April 2015 - ANOS Warringah Group

The Australasian Native Orchid Society
The Warringah Group Inc.
ABN: 84 245 695 380
Patron: Murray Corrigan
PRESIDENT: Trish Peterson 8920 8690 trishpet@hotmail.com
SECRETARY: Bryan Spurrs 9943 0474
TREASURER: Robert Murch 9906 2658
EDITOR:
Bill Dobson
9981 2525 bdobson@optusnet.com.au
COMMITTEE: Judith Barry (Librarian), Lorraine Dobson, Ralph Lumby, Cary Polis, Garry & Harleen Williams,
Mick Korzenowski
Web Administrator: James Litten james@insydney.com.au
Website: www.anoswarringah.org.au
CORRESPONDENCE: PO Box 421, Forestville NSW 2087
Monthly Meetings: 3rd Tuesday at 8:00 pm - Senior Citizens Hall, Starkey Street, Forestville
April 2015
Other Events for 2015
Castle Hill International Orchid Fair
17-18th April
Orchids Out West
15-17th May
Tinonee Open Day
4-5th July
St Ives Orchid Fair
14-15-16th August
Kempsey Speciosum Spectacular
8-6th September
Next Meeting:
Tuesday 21st April
Bill Dobson
on
Luisia teretifolia
Page 1 of 4
E. Leilkajis
Cadetia taylori
E. Leilkajis
‘Queensland Revisited’
ANOS Warringah Group Inc.
­­ inutes of monthly meeting held at the Senior Citizens
M
Hall, Starkey Street, Forestville on 17th March 2015
The meeting was opened by Trish Peterson at
8:15pm, who welcomed our Guest Speaker for the
evening Ken Russell
Apologies were accepted from Graham Russell;
Harleen Williams, Lorraine Dobson, Bill Westwood,
Murray Corrigan, Warleiti Jap.
Minutes of the previous meeting: Brian Spurrs moved
that the minutes as published in the bulletin were a true
record of the meeting, seconded by Ralph Lumby and
passed by all.
Matters arising: Nil
Correspondence:
In:
• Warringah Council receipt for Spring Show.
• Orchid News OSNSW.
• Garden Clubs of Australia Bulletin March 2015.
Out:
email to Ken Russell, Ray Clement, and various mail
out to members by Trish Peterson.
Bryan Spurrs moved they be accepted, seconded by
Ralph Lumby.
General Business:
• Trish read out a eulogy for Brian Gerhard.
• Trish gave members an update on Murray Corrigan’s
progress..
• The proposed ANOS Conference in Sydney will not
proceed, an alternative show may be held in Kempsey
in conjunction with the Speciosum Spectacular.
• MWOS auction on 29th March 2015.
• Castle Hill International Fair on 17-18th April 2015.
In your Bushhouse; Mick Korzenowski showed the
result of straightening the speciosum pseudobulb from
horizontal where it was at last month’s meeting. An
Elkhorn invasion of Dockrillia striolata pot showed that
the pH is of no use to the orchid. Because only one pot
was affected it shows there was not excess water. It
needs repotting and the Elkhorn removed.
Mick showed a Dendrobium kingianum ‘Skywalker’ with
15 new growths which may be part response to use of
slow release fertilizer. Generally Mick uses dolomite in
his mix to slow the breakdown of the bark.
Judges report by Bill Dobson
Page 2 of 4
Plant of the Evening was Cadetia taylori - Eric Lielkajis
Other plants were Luisia teretifolia - Eric Lielkajis,
Dendrobium monophyllum - David Hemmings.
After supper Ken Russell spoke on advances of native
orchid breeding with a special reference to Sarcochilus
hartmannii breeding, when ‘Red Snow’ was awarded a
HCC in 1983. Ken briefly described how he grows his
Sarcs; waters twice a week in summer, keeps pH about
6.0, and uses pebbles in his mix. He also uses sugars,
molassas, honey (1/2 teaspoon/litre of water).
Lucky Door prizes: Geoff Duggin, TrishPeterson.
Raffle Prizes: Chris Dalrymple, Dianne Minnett, Ralph
Lumby, Norm Eakins, David Hemmings, Laurie McInnes,
Cameron Lanceley, Sandra Wilkinson, Dan Tomich, Greg
(visitor).
In closing Trish thanked everyone for their participation
and wished all a safe journey home.
Meeting closed at 10:05pm
-o0o-
We really enjoyed Ken Russell’s visit last month – his
talk was interesting and entertaining. It is good to hear
from long-established orchid growers who have different,
perhaps unconventional methods of growing their orchids.
If you have the opportunity, a visit to Ken’s nursery in
Dungog is very worthwhile. When we visited late last year,
Ken’s lemon tree was laden with flowering Sarcochilus
and other small Australian native species.
In the bush, the terrestrials are starting to emerge –
Pterostylis, Acianthus and Corybas in our local bushland
are proliferating – hopefully a good year ahead!
Don’t forget the Castle Hill Show this coming weekend
(Friday & Saturday) – a good opportunity to purchase
those essentials!
Trish Peterson
Dendrobium speciosum var. grandiflorum ‘Katrina’ AD/ANOS-2010
ANOS Warringah Group Inc.
Dendrobium speciosum var. grandiflorum ‘Katrina’
AD/ANOS-2010
As some of you may be aware probably my favourite
orchid is Dendrobium speciosum and all its varieties.
I have gone up and down the east coast of Australia
looking at these in situ. It’s hard not to appreciate this
as one of the world’s best orchids, particularly when
standing in front of a plant in the wild in full flower.
Approximately 10 years ago I was at the Dendrobium
Speciosum Spectacular at Kempsey and couldn’t help
but pick up some of Ted Walmsley’s advanced seedlings.
In particular some grandiflorum Beranghi Gold x
Creek Aureum, for myself and some for my mate Mick
Korzenowski. I even backed this up the following year
with some more, as Ted was making some room, as you
have to for more advanced plants, and as they say ‘you
can’t keep them all’.
Now knowing a bit about the plants helps when you
are looking at the parents to have an idea about their
progeny. I was looking for good shaped grandiflorums,
but with colour, although this was secondary and anyway
up till a few years ago about the only breeding that had
been done was by Ted Gregory.
Den. speciosum var. grandiflorum ‘Beranghi Gold’
This is a bush plant collected from Mt Larcom just north
of Gladstone in QLD. A strange rocky outcrop within a
stone’s throw of the Pacific ocean. Plants from here have
two features one good and one bad.
The Good; COLOUR here they have it in spades GOLD
to ORANGE like a carrot.
The BAD; SHAPE sounds too good to be true, and it is.
Trouble is most of the plants reflex badly and the lateral
sepals kick in to touch and almost cross.
Den. speciosum var. grandiflorum ‘Creek Aureum’
This is a bush collected plant from Kroombit Tops
approximately 70 km west-south-west of Gladstone and
from an altitude of 600-800m. Plants here are generally
good shape but as in all things in nature you would have
Page 3 of 4
to see thousands in flower to pick a handful if you are
lucky. However shape is much, much better than the Mt
Larcom variety.
In the early 1990’s Ted Walmsley and Tony Blewitt had
travelled to Queensland to see some of the Den. speciosum
varieties such as Den. speciosum var. capricornicum,
Den. speciosum var. curvicaule, and Den. speciosum var.
grandiflorum and since then they have been line breeding
and intervarietal breeding as well and this is one of the
results.
Dendrobium speciosum var. grandiflorum ‘Katrina’
was one of the seedling that Mick had although it was not
the first to flower there were a couple of others that had a
tendency to more orange than gold and when I returned
to Ted’s at Kempsey the following year I suggested that
he flower the rest before putting them on the sales bench.
However this is easier said than done as they can take
a number of years before they flower and in the mean
time are getting bigger and bigger. These plants are very
robust and very floriferous with 80-100 flowers on a mature
inflorescence, and flowers between 70-90mm.
Dendrobium speciosum var. grandiflorum ‘Creek Aureum’
This was also its first flowering, and what a flowering it
was. If you saw a picture of the plant then you might be
tempted to say the colour could not be that good but when
the plant is sitting in between other gold grandiflorum and
cream curvicaule plants on the same bench as was the
case in ANOS Warringah Group’s Spring Show in 2010 it
hit you in the face. Bar for the fact it had a few damaged
flowers if would have received a quality award as well.
However it was awarded an AD for its outstanding colour
which it justly deserved.
So keep a lookout for Dendrobium speciosum var.
grandiflorum seedlings I know that Gerry Walsh, The Rock
Lilly Man, has some and we are growing some of these on
now and they are moving along very well. Can’t wait to see
them in flower as some of the parents, including Katrina,
are even more impressive. Perhaps I will see you at the
show at Kempsey this year poring over the sales bench.
Good Growing Bill Dobson
Dendrobium speciosum var. grandiflorum ‘Mt Larcom Gold’
ANOS Warringah Group Inc.
ANOS Warringah Monthly Benching Results - March 2015
1. Dockrillia species
1st Dockrillia cucumerina
R. Schneidereit
2nd Dendrobium lichenastrum
C. Bradley
3rd Dendrobium lichenastrum
C. Bradley
2. Dendrobium species
1st Dendrobium monophyllum
D. Hemmings
2nd Dendrobium bigibbum
C. Dalrymple
3rd Dendrobium bigibbum
D. Hemmings
3. Sarcanthinae species
1st Sarcochilus hirticalcar
C. Bradley
2nd Sarcochilus hirticalcar
3rd Luisia teretifolia
E. Leilkajis
4. Bulbophyllum species
1st Bulbophyllum macphersonii
L. & B. Dobson
2nd Bulbophyllum schillerianum
R. Schneidereit
3rd Bulbophyllum radicans
E. Leilkajis
5. Miscellaneous species
1st Cadetia taylori
E. Leilkajis
2nd Oberonia carnosa
E. Leilkajis
3rd Liparis reflexia
R. Schneidereit
6. Dendrobium Hybrids
1st Den. Brinawa Charm x Hewitt Glow Bullion
G. & H. Williams
2nd Den. Candy ‘Mornington’
D. Hemmings
3rd Den. Ballerina
E. Kielich
7. Sarcanthinae Hybrids
1st Sarco. Velvet Red x Fitzhart 1-1
C. Bradley
2nd Sarco. Velvet ‘Chocolate Drop’
B. Spurrs
3rd Sarco. Zyzzy
B. Spurrs
8. Miscellaneous Hybrids
1stNil
2ndNil
3rdNil
9. Australasian species
1stNil
2ndNil
3rdNil
10. Australasian Hybrids
1st Dockrillia Hot Coals
C. Bradley
2nd Dockrillia Hot Coals
G. & H. Williams
3rd Dockrillia Hot Coals
G. & H. Williams
Page 4 of 4
11. Novice & Junior
1st Bulbophyllum macphersonii
2nd Sarco. Velvet 3rdNil
12. Pterostylis species
1stNil
2ndNil
3rdNil
13. Other terrestrials
1st Chiloglotis reflexa
2nd Chiloglotis reflexa
3rd Chiloglotis reflexa
14. Terrestrial hybrids
1stNil
2ndNil
3rdNil
15. Best specimen
1stNil
2ndNil
3rdNil
16. Best First Flowering seedling
1st Den. Victorian Regency
2ndNil
3rdNil
-o0o-
J. Hemmings
J. Hemmings
R. Schneidereit
R. Schneidereit
R. Schneidereit
In my Bushhouse
As I sit here writing this in early April it’s raining and more
predicted. With temperatures still around the 20-22 deg
C mark the plants are still in growing mode so keep up
the fertilizer. This is a perfect example that Mick has
been talking about of the use of a 6-9 month slow release
fertilizer that both he and I have been using for some time
now. When it rains the plants still get minute releases of
fertilizer. I think that many people still think of slow release
fertilizers as they were years ago which were a far cry
from the way they are designed and manufactured today
which requires a combination of temperature and water
to release a CONTROLLED amount, and that’s the key.
If you get a hot day and water they don’t dump it on the
plants and burn the roots. That folks is an old wives tale
that prevents many growers using a great tool. Only
trouble is you can’t use it on mounted plants.
So here we are in April with the grasshoppers gone,
the aphids mostly under control (keep a lookout on new
growths), and just when you think everything is going well
we have another visitor. Bruce the Bandicoot!
R. Schneidereit
First he digs holes all over the lawn, which I can put up with
even thought it was a little cute, but then he dug under the
bushouse and started ploughing all over the bushhouse
floor. Ten o’clock at night I’m chasing him
around the bushouse and garden with a
hose and then sit down and have a laugh. It’s
enough to drive you drink. Who said growing
orchids was easy?
By the end of the month you can start and
see if any signs of Dendrobium speciosum
inflorescences are showing so this month
should be one of cleaning up the Bushhouse
and organizing for the coming show season,
if you haven’t already.
On a side note, I hear the wine vintage for
NSW and Victoria will be one of the best
ever, I look forward tho that.
Good growing
Bill Dobson
ANOS Warringah Group Inc.