April –
Is it Spring Yet?
Ron McHatton, Director of Education
With the warmer temperatures and
longer days much of your orchid collection should be busting new growth and roots.The new shoots of many orchids are really good at holding water
and you’ll want to make sure that when you water you avoid having water
stand for too long in these growths.As I mentioned in a
previous newsletter, a couple of applications of water a short time apart are
much more effective at thoroughly wetting your plant’s roots than is a single
longer watering.When you water,
make sure you water very thoroughly and allow water to flow freely from the drainage
holes.This will aid in minimizing salt buildup in the potting
mix.Click the link below for a refresher on proper watering.
Along with longer days comes more intense sunlight and
you will want to be vigilant with respect to changing sun angle.What
might have been a good location for over-wintering, can very quickly become dangerous
to your plants as the sun rises in the sky.The early spring
months can be really dangerous in the northern parts of the country as the sun’s
intensity increases often long before the trees which provide natural summer shade
have leafed out.This image is a Paphiopedilum very quickly sunburned by unfiltered sunlight coming
through the gap between two pieces of shade cloth.At first
glance, it might look a lot like a fungal infection but note the sharp boundary
between the brown sections and the healthy green areas surrounding it. These
sharp boundaries are a dead giveaway for sunburn.Unfortunately,
this new growth is scarred for the life of the growth.
As we work our way toward warmer weather around the country
you should now be well on your way to completing spring repotting.Last
month I mentioned some pests to be on the lookout for (Thrips, mites and aphids)
and while we are on the subject of repotting I’d like to point out another
one.All of us are familiar with the noxious mealy bug but
are you aware that these pests can infest the roots of your plants?This
is one of the reasons that it can be so difficult to rid plants of this pest.Unless you use systemic pesticides, you reach those visible above
the potting media but those lurking below survive to re-emerge weeks later.This image is an Amorphophallus
corm infested with mealy bugs feeding off the corm.Repotting
time is a really good opportunity to thoroughly inspect your plants both above
and below the potting media line.
Orchid
Basics: The How and Why of Watering
For information on repotting and dividing orchids click here
For
instructions on pest control click here
For
the March/April Monthly Checklist click here
Orchid Basics: Light
While there are many factors that can trigger blooming
in orchids; a drop in night temperature, increase or decrease in day length and
even sharp restriction in water availability, none of these will be successful
unless your orchids have been grown with adequate light.For
most hobbyists, this factor is almost always at the heart of the question “Why
won’t my orchids rebloom?”
click here to read more
Reedstemmed Epidendrum Culture
 | Epidendrum Pacific
Girl 'Primavera', AM/AOS (82pts., 2003) Epi.
(Eagle Valley x Star Valley) Grower: Cal-Orchid, Inc. |
Reedstem
epidendrums can be grown successfully by following a few guidelines and adapting
them to your particular conditions.Obviously,
growing outdoors all year round is easy for those living in Southern Florida or
Southern California, but not feasible for those in New York.Since
the factors of good culture are interdependent, Epidendrum growers will have to
experiment to some degree to succeed.The
grower’s ultimate goal is a fairly compact, robust plant with multiple leads
of large heads of flowers.
Click here to read more
The Large-flowered
Cool-growing Coelogynes
 | Coelogyne mooreana 'Brockhurst',
HCC/AOS (76pts., 1998) Grower: Marni Turkel |
Coelogyne
comprises about 196 species (World Checklist of Monocotyledons, 2009).Most of the species are easy to grow and produce long-lasting,
fragrant flowers and should be much more popular with hobbyists, especially the
large flowered cooler growing species as fuel cost rise.
Click here to read more
Collector's Items
Other Collector's Items
White-Flowered
Orchids for the Beginner
Some Cool-Growing Orchids for the Beginner
Some Intermediate-Growing Orchids for the Beginner
Some Warm-Growing Orchids for the Beginner
Orchid Alliance Project Update
 | Illuminated Vandas at
Longwood by Patricia Laspino for the Orchid Alliance Project Limited
to 100 prints |
Last year the American Orchid Society
endorsed an ambitious artistic project, the Orchid Alliance
Project-Bridging Art & Science (Orchids Magazine,
August 2008), designed to stimulate awareness and conversations about evolution,
biodiversity and conservation. Illuminated Vandas
at Longwood…is the first in a series of special commemorative mixed
media limited edition prints by Patricia Laspino that are created for the Orchid
Alliance Project Exhibitions.This museum
quality print is a creative collaboration between the artist and a master printmaker
employing multiple fine art printmaking processes.The
very low print run, highest quality environmentally conscious materials, (specifically
Hahnemühle Bamboo 290 paper), combined with superior craftsmanship makes
this edition even more collectable.
Click here for more information
Name an Orchid & Support the National Parkinson Foundation
(NPF)
- Honor That Special Woman in Your Life This Mother's
Day!
This Mother’s Day, give your mother, wife or other special
woman in your life a unique gift—name a new hybrid orchid after her! The
National Parkinson Foundation is partnering with Soroa Orchids, one of the World’s
foremost orchid growers, to auction off the naming rights of a new hybrid orchid.
While you honor your mother and/or wife with this gift, you also honor the lives
of people living with Parkinson’s disease. Place you bid online at www.parkinson.orgduring the month of April—Parkinson’s Awareness
Month.The online auction
closes on May 9, 2009.For more information, call
1-800-327-4545.
New Book Reviews
 | Peru is the third largest country in South America, and perhaps
second (after Colombia) in
number of orchid species in the New World. It
is surprising that there was no modern, popular book devoted to the orchids of
the entire country until now.
Click here to continue reading the review (April 2009) |
 | More than 30 years ago, the first volume of Joseph Arditti,
PhD’s, Orchid Biology, Reviews and Perspectives
series was published. In the initial volume, an appendix was added that served
as a manual to growing orchids via clonal propagation and tissue culture —
a relatively new and exciting branch of orchid biology at that time. Largely because
of the appendix, demand for the first volume of Orchid
Biology continued, even after going out of print in 1990. Consequently,
Arditti and fellow colleague Robert Ernst, PhD, embarked on a mission to expand
the appendix and publish it as a separate book, Micropropagation
of Orchids.
Click here to continue reading the review (April 2009)
|
 | When a new book promises to the orchid world that it is the
“complete” guide to the genus Phalaenopsis,
it certainly gets my attention. Promises are easy; delivery of them can be difficult.
With such a promise, this book has a lot to deliver to its readers. So with high
expectations, I began my careful examination of this new book.
Click here to continue reading the review (April 2009) |
Join the Community
We have just launched
our new online forum and invite you to to register and join the AOS Orchid Forum community. There are many new
features that really enhance the forum experience of our forum and we more to
come.
Events
Out and About
Spring is when many, many orchid
societies host their annual shows and this year is no exception. In addition to
the regular shows, the Houston Orchid Society will be hosting the Spring AOS Members
Meeting April 23-26.
To find upcoming shows click here
For a list of upcoming AOS classes click here
For the upcoming Spring Members
Meeting information click here
