They
do better with their roots enclosed somewhat in
our less than tropical climate. Soak the plants in
warm water then spiral the roots into a clay pot.
Add some loose medium. Water whenever the
roots turn white and keep watering them until the
roots turn green. Some people had success with
a glass case for the roots. It keeps up the
humidity and you can see when the roots turn
white and need watering. The crosses with
Ascocentrum need less light and the crosses
with Vanda coerulea often can do with less heat.
Doug recommended Ascocenda Princess
Mikasa as the easiest blue Vanda hybrid. Using
Vanda coerulea we eventually get to another
spectacular hybrid, Vanda Robert‟s Delight.
Mericlones of a blue and black clone‟Big Black‟
and one of a raspberry red clone ‟Garnet
Beauty‟ are available from Doug and Terry.
Clowesia russelliana grown by Joe O‟Regan
was given a 2-3 month winter rest.
Catasetum fimbriatum also by Joe got a winter
rest and on starting to grow again in the early
spring was set unto a saucer of water, but not
watered from above.
Plant of the Month was the handsome
Paphiopedilum Jogjae (Paph. glaucophyllum X
Paph.
glanduliferum)
grown
by
Heinz
Ernstberger.
Heinz grows his plant on a windowsill in the
summer and in the basement under lights in the
winter. This year it was in a greenhouse.
The potting medium is a mix of fine bark,
charcoal and perlite.
The plant is fertilized once per week for 3
weeks, then watered with plain rainwater for the
fourth week. He varies his fertilizers using MSU,
high Nitrogen (26%) etc.
Show table Notes
In hot weather he sprays it with plain rain water.
The show table was ably handled by Wayne
Hingston and Henry Glowka. Below are cultural
comments for some of the more difficult species
supplied by the successful growers:
Congratulations on a job well-done with a lovely
hybrid.
Paphiopedilum niveum was grown by Erika
Lorincz. The plant had 4 flowers on three
inflorescences. She told us that she grows the
plant a little drier than a standard Paphiopedilum
and pots it high in the pot, in a coarser dryer
mix, all to avoid rot. The plant gets extra
calcium.
Maxillaria uncata, a tale by Erika
Lorincz
I had this orchid growing for many years on a
light stand in my basement. It had come to me
as a gift from the late John Kafka, when he was
still collecting orchids in the American Tropics.
8
It looked like a porcupine with bright green
bristly leaves, and sporting intermittent modest
creamy flowers with red stripes on the lip.
In the past six months the plant seemed to be
going downhill. When I lifted the pot off the shelf,
I said to the Maxillaria: “Did you know that you
have a new name now? You are to be known
henceforth as : ‘Christensenella uncata’. The
Columbian lady said so”. (Editor‟s note: Our
August speaker Andrea Niessen)
The maxillaria looked at me with sad droopy
leaves that seemed to say: “I don‟t care, just put
me into the green bin and get it over with will
ya!”
Thank you for this Erika.
A Star is born.
Crystal Star Orchids offers
broker service with over 15 top
orchid nurseries from Taiwan
and the U.S.A, including:
Ching Hua Orchids, In Charm,
Krull Smith, and Sunset Valley.
Our website is up and running.
If you have any questions
please feel free to email us at:
crystalstarorchids@gmail.com
or call
Eric Lee at (905) 478-8398.
9
September 2011 Show Table
Class
First
Class 1
Cattleya
Easter
Cattleya Alliance
(Lc)
Second
Third
Hawaiian Cattleya (Lc.) Mini Purple
‘Ocean Blue’
Alex Antenaitis
Rosanna Li
Paphiopedilum Jogjae
Paphiopedilum niveum
Class 2
Plant of the Month
Erika Lorincz
Paphiopedilum
Heinz Ernstberger
and
Paphiopedilum
Edward of York
Ingrid Wauro
Cathy Tacoma
Zelenkoa onusta
Class 4
Ingrid Wauro
Vanda insignis x Vanda
Golden Doubloon
Class 3
Phalaenopsis
Vanda Alliance
Cattleya Seagull’s Apricot
Synea Tan
Aliceara
Hilo
‘Firestorm’
Ablaze
Henry Glowka
Oncidium
Dendrobium unicum
Class 6
Rosanna Li
Dendrobium
Class 7
Catasetum fimbriatum
Stanhopea wardii
Clowesia russelliana
Joe O’Regan
Joe O’Regan
Joe O’Regan
All Others
10
Prince