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Eyes on Orchids Newsletter of the Baton Rouge Orchid Society
P.O. Box 66242—Baton Rouge, LA 70896-6242 August, 2011 - Volume 53 - Issue 8
www.batonrougeorchidsociety.org - 225.308.1404 –[email protected]
August Meeting - Wednesday, August 17 - 7 p.m.
Baton Rouge Garden Center - 7950 Independence Blvd.
Program: “Orchid Species & Their Culture”
By Todd & Susanna Miller of Miller’s Tropicals
Message from President Huner
August Program
We are pleased to have Todd and Susanna Miller, owners of Miller‟s Tropicals of Dripping Springs, TX as our speakers for our August Program. They will have plants for sale so be prepared to do some orchid shopping! The Millers describe the start of their business as follows. It started with an orchid from Susie’s mom in 1989 in Dallas. After trying our best to kill it with our lack of knowledge, we gradually got the hang of it and were hooked. We attended local orchid shows and Orchid Society meetings in Ft. Worth and then Dallas. At the urging of Bobby and Rod French, we sold a few orchids at a Home and Garden show in Dallas, and Miller’s Tropicals of Texas was launched. We both had full time jobs but managed
It seems like at every meeting I hear conversations which consist one person ask-ing another “How do you grow that plant ?” I would like to suggest that there is not just one specific way to grow a plant. For example, Frank waters his plants every day, while I water mine twice a week. Frank uses an inorganic medium which has no water holding properties, whereas I use “Tea‟s Mix” which has an organic component which absorbs water. In both cases the plant gets the water it needs although at different rates. All of the different resources (light, fertilizer, water) necessary for growth are provided at variable rates by the environments and plants, by necessity, adapt to these conditions. Do you really need three meals a day or can you exist on one big meal and several small snacks, or can you graze all day? There are too many vari-ables to say that one method is correct. All of the information you need to recognize these variables for any plant can be found on the internet. I suggest that you become familiar with the links on our web page and start exploring from that point. Good growing!
-JBH-
BROS Officers, 2011
President John Huner 225.275.7419
Vice-President Valerie Creehan 225.229.8363 [email protected]
Secretary Sue Ellen Graham 225.766.4327
[email protected] Treasurer Bob Lank 225.927.2514 [email protected]
Show Chairman, 2011 James Jeansonne 225.275.8103 [email protected]
Newsletter Editor Danna Spayde 225.317.0933 [email protected]
Board Members Patty Granier, thru 2011 Clyde Howland, thru 2012 Lata Johnson, thru 2013
SWROGA Representative: James Jeansonne AOS and Orchid Digest Representative: John Huner
Chairs of Standing Committees: Program ♦ Frank Zachariah Program Co-Chair ♦ Tin-Wein Yu Membership ♦ Valerie Creehan Finance ♦ Bob Lank Librarian♦ Bob Danka
Minutes of July Meeting
President Huner called the meeting to order at 7 P.M. and explained the revised schedule for the meeting. The timeline for the upcoming election process was re-viewed. The Board has recommended Clyde Howland, Lata Johnson, Bob Lank (Chair), Blair Many, and Tin-Wein Yu as the Nominating Committee. New officers will be elected in Oc-tober. Members are also needed to serve as Committee Chairs. Danna will continue to serve as the Newsletter Editor. Blair and Lata will be the Webmaster and assistant. The vice-president will be in charge of publications including distribut-ing the bylaws and directories. The raffle, silent auction, and door prize activities will con-tinue. There will be no silent auction when the speaker is sell-ing plants. Four plants for the raffle will be purchased by the Society. Members are urged to donate plants for the silent auction and raffle. The Potting Workshop/Pot Luck Supper, Annual Show, and Christmas party are planned for 2011-2012. The Society will continue to schedule 2/3 “outside” speakers per year. Carter and Holmes is offering $50 gift certificates to Orchid Societies in exchange for their members‟ names, addresses, email ids, etc. Members who want to be included may sign up on- line or see Blair. John Nelson introduced our speaker, Mr. Al Taylor, an AOS Judge. He provided an informative presentation on “The AOS Judging Program”. During the break, members chose the three best plants from the bloom table. The awarded growers then provided informa-tion about their plant. Gene discussed the plants on the bloom table. The raffle was held, and the meeting was adjourned at 9:15. Respectfully submitted,
Sue Ellen Graham, Secretary
Green Growers Meeting dates for the rest of
2011 September 14
October 12 Come join the fun, and learn. No meeting in November & December.
In July Green Growers celebrated its 20th birthday. Thanks to Gene & Thelma for hosting this meeting all these years. Many of us have learned - and are still learning - more about orchid culture from attending Green Growers meetings.
Apply ground cinnamon powder to freshly cut areas of orchid plants to prevent fungal infections.
Time to Start Preparing - -
Or At Least Think About it
Orchids for Seniors
Orchids for Seniors will meet on August 22. At this time I don‟t know what the pro-gram will be, but I‟ll think of something - possibly some discussion of bromeliads and/or semi-hydroponics. Whatever it turns out to be we‟ll have a good time so any of you are welcome to join us at 10 a.m. in Room 137, Independence Park.
August Program Cont. from page 1
to do shows on weekends when we could. We managed to pay for our hobby with these sales and finally were ready to go full time in the business when in 1998 we were offered a job running a large orchid nursery in Miami. We sold everything in Dallas and moved to Homestead, Florida the week of the Miami International Or-chid Show, where we had our first taste of large scale orchid shows (400 sq ft dis-plays and $2000.00 sales booth rentals). Our part-nership with the Orchid Nursery fizzled after 8 months, and we were forced to start a nursery from scratch in Miami. We formed Miller’s Tropicals and spe-cialized in species from around the world. After many years of hard work we settled into the pace of South Florida Orchid Life and enjoyed working full time in the greenhouse. Then came the four hurricanes that hit Florida one year, followed by direct hits from Wilma and Katrina the next. After many months cleaning up and a huge loss of income from cancelled shows, we accepted an invitation to do an Orchid Show in Fort Worth. Sales and the recep-tion we received from the public con-vinced us to make the move back to Texas. After all, once you’ve lived in the best state in the union, it was easy to come back. We decided to move to the Hill Country instead of back to Dallas, since we have fond (albeit fuzzy) memories of Austin in the 80’s. We chose Dripping Springs be-cause of the beautiful scenery and won-derful people, and it is still the country. You can grow orchids anywhere, but you rarely get a chance to live in the place you dream about! We have a 3000 sq. ft. greenhouse in the hill country so come on over for a visit.
I know. I know. It‟s mid-August and still hotter than blue blazes - heat index of 114° today, for example - but it isn‟t too early to at least start thinking about deal-ing with cooler weather. Remember - this heat, too, will pass eventually. Fortu-nately, those of us who put our plants outside for the summer won‟t have to start bringing them in until late October or so. But let me tell you, my greenhouse is a MESS right now. If I don‟t start cleaning it soon, the first cold snap will catch me with my plants down! So now is the time to start planning and doing whatever we can to prepare for cold on those days when an afternoon shower cools things down a bit. And let‟s just hope and pray that this upcoming winter will not be as bad as the last two have been.
August Birthdays
Carrie Fager 8/8
Ashley Thompson 8/18
John Huner 8/29
Tin-Wein Yu 8/30
Happy Birthday to all. And many
More!
BROS Calendar, 2011
September 21 –Dr. Dennis Wollard - “Orchid Wheel of Fortune Game” October 19 - Dr. Gene Berg - “Cattleya Bowringiana Hybrids” November 16 - Program TBA December Date TBA Above is the meeting schedule and topics for the next two months. Let Frank know if you have any program
suggestions.
Let’s be Frank
About Orchids
Orchids are not suicidal. Most of the time when they die, it is our fault. Mr Rumsfield had a famous quote a few years back. “There are known, knowns. ... There are known unknowns. ... And there are also unknown un-knowns.” Known Known. [You are not giving your plants enough light.] You know it. I know it. Correct it – or at least don‟t complain that your orchids don‟t bloom well. Known Unknown. [Your roots are rotting. You have no idea why.] If you can diagnose a problem, you are on the path to correcting it. Spider mite infesta-tion does not resemble leaf burn. Slug damage and rodent damage don‟t look alike. The better you get at figuring out a problem, the clearer the solution. It may not be easy, but it will be simple. If your roots are rotting, make sure they can dry out once a day. You may need to change your watering or change your mix or change your pot size – or you may have to do a combination of all these. But, if you can get the roots dry for part of every day, the rot will disap-pear. Unknown Unknown. [Clueless.] Let me tell you a story. A few years back a friend of mine called me one April con-cerned that the leaves were falling off her tree. She couldn‟t describe the tree to me. (“All I can tell you, Frank, is it’s a big tree and the leaves are green.”) I called Bob Souvestre, the EBR County Agent. He said, “It’s a magnolia, and it’s normal for it to have a leaf drop in late spring.” I suspected he was psychic. He laughed. He had already had ten calls with the same question that week.
Our orchids are not unique. Whenever your C. Hummingbird is blooming, mine is also. If something funny is happening to your dendrobiums, you can bet the rest of us are having the same problem. That is one of the main reasons to come to our meetings. If you are stumped, bring your plant in. One of our older „experts‟ can help. We have members who have been growing orchids for decades and they‟ve experienced it all. On top of that, they‟re nice people to talk to.
Orchids are great teachers of patience.
Some cool green “Orchid Eye Candy” for your
viewing pleasure on a hot August day or night!
This is Epicat Siam Jade „Lake View‟. It probably
is no longer named Epicat now though.
