The Acadian Orchid Society April 2016

President’s Message...

Hello Everyone! I hope all is well and all of your

plants have made it through the

winter without harm. I’ve re-cently done my annual change-

out of the glass and screen

panel on my greenhouse door.

It’s always a happy day for me. J I did find a few plants with scale and have taken steps to get rid of

it. My next tasks are to move some of my plant

racks and plants outside and do some repotting, spring cleaning and fertilizing! I was also able to

get my hands on some horse manure this past

weekend and will be repotting my Cimbidiums as soon as possible. (Never in my wildest dreams did

I think I’d ever be so thrilled to acquire that stuff!!)

I wanted to shout out a quick THANK YOU to our

society members, Nito Acosta, Carolyn Girouard and Noorjahan Merchant who volunteered to repre-

sent our society at the Festival des Fleurs. And

also to members that brought plants for our table and to Barbara Alexander and Patty Haag for set-

ting it all up. Awesome job, all of you!! I was

there for about 4 hours on the Saturday and there

were lots of visitors drooling over the beautiful blooms and asking questions. I spoke to several

potential new society members. There were a lot

of vendors there selling many interesting plants, supplies and garden goodies. Great event!!

At our April meeting, we’ll have Tom Kuligowski

presenting information on Angraecum orchids. I’m personally looking forward to this, as I simply love

the gorgeous white flowers they produce. I’ve yet

to get my 2 Angraecums to bloom, so I’m

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March Meeting

and Program

Our speaker will be

Tom Kuligowski

aka, “ The Angraecum Man ”

Ariel Daufort and

Steve Pearson

have offered to provide snacks

( t his is too few snackmeisters

- please consider bringing a

plate of something! )

Monday, April 18th - 7:00 p.m.

Ira Nelson HortCenter

Our beloved friend, Meta Flanagin, has

lost her brother, Martin Zep. He was

only 66 years old, and was a very fine

son, brother and father.

Meta will be attending his services in

Germany during the coming week.

We hold her family in our hearts.

Phalaenopsis: 1st - Phal. T-1252#2A - Geanna

Gravois; 2nd - Phal.

Strawberry Kitten - Meta

Flanagin; 3rd - (tie) - NOID white - Catherine

Muratori and NOID pur-

ple - Gail Romero

Miscellaneous:

1st - humongous

Onc. Sharry Baby - Clay

Webb; 2nd -

Paph. Transvaal -

Meta Flanagin; 3rd - Max. tenu-

folia - Clay

Webb

Vandaceous: 1st - pretty Vanda, lost tag - Gail Ro-

mero; 2nd - (tie) Ascda.

christenson-

iana and

(Neo. fal-cata x Aere-

des lawren-

ciana) - Meta Flanagin

News from March...

The speaker for our April meeting will address the Angraecums. His brief bio: “Instructor: Tom

Kuligowski, avid orchid grower, specializes in An-

graecums, award-winning photographer for 45+ years, (tkangcm@live.com /

www.angraecums.blogspot.com /

www.facebook.com/tkangraecums) Angraecums tend to be known for their beautiful,

showy flowers, many that are fragrant at night.

Some can even become fantastic specimen plants in

just a couple of years. With both species and sev-eral sought after crosses, the Angraecums offer

some very unique shapes along with the most pris-

tine white in any of the orchids. The amazing fact people aren't aware of, is that they can thrive in

South Florida’s sub-tropical weather or on a win-

dowsill in the not so warm north, if given the chance. This presentation will provide both hobby-

ists and serious growers with fundamental guide-

lines to grow these beauties successfully and in

turn, grace you with years of enjoyment. All of the photographs within the presentation are of plants

from his collection. Many of them showing the

various growth stages (from seedlings to first time bloomers to specimen plants).” Sounds good!

The Baton Rouge society will host a show and sale

July 9-10 at the Burden Riehl Center.

Our show will be June 10-12, which is the week following the New Orleans show. We no longer set

up a display in New Orleans.

Members present at the March meeting voted on the beautiful blooms presented by their peers. Win-

ers in each category were described by AOS Award

winning grower Harold Letz. Cattleya: 1st - BLC Frank For-

dyce - Dennis Wollard; 2nd - C.

amethystoglossa - Ted Joubert;

3rd - C. (William Farrell x Horace) - Dennis Wollard

Dendrobium: 1st - Den.

farmerii - Nancy Anne Rowe; 2nd - Den. Spect-

abile - Geanna Gravois;

3rd - Den. amethystoglos-

sum

Catasetinae Tips from Fred Clarke

I am hearing reports from many Southern growers that

most of the new growths are 6"-12" tall with new roots

3"-6" long. This is the time to start watering! The grow-

ers farther north (myself included) may still have a few

weeks until the new roots are 3"-6" long. Remember:

not all Catasetinae come out of dormancy at the same

time, so you may have some plants showing well-

developed roots while others will be just starting to root.

Begin watering and fertilizing those plants that are

ready and hold off on the ones still needing more time;

this is a good practice to develop. I start the watering season using ½ tsp fertilizer per gal-

lon of water, and then, as the days get longer and the

temperatures warm up in late June and early July, I in-

crease the fertilizer to 1 tsp per gallon through August,

before switching back to ½ tsp from September through

October. Don't forget that Catasetinae prefer to be re-

potted or divided with the onset of new growth just be-

fore the new roots start to show. Early in the growing

season is when spider mites can get a foot-hold on your

plants. Be diligent and check the undersides of the new

leaves regularly. If mites are detected, spray immedi-ately. They can quickly get out of control is early action

is not taken!

Catasetinae like lots of light and air movement.

anticipating getting some tips on how to make this happen.

Below is a little bit of follow-up to our fantastic

REPOT ME mini-series. This re-potting informa-

tion comes directly from Art Chadwick’s website: (http://www.chadwickorchids.com.

“Hobbyists tend to procrastinate repotting because

it can be a messy job with bark and moss flying all over the floor and used pots piling up like dirty

dishes. The slow-growing epiphytes often don’t

show improvement for months so repotting can also seem like a thankless chore. Despite their

reputation for ‘thriving on neglect’, orchids still

need a little tender-loving care in order to produce

joyous blossoms. There are many ‘tricks’ that seasoned growers use

to ease the burden of repotting. The idea is to give

an orchid exactly what it needs to flourish – as ex-peditiously as possible and with minimal carnage.

The best time to repot depends on a number of fac-

tors but is typically spring to summer, just after blooming, or when new root tips are visible. The

grower must be motivated and ready to act when

the plant is ready. There are dozens of little time-

savers that can be utilized. Here are four:

Pot in a Pot

Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, and On-

cidiums make new pseudo-bulbs every year which seem to ‘walk

across the pot’. Eventually, these

bulbs grow over the edge of the

pot – a condition that can cause a downward slide in health since

emerging roots can’t reach the potting media and

remain too dry. Try placing the entire pot inside a slightly larger pot and adding fresh media. The

roots won’t be disturbed and the plant should

bloom on schedule.

Split the Leaf

Phalaenopsis often drop

their lower leaves as they

grow new ones on top. The old leaves turn yellow

before falling off and

should be removed when repotting. It is tempting to

yank a dying leaf off but great care must be taken

since fragile emerging roots (and sometimes flower spikes) are nearby. Try gently tearing the leaf down

the middle and slowly peeling away the two pieces.

Wet the Roots In the jungle, epiphytic

orchids cover tree

branches with their roots.

In captivity, these orchids continue to carry that in-

herent desire to let it all

hang out. It is easy for a novice to be intimidated

by those ‘long white

things’ coming out of the pot which, incidentally, are easily broken. The

secret to re-potting a plant with exposed roots is to

thoroughly wet them ahead of time so that they

will bend without breaking.

Soak the Medium

Common potting materials include sphagnum

moss, fir bark, cypress mulch, coconut fiber, wine corks, clay pebbles, and many more. Soaking the

media for a few hours in a bucket of water gives

the media a little ‘starter moisture’ and is much easier to work with. Your fingertips will also ap-

preciate this as dry media can be very abrasive.

My father, known for his orchid trivia, notes that

the word, ‘repot’ came into existence around 1834 during the British horticulture craze. This was also

the time of the first Cattleya discoveries in South

America. Today, at age 85, Art Sr. has planted countless orchids during his lifetime. Yet, without

the simple act of changing the growing media

every few years, many of the now famous hundred

year old specimens which adorn botanical gardens and private collections around the world, would

not exist.”

Happy repotting to all of you and see you soon!!

Geanna

Birthday Wishes

Gail Romero - April 9th

Rosie Leonpacher - April 11 Janet Limouze - April 15th

Kelly Parker - April 15th

Maggie Cunningham - April 17th Sue Broussard - April 22nd

Peter Kobe - April 28th