SOUTHERN ONTARIO ORCHID SOCIETY NEWS September 2013

SOUTHERN
ONTARIO
ORCHID
September 2013, Volume 48, Issue 8
SOCIETY
NEWS
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: Marilyn Crompton, #1908-21 Overlea Blvd., Toronto
ON M4H 1P2, phone 416-
467-0018, renew or join on line at soos.ca/members
Executive: President, Yvonne Schreiber, 905-473-3405; Vice-president Laura Liebgott, 905-883-5290; 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; Membership, Marilyn Crompton, ; Web Master, Max Wilson;
Newsletter, Peter and Inge Poot; Annual Show, Peter Poot; Refreshments, Joe O’Regan. Conservation Committee, Susan
Shaw; 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 8 - 9, 2014
Next Meeting Sunday, September 1 Toronto
Botanical Garden, Floral Hall,
Program: Jean Allen-Ikeson will speak to us on
“The Story of White Cattleyas”. Jean operates
Windsor greenhouse in Dundas, Ontario, near
Hamilton, where she sells orchids and energy
efficient greenhouses for homes and schools. She is
an accredited American Orchid Society Judge and
writes articles for the monthly magazine Orchids.
She authored the 2011 special issue on Sarcochilus.
Jean will have plants for sale on September 1. Please
see
her
website
which
is
at
www.windsorgreenhouse.com
2014 Membership on sale now at the
membership desk. Be an early bird.
Jean Allen-Ikeson
photoPP
1
President’s
Remarks
Talk to me at a meeting; e-mail me at
yvonneschreiber68@gmail.com, or phone me at 905473-3405 (I do have an answering machine –just let the
phone ring long enough).
Yvonne Schreiber
Questions or comments
Fellow
orchid
aficionados Orchidfest has come and gone. To those of
you who were unable to attend, you missed two
amazing talks and some very delicious food. Thank you
to all who brought in a dish to share. A special thank
you to everyone who lent a pair of hands to organize all
that tempting food. Yummy!
Judy Floyd
With our September 1 meeting we will be resuming
the “Social Break” portion of our monthly program.
People whose last names start with the letters N, O, P,
Q and R are asked to bring in a treat to share for this
meeting. Please remember that 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.
Long time member and enthusiastic hard
working
past
show
committee
participant Judy Floyd has passed away
after
an extended
illness.
Judy was
Welcome
New
Members
always full ofElaine
life and
full of ideas. She
Chang,
served us Susan
well as Harris
the publicity
?????person for
many SOOS shows. She will be missed.
The fall orchid show season is almost here. On
September 28th and 29th the Central Ontario Orchid
Society will host its annual orchid show. The Eastern
Canada Orchid Society will be hosting Orchidfete in
Montreal on October 19th and 20th. S.O.O.S. is planning
to enter displays at both of these shows and we will be
looking for flowering plants from you to use. The
Windsor Orchid Society will be hosting its first AOS
judged show as well this fall. It will take place on
October 26 and 27th. Don Wyatt will be looking for
plants to take to the Central Ontario Orchid Show. The
Eastern Canada Orchid Society show and the Windsor
Orchid Society show are being handled by Laura
Liebgott.
It is our intention to present another session of Wayne
Hingston’s “Cultural Snapshots, commencing later this
fall. Once Wayne has caught his breath from his
incredible cross continental bicycle ride (he rode from
the Pacific to the Atlantic), we will discuss dates and
topics. These sessions are slated to take place starting
at 12:15 p.m. on the stage at the front of our meeting
room.
The term of office of your executive comes to an end
this coming December. Do you have ideas you would
like to put forward to improve our society? Would you
consider the role of vice president or director? Fresh
ideas are always welcome. You have a couple of
months yet to think about it. If not yourself, is there
someone else whom you think might be a good
candidate, then give us a name. A slate of names for
the new executive has to be compiled by the November
meeting so that we can hold the elections at the
December meeting.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we
actually had to vote and not just acclaim?
Coming Events
SEPTEMBER
1, SOOS meeting Toronto Botanical Garden, sales 12
noon, program 1 pm
7, Toronto Judging Centre Monthly Judging, 1 pm
Toronto Botanical Garden.
21, 9:00 am, Montreal Judging Centre Monthly Judging
at the Jardin Botanique de Montreal + Business
meeting
28-29, Central Ontario Orchid society
Show, Cambridge, Ontario
OCTOBER
5, Toronto Judging Centre Monthly Judging, 1 pm
Toronto Botanical Garden.
6, SOOS meeting Toronto Botanical Garden, sales 12
noon, program 1 pm
5-6, CNYOS Show, Baldwisville, NY(to be confirmed)
19-20 Eastern Canada Orchid Society
Show,
Montreal
+
Montreal
Judging Centre Monthly Judging .
26-27, Windsor Orchid Society Show,
Windsor, Ontario.
NOVEMBER
2, TJC BUSINESS MEETING and Toronto Judging
Centre Monthly Judging, 1 pm Toronto Botanical
Garden.
10,
SOOS meeting Toronto Botanical Garden, Garden
hall, sales 12 noon, program 1 pm
14-16 AOS Members Meeting, Fairchild Tropical
Gardens, Coral Gables, Florida
2
16, Montreal Judging Centre Monthly Judging at the
Jardin Botanique de Montreal.
DECEMBER
1, SOOS meeting Toronto Botanical Garden, sales 12
noon, program 1 pm.
7,
Toronto Judging Centre Monthly Judging, 1 pm
Toronto Botanical Garden.
14, Montreal Judging Centre Monthly Judging at the
Jardin Botanique de Montreal.
AOS Judging Results
Please note, all of these awards are provisional until
published by the American Orchid Society.
Toronto Judging Centre, August 11:
Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi var. alba, CCM-AOS 80
points,
Encyclia alata, CCM-AOS 84 points, Wilson Ng.
Potinaria Rubescence, AM-AOS 82 points, Crystal Star
Orchids.
Note! The next
judging will be held at the Toronto
Botanical Garden, September 7, judges education at 10
am, judging at 1pm. Join us, bring your flowers and
come to see how it is done. AOS Judging is a service of
the American Orchid Society and is open to all! Bring us
your flowering orchids. We need the practice.
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Laelias of Mexico
by James Rose,
The genus Laelia has been chopped down severely by the DNA
taxonomists, since they found that most of the species in this formerly large
genus are not closely related to the type species Laelia speciosa and had to
therefore be removed from this genus. All that remained were eleven
species. All 11 species occur in Mexico, even though one species is also
found in several other countries.
transcribed by Inge Poot
Since the temperatures in the areas in which they are found are rarely
higher than 100F or lower than 25F they can be grown out of doors in Santa
Barbara, California, the home town of our speaker. However, the Mexicans
treasure their native orchids and as a result so does their government and
they are now very hard to get out of Mexico. As a result Laelia anceps is the
only laelia readily available in the trade at present.
Laelia speciosa (Photo: OW 10.0, Library)
The type species of the genus Laelia speciosa was first described as Bletia speciosa in 1825, then in 1831 Lindley changed the name
to Laelia majalis, but since he did not follow the rule of using the first published specific epiphet, this name was changed to the
present day name of Laelia speciosa in 1914 by Schlechter.
Distribution: Southern part of Sierra Occidental of the Central Mexican Plateau.
Elevation: 1900 to 2500 meters withstanding temperatures down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
Habitat: Growing almost always on oaks and withstands very dramatic periods of drought. November and December keep cool and
dry. If you water them at all during that time there will be no flowers, even if the new growth emerges at that time.
Conservation: Under special protection. Heavily collected in some areas.
Flowering time: April to May. This coincides with a religious holiday and the flowers are picked with the two front bulbs as
substitute aqua-picks, to be used in decorations of homes and churches.
Laelia autumnalis
Photo: W. Bussey OW 10.0
First described as Bletilla autumnalis in 1825 from plants collected near Morelia and moved to
Laelia autumnalis in 1831 by Lindley.
The plants have one meter (3-foot) sprays with up to 12 terminally bunched flowers.
Reichenbach’s picture represented artistic license by shortening the flower stem! Many colour
variants have been found such as albas and the deep red-magenta variety atrorubens
Distribution: Central mountains of Mexico in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Mexico, Morelos.
Pueblo and Guerrero.
Elevation: 1400 to 2700 meters
Habitat: Grows in mixed pine and evergreen oak forest under dry to humid condition.
Conservation: Large populations found throughout range.
Flowering time: September to December.
They grow in almost full sun. The seedpod goes through the dry season intact and splits at the beginning of the rainy season.
Plants growing on steep cliffs are only ones safe from depredations from subsistence farming.
Laelia crawshayana (Photo W. Bussey)
(may be a hybrid of
L albida Photo: OW library
and L. anceps)Photo G. Bromley, OW 10.0
First described in 1883 by Reichenbach from a plant collected for Sander and flowered by Mr. De B. Crawshay.
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Distribution: Only known from a small area of the Sierra Madre del Sur in the western mountains of Jalisco
Thought to be almost extinct in the wild, but in the last two years two more small areas have been found that this species grows in.
Elevation: 1100 to 1500 meters with relatively cool winters.
Habitat: Grows on oaks in rather humid forests bordering large barranca areas. Grows on the Pacific side of the mountains where it
is warmer and more humid. They experience no frost in their habitat. Grow at intermediate temperatures.
Conservation: Because of limited geographic distribution, this plant is, though protected, somewhat threatened.
Flowering time: February to March.
Laelia albida
First described by Bateman and Lindley in 1839 from a plant from Oaxaca. Albida means white as most laelias were known to be
pink or purple.
Distribution: Grows over a very large area. Found as far north as Sinaloa and is found abundantly South to the state of Oaxaca.
Elevation: 1400 to 2300 meters. Often considered to be the hardiest Laelia
Habitat: Often seen on oaks and junipers, but occasionally found growing on rocks.
Conservation: Not threatened. Abundant is some areas.
Flowering time: September to December.
Most are white, deep pink and yellow forms are rare. Also most have rather poor form. As you go from the most northern part of its
distribution to the most southern part, the average shape changes from inferior in the north to best in the south. The most
commonly found form is the one with average quality shape.
Laelia anceps
First described by Lindley in 1835. Soon after many different colour varieties were noted.
Distribution: In the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Central Plateau of Oaxaca along the watershed of the Gulf of Mexico. Subspecies
dawsonii is found in the Sierra Madre del Sur.
Elevation: 900 to 1500 meters.
Habitat: Grows abundantly in warm humid oak forests. In cultivation grows best mounted on cork bark. Dry out in winter.
Conservation: Not threatened except for limited populations of subspecies dawsonii, a small-flowered, poorly growing white
flowered form, whose distal portion of the lip has a large purple blotch.
Flowering time: October to December for the purple clones. The white ones flower in January.
On the eastern side of the Andean mountain ranges(Atlantic) the flowers of the variety found there are purple and flower earlier
than the white ones found on the western side(Pacific) of the mountain range.
Our speaker grows this species in his yard out of doors in Santa Barbara. His maximum temperatures are 100F and the winter
minimum is 25F. The plant was planted on the north side of a tree trunk and gradually grew around to the south side where it now
blooms much more prolifically.
Noteworthy varieties are alba, schroederae and dawsonii var chilapensis. L. anceps schroederae is somewhat peloric in that the
petals are darker pink than the sepals, darkest near the apex, much wider and pointy like a lip, while the distal portion of the lip is
very dark magenta. The dawsonii variety chilapensis is similar to the previous variety, except that the colour of the petals is more
evenly medium pink and does not intensify towards the apex as in schroederae. The variety chilapensis is extinct in the wild. It is
grown in backyards to supply flowers (with two bulbs as aqua-pics) for the Day Of The Dead. It will only do well in very hot regions.
Laelia gouldiana (Photo: J. Varigos, OW 10.0)
First described by Reichenbach in 1888 from unknown origin and was suggested to be a natural
hybrid, now known to be untrue. The plant has an unusual number of chromosomes (ploidy).
Distribution: Only known as a cultivated plant from Hidalgo.
Elevation: 1200 to 1900 meters.
Habitat: Unknown.
Conservation: Probably extinct in nature.
Flowering time: October to November.
This species is similar to L. anceps, but the flowers are darker pink, there may be up to 10-12
flowers per stem and the flowering stems are shorter than in L anceps. An altogether desirable
species.
5
Laelia furfuracea (possibly a L albida hybrid) Photo:P. Harding, OW 10.0
First collected near Oaxaca in 1832 by Karwinsky. Later described by Lindley in 1839.
Distribution: Widespread along the Sierra Madre del Sur only in the state of Oaxaca.
Elevation: Grows quite high at elevations from 2100 to 3000 meters.
Habitat: Not so dry mixed forests of oak, pine and juniper.
Conservation: Some pressure from local collection and charcoal production, since it prefers to
grow on trees used for charcoal production..
Flowering time: October to December
Best grown mounted, like most true laelias.
Alba forms are available, but they are poor growers and are expensive.
Laelia rubescens (Photo M. Rosim OW 10.0) First described by Lindley in 1840 and later
confused by its numerous color variations due to the plants wide area of distribution.
Distribution: Along the Pacific Coastal Plain throughout the State of Chiapas to the Yucatan. Also
occurring in Central America.
Elevation: 100 to 1700 meters in rather tropical forests.
Habitat: Warm oak forests and occasionally seen growing on rocks in tropical conditions.
Conservation: Not threatened.
Flowering time: August to November.
The typical form has light pink flowers with a deep red-magenta throat. Unfortunately, the
flowers last at most for a week. It ia a warm grower. There is a really rare yellow form,
described by the synonym Laelia aurea. This form was collected at 100-300m elevation hot forest by Hagsater in 1974 and described
by him in 1990.
The way to the typical form of the species habitat taken by our speaker took him along a trail from Masatlan to Durango, crossing a
tropical forest to a savannah, then an oak forest (where one may see this species) and then to an alpine area sporting a wscenic
wooden hut complete with thatched roof and fireplace!
Laelia superbiens (Photo A. Maximiano, OW 10.0)
First descibed by Linldley from a plant from Guatemala collected by Geo. Ure-skinner who
wrote “ Have you ever seen anything like this”. Occasionally considered a Schomburgkia.
Distribution: Southern part of Mexico in the Sierra Madre in Oaxaca and the Central
Plateau in Chiapas. Also found in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Elevation: 1000 to 1500 meters. Mostly frost free.
Habitat: Open oak forests with pronounced dry seasons.
Conservation: Somewhat vulnerable. Only one large and one small population exists in
Mexico. Deforestation for pastureland threatens it.
Flowering time: November to March.
Needs to be mounted on a huge piece of cork! It has a ten foot spike……However in our
latitudes under glass the inflorescence is shorter!
It can flower with a dense head of magnificent frilly flowers at the end of this long stem- probably to lift the flowers above the tree
canopy. The white form of the species needs full sun.
In Mexico the species has lips that look as if a bit of Laelia anceps is mixed into it.
It grows in an unbelievably dry area! So not surprisingly it likes to get a three-month dry spell in the greenhouse.
Laelia eyermaniana (photo: M. Bussey, OW 10.0)
First considered a variety of L. furfuracea, it was described by Reichenbach in 1888 from a plant
owned by Sander. Later considered, incorrectly, to be a natural hybrid.
Distribution: Huge. Occuring as far north as the State of Sonora and Chihuahua through Sinaloa,
Durango, Jalisco and Michoacan.
Elevation: 1250 to 2200 meters with severe frost.
Habitat: Grows on mainly oaks in open deciduous forests with severe dry seasons.
Conservation: Not threatened, though not abundant.
Flowering time: August to November.
The northernmost colony of this plant is on the edge of the Sonora desert. Consider that
Wilmington is the most northern town where epiphytic orchids may be found.
6
In Alamos, an American retirement community this plant may be seen atop an orange tree grown in the local orchid nursery! The
habitat of the plant is in the mountains behind the town, but of course you need a local guide to find them. As a young man of about
25 years of age our guest speaker decided he had to see where the plant grew naturally to be able to grow it better at home. He had
a hard time getting a guide, because there was always a reason why the best guide, then his son could not help him within the time
available to him. Finally a retired guide was produced, a greybeard with a mass of wrinkles whom our young Jim Rose was not sure
could make it up that mountain! However, Jim ran out of water and steam quite a while before that wiry little man did and the latter
and went on ahead to find the orchids himself and only call Jim to come if he was successful. The long-awaited call finally came and
Jim dragged himself to the indicated tree and saw – a bromeliad on top..... this guide had no idea what an orchid looked like!!! A
cautionary tale!
In Search of Lycaste skinneri, by James Rose of Cal-Orchid Inc, transcribed by Inge Poot
On August 11, 2013, SOOS was afforded a real treat during our annual Orchidfest. Jim Rose gave us two entertaining and informative
talks with the first telling all we would ever need to know about the most important species responsible for those fabulous Lycaste
hybrids “oohed and aahed” over at orchid shows.
Cal-Orchid is located in Santa Barbara, California and the climate there is so ideally suited to the culture of this genus that Jim
expressed the view (with a mischievous smile) that lycastes are easy to grow.....He dropped hints about keys to success throughout
the lecture, but we Lycaste murderers decided to tackle him in the question period to get all the tips necessary to be sure we can
mend our ways in the Toronto area. (See at the end). Jim felt that much of the credit for his Lycaste growing skills was due to his
time spent working for the now disbanded Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, then owned by Paul Gripp.
His interest in the genus was aroused by a beautiful little book of about 100 Lycaste paintings by Cogniaux (our French speaking
members of the audience supplied the proper pronunciation as “kon-knee-oh”). The most beautiful species depicted was Lycaste
skinneri. The white clones of this species are most treasured by the native population and as a result the local collection pressure on
them is tremendous. (It is found on the sides of a quiescent volcano and is thought to be white due to the genetic intermingling with
one of the deciduous yellow lycastes, who act as anthocyanin suppressors). The book showed many colour varieties with various
shadings of pink, the pink colour usually deeper on the small petals and lip. One plant depicted in the above mentioned book was
Lycaste skinneri ‘Hamilton Smith’. It showed a beautifully full, flat, white clone of the species with pale pink petals, outlined by a
narrow deep pink picotee and a black-red frilly lip. This print was offered to Paul Gripp for $5000 when he expressed his admiration
for it....After the thanks but no thanks, a rumour surfaced that someone in England still had this clone. Paul Gripp was so taken by
this clone, that he broke his usual “fiscal conservatism” and sent Jim Rose to England to try to find the plant. To no avail!
Another source of Lycaste skinneri used to be the late Otto Mittelstadt of Guatemala. His sloping backyard had a thin canopy of trees
and the ground under them was covered with about 2000 pots of Lycaste skinneri plants that he was hoping to use as propagation
material for an export business. But because he was unwilling to use bribes to get CITES export permits for this Appendix one
species, he never did any selling except to locals and judges coming to judge the Guatemalan orchid shows. To lure the judges to
come, they were promised CITES certificates for any plants they wished to export- and the appropriate measures were taken by the
local orchid society to get the certificates. So slowly but surely, the best clones were leaving the country. What was left to disperse
after Mr Mittelstadt’s death was quite mediocre. Your transcriber was also offered her pick about 20 years ago and Mr Mittelstadt
was quite amazed that I refused to take the whole of the two plants I picked out, because I wanted this genetic material to remain in
Guatemala.
So Cal-Orchid decided to line breed the species to get their own lovely clones. The slides showing some of their triumphs were
impressive. But a ‘Hamilton Smith’ look-alike was not among them. The white-sepaled clones with white lips and pink petals were
especially striking. They are also selecting for larger petals and lips and prefer clones whose petals bend outward from the column
instead of staying parallel to the column. Lycaste skinneri ‘York’s Pride’ FCC-AOS was just lovely with full flowers, with just a hint of
pink in the sepals whose tips gently bent back. The petals were slightly darker pink, with outward bent tips. The lip was white with a
narrow pink picotee and a red central portion.
Conservation of the species in its native habitat is not really possible, because of human needs for food. Subsistence farming is the
norm resulting in the inexorable march of the short-lived fields hacked out of the forest, the wood used as fire-wood (70% of the
farmers’ time is spent in collecting fire wood – a substitute fuel is urgently needed!) and the soil is planted in potatoes, cardamon
and lately, acres upon acres of leather leaf fern for export. The latest fern farm –about 10 square miles- is perilously close to the
preserve set aside for the almost extinct Guatemalan bird of paradise, the Quetzal. Potatoes are heavy feeders, fertilizers are too
7
expensive to be an option, so after a couple of years the soil is exhausted and a new field is hacked out of the forest that is home to
Lycaste skinneri. The only place where the species is reasonably safe is in steep rocky terrain. But as it turns out, even there the
species is “farmed”. The land owner leaves two mature plants on one tree and collects all the rest to sell at the local market. The
two remaining plants make seedlings that will be collected in three to five years. The other partial conservation is in plants planted
by the locals in their backyards. The whiter the flowers are the more prized they are for floral offerings on graves of loved ones on
the Day Of The Dead. The flowering period in late fall coincides with this day. Since aqua-picks are unaffordable, the flowers of
preferably the Lycaste skinneri alba are picked with the two front bulbs, where the bulbs act as living aqua-picks. Naturally the
remaining parts of the plants don’t have a chance to grow bigger, nor to make seed.
Quetzal
Bing Image
Lycaste skinneri 'Duncan York' FCC-AOS
AQ+image
James Roses own efforts at conservation by growing the plants in their homeland were a bust as well. He established a nursery in
Prurula, near Coban and hired someone local to look after it when he went home to California. It turned out that that
numbskull?/rogue? waited for the plants to flower and then took them to the local market to sell. Jim came back to an empty
nursery!
Across the street from Jim’s nursery was a Garden Centre run by a native Indian gentleman who had a real green thumb with Lycaste
skinneri. Jim used to bring him little bags of fertilizer as a gift when he came back from California, to help him grow his plants a little
faster. Unfortunately the man passed away recently.
There is a National Park set up for this species, with prominent signs at all entries and exits, that no plants may be collected and sold
from there. But just outside the park is a thriving market some of whose vendors offer to sell you any orchid native to that park that
you may want –delivered the next day.....Thank goodness that at least at the airport the luggage is checked to prevent contraband
plants from leaving the country.
Now for a few tips for travelling to and in Guatemala. If you go to the Coban show try to stay at the Coban Hotel “La Posada” It is
reputable. The mountains north of Coban contain the few farmed plants that still remain in the wild. Jim had many false starts until
he could find out that bit about their native range.
Never go to the back country without a locally known guide! You might get shot by stumbling across drug growers and their fields or
hide-outs. James had good luck with Freddie Archilla and recommends him. If you plan to go orchid viewing, come prepared with
rubber boots, sturdy rain coat, a hat and a machete or at least a guide with a machete.
Never eat in a restaurant that appears to be empty! There is a reason locals avoid it! Once in a restaurant, don’t ask what “it” is –it
may spoil your appetite for a perfectly delicious meal!
Bring gifts to offer as thank-yous to anyone giving you a meal or a roof over your head for free!
Nowadays, the best lycaste hybrids come from Japan. They all originated from several hundred flasks bought by an enterprising
Japanese grower from the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate. The buyer at the time bought every lycaste flask the Santa Barbara Orchid
Estate had in stock! The station wagon taking the packed flasks to the airport had a definite downward list! Now, many years later
severe selection has resulted in offerings that are far better than our FCC’s up to now! Lycaste Shoalhaven figures prominently in
their family tree. One thing to remember is that this company offer a new un-named clone of Lycaste Sunray every year.
8
Lycaste Shoalhaven ‘Krull-Smith’ AM-AOS(Greg Allikas, AQ+photo)
There appear to be two lines of breeding, one with the AOS standards
of flat flowers and another for the Japanese market with cupped
tulip-shaped flowers. One clone used to illustrate this line of breeding
had a cup-shaped red flower with the sepals completely overlapping
and the edge of the cup with a pale pink picotee. The small lip was
white with a yellow crest. The flower looked like an Angulocaste.
The cross L. Chita Melody X Wyld Court (made by Mr Ngai) resulted in
some gorgeous reds. The red colour comes from the Wyld Court.
James showed us three clones, each one rounder than the last. The
third clone had circular deep red sepals, white petals with deep red
picotee on the exterior and a solid red flush on the interior. The
bright colour was visible because the petals were hooding the
column. The lip was bright red with a yellow crest. Mouth-watering
even if a bit cupped!!! Doug Kennedy is not the only Canadian who
likes these “almost tulips”! There is another red line available that
does not come from Wyld Court and it results in crosses such as the
lovely red Lycaste Alan Salzman.
The Tokyo Dome Show is the place to buy such plants! But cheap is different! The plant shown as one bulb divisions with one flower
(protected by a paper collar) will cost you anywhere from $100-$250, then you pay $300 for documentation to get them into
Canada, $1000 to fly there, $1000 for hotel costs(gulp! Jim suggested we buy his plants instead!!!)
Cal-Orchid gets their plants from a Japanese supplier, Mr Abu now and some of these back-bulb propagations were amongst the
goodies for sale on Jim’s sales table. Mr Abu started out breeding for the non-hobbyist market, that is for lots of flowers that last
longer and the plants cannot be huge. The flowers used to be quite soso quality, but at present they are improving as he tries to get
market share of the orchid hobbyist market. Jim showed us slides of some Abou First Spring clones and these had me rushing to the
sales table to get a couple. Very full, light pinks with contrasting petals and lips.
Naturally, being the good speaker he is, Jim finished off with a stunning photo of a plant with the most flowers produced by one bulb
that he had ever heard of. There were 27 flowers, all from one lead bulb!
Now for a summary of culture so that our new purchases do not go to orchid heaven!
Since Lycaste skinneri makes up the bulk of the genetic material in modern day lycaste hybrids, they need to be treated like that
species. The habitat of the species is very humid, never really dry, even in the so-called dry season. You might do better by setting
the pots in a shallow saucer and leaving about 1.5 cm of water in it. Anita Kho suggested if you use the tray-of-water method that
you drill a couple of holes into the sides of the pot to make sure the roots get enough fresh air. If at all possible use rain water or an
equivalent.
In nature, Lycaste skinneri grows on tree trunks in quite low light, on the north side of tree trunks as seedlings, but they grow
towards more light at maturity. The trees are constantly dripping with moisture and a fair amount of nutrients are produced by
decaying leaves and bark.
The days in summer get to about 80-85F, while the winter nights get as low as 60F.
When the plants are lucky enough to end up in a humus rich hole in the tree trunk, they produce big bulbs. Jim recommends potting
them hard in redwood fiber, also called Palco wool. Repot yearly when new roots are about to start, this occurs when the new
growths are about a foot tall. Redwood fiber is hard to re-wet if it really dries out and is then best plunged into a bucket of water
and left for a while.- Just like rock-wool. They can be potted in sphagnum too, but the root damage during the yearly required
repotting is extensive.
Jim recommends using clay pots, Mario Ferrusi prefers plastic pots for this area, especially if you do not grow them in a humid
greenhouse- we are not near the humid ocean, even though we complain of the humidity in the summer.
The pseudo-bulbs must never shrivel, except if you are growing the deciduous Mexican yellow-flowered species. The latter need a
decided dry rest.
These plants are heavy feeders while in growth. Use 20-10-20 most of the year and 20-20-20 during the summer.
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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.
Houw Khoe,
905-506-9279
houw_khoe@yahoo.ca
New Zealand Sphagnum Moss
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