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SOUTHERN ONTARIO
ORCHID SOCIETY
established in 1965
November 2008 NEWS
Volume 43, Issue 10
Executive: President, Tom Atkinson 416 449-7907;
Vice-president, Yvonne Schreiber, 905 473-3405 ;Secretary, Sue Loftus 905-839-8281;
Treasurer, Elizabeth McAlpine, 416 487-7832
Membership: Annual Dues $25.00/Calendar Year(January 1- December 31). Membership
Secretary, Hess Pommells 416-245-0369, Apt. 503, 370 Dixon Road, Weston, Ontario, M9R 1T2
Web site: www.soos.ca Member of the Canadian Orchid Congress; Affiliated with the Orchid Digest,
the American Orchid Society, and the International Phalaenopsis Alliance
Honorary Life Members: Terry Kennedy, Doug Kennedy, Inge Poot, Peter Poot, Joe O’Regan, Diane Ryley
Next Annual Show: February 14 -15, 2009, Get ready!!!
Next Meeting: November 2, Toronto Botanical Garden, Sales at 12 noon, Program
at 1 pm. Andrea Niessen of Orqideas del Valle of Cali, Columbia will be our guest
speaker.
They have a great range of orchid species, the full range, cool to warm. The plants we saw on our recent visit
to both their locations were superbly grown. I was even enthralled by the many warm species especially
Stanhopeas and Gongoras. A link to their web page is available on the SOOS web page. With her husband,
Juan Carlos Uribe, Andrea has maintained her own orchid nursery since 1989, Orquideas del Valle Ltda,
which has grown to include two retail shops, one in downtown Cali (Colombia) and the other in the town of
Ginebra; two nurseries, one for warm growing and the other for cool growing plants and laboratory facilities for
seed flasking. She will speak to us on "The Beauty and Diversity of Colombian Orchids" and "The Pleurothallids
from Colombia". Andrea will also have with her some beautiful Colombian orchids for sale .
Vendors and Buyers please note: Sales start at 12 noon. We need to have
time to set up the room and the vending stations without the interference of
the public and members not involved in the setup process. Please do not
attempt to buy or sell before 12 or during the meeting.
Your 2009 SOOS Membership Renewal form is in this newsletter. Please fill it out and take it or mail
it to the Membership secretary Hess Pommells, Apt. 503, 370 Dixon Road, Weston, Ontario, M9R 1T2
SOOS President's Remarks
updates and requests for usat each monthly meeting.
Our federal election has come and gone. Whether the party of your choice did well, or not so well, the most important issue in the short-term seems to be the economy. In the long-term though, any economic solution must take into account the environment and its protection. Without clean air and water, and abundant, rich soil to grow our crops and provide sustenance and habitat for the Uncle Wayne wants you
creatures and our beloved orchids, the planet andall life on it will be at best impoverished, and at worst become extinct. I am writing these notes on meeting is our annual pot luck and auction meeting.
Thanksgiving Day, though you will not read them Peter Poot informed us of the need for us to whip up for a week or more. So, please join with me in and bring one of our favourite dishes as contribution to giving thanks for what we have. And let us all do the edibles table. And he also asked us to please things in our own lives to ensure that neither of consider donating an orchid, or orchid-related item to the two doom-&-gloom scenarios cited above the auction. We need your input on both of these items come to pass. Each of us can make a difference.
so that on December 7 the auction will raise neededfunds, we will all be happy bidders on wonderful plants Now, back to the day-to-day world. Most of you and other items, and we will go home plump and will know that Inge and Peter Poot create our contented, ready for the Christmas season.
newsletter. You receive it as softcopy on yourcomputer, or via snail mail and Canada Post.
Orchidfest 2009 will be held on Sunday, August 2 Some of us slave away for hours writing our (2009). Your board of directors is in the process of contributions to each newsletter. In my case, it is forming a team to plan and run this one day, highly really not hours at all, and it is fun. But let me acclaimed, and delightful event. We would like you to draw your attention to the work which Inge and consider joining the team. If you have any interest at all, please come see Mario Ferrusi or me, and ask us example, watch Inge as the speaker at a monthly to explain the in's and out's. It's not daunting, and we meeting enthrals us with words and slides; she can tell you what we did this year to make the day a will be sitting taking copious notes. As I read our newsletter, and the summary of what the speakerpresented, I am always struck with a "Holy moly!" moment; as in, did Inge really write all this "Orchid growers have the best compost." - Jay herself, versus getting it straight from the speaker? And the answer is, yes, she did. It is an Email tip: "Read every word in an email, and amazing ability, based on years of study and read every word in every attachment to that email, observation of orchids in order to accurately before pressing the SEND button." - you will not be capture what the speaker was saying. Behind the sorry that you did. (Attributed to a SOOS sinner who scenes, Peter assembles the items for the newsletter, sets it up on the computer, and shipsit off to those of us who have email, or to the As ever, I end these remarks by saying here are my printer to be folded and mailed to the rest of the email id: [email protected] and phone number: 416-449-7907. Like the Maytag repairman, I do get newsletter for granted, but it behoves us to perhaps offer Inge and Peter the occasional kindword, or feedback on what they do for us.
Welcome New Members
Andre Levesque
It may seem early, but planning for the February2009 SOOS Show is underway. Wayne Hingston, A Suggestion Box is coming to the
Aina Balodis:
For those of you who are too shy to buttonhole a member of the executive with your beefs or Wayne Eyles:
advice, there will be a suggestion box at the Second place for Paphiopedilum Helena x Jolly Green meetings. Your anonymous (or not) tips and complaints will be gratefully accepted, and Second place for Phalaenopsis Barbara Moler hopefully acted upon. Don’t be shy, tell us how Third place for Paphiopedilum Mem. Connie Truax we can improve, tell us that you like what we do, Wayne Hingston:
Third place for Dendrobium Red Badge
Third place for Paphiopedilum Manahawkin
Joe O’Regan:
Newcomers' Meetings
Third place for Clowesii russellianum.
Wayne Hingston will once again present hisexcellent series on the culture of the most populartypes of hobby orchids. These sessions are for AOS Judging Results
members who have just started in orchids and will Central Ontario Orchid Society Show,
be presented at the Toronto Botanical Garden Camebridge, September 27.
Board Room on the following Monday evenings at
Coryhopea Woji’s Procrastinator ‘Roger Sheng’ Dendrobium cuthbertsonii ‘ ’ HCC-AOS 77 points
For further information call Wayne Hingston at Toronto Centre, October 4
Bulbophyllum Wilbur Chang ‘Who died’ HCC-AOS 79points (echinolabium x carunculatum ) Doug andTerry KennedySlc.? (Precious Stones x Barefoot Mailman ) HCC- Coming Events
November
Niagara Frontier Orchid Society Show, Buffalo,
October 11.
(Brassolaeliocattleya Haw Yuan x Potinara Haw 2, SOOS meeting, Toronto Botanical Garden,
Yuan Glory) ‘Kristin’, HCC-AOS, Bloomfield Orchids Dendrobium serratilabium CHM-AOS, Bloomfield 8, Niagara Region Orchid show, St. Catherines
15, Montreal Judging Centre, Jardin Botanique deMontreal.
December
6, Toronto Centre Judging, 1 pm, Toronto
Botanical Garden
7, SOOS meeting, Toronto Botanical Garden,
noon
COOS Show Results
Joe O’Regan once again placed an exhibit in this show for SOOS. Plants were provided by Aina
Balodis, Wayne Eyles, Wayne Hingston, and Joe
himself. The exhibit received an Honorable
Other Judging News
Michel Tremblay, one of our Montreal student judges contributions and congratulations to the ribbon was advanced to Probationary Judge by the American Orchid Society at its meeting at Longwood Gardens on Saturday, October 18. Congratulations Michel.
gave us some great cultural tips on growing orchids in Training as a student takes a minimum of 3 general and Odontoglossums in particular.
years, and Michel now needs to do another 3 Any plant that suffers from stress will get sick or be years before he can advance to full Accredited Herman Pigors and the Wilsons (Ken and Regina) If light, temperature, humidity, water quality, watering were elevated to Emeritus Judge status. The new frequency are incorrect for the particular plant, if the chair of the AOS Judging Committee is Gary rate of fertilization is wrong or even absent or -the greatest stressor of all: flowering-occurs, the plant will continue to head Toronto and Howard Ginsberg experience stress. The more you are away from the and Andre Levesque will continue on in Montreal ideal conditions for the plant, the more stress the plant has.
Plants capture the sun's energy with photosynthesis by" fixing" carbon dioxide and that carbon dioxide The AOS meetings in Wilmington
which has "fixed" needs to be more than what the plant and Longwood
releases when it respires. If there is no net gain, the plant is stressed and will retrench or eventually die.
The AOS continues to transform itself into a more As hard as it is to believe, SOME Odontoglossums member oriented organisation. The magazine can be grown with Phalaenopsis. The epicentre of ‘Orchids’ has improved with many more articles Odontoglossum distribution is in Mexico and Columbia.
for the hobby grower. The latest issue has an The genus is found from sea level to high altitudes.
article by our own Wendy Hoffman about her light Odontoglossum crispum, the most important species setup. If you have not seen it, ‘Orchids’ is found in most of the hybrids, grows at 3000 feet + in available in the Library. The record of AOS awards elevation. Some plants grow lower down and some are higher up in the mountains, which means that they vary Quarterly is now available as a computerized data in the temperatures they can tolerate. In their native base called AQ plus, a SOOS copy is also in the habitat they grow on the trunks of trees in cloud forests library. It has the award descriptions as well as or on slopes. That means that they get morning sun, but by the time the sun would get hot in the afternoon, mists roll in and shade the plants and keep them moist morning with full access to Longwood Gardens for registrants. On Friday there were some tours of In cultivation, Odontoglossum crispum should be given the DuPont family estates in the area as well as 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees C) minimum in a few interesting orchid talks and of course the winter and in the summer it will be happy if AOS auction which brought in $30,000. The temperatures stay below 65 degrees F ( 18.3 degrees auction was of “Heritage Plants”, lots of old C)and if they do not go above 70 degrees F (21 degrees C)during the day. If it is too hot outside, bring the Paphiopedilums that went at outrageous prices.
plants into an air-conditioned room. If they are kept too I must be getting along myself because I do have warm during the night, their metabolic processes will some of those cymbidiums in my greenhouse.
use up too much of the stored food the plant made On Saturday we judged some of the Longwood Orchids and all registrants had a behind the Another problem resulting in high stress is lots of air scenes tour of the Longwood orchid propagation movement under conditions of low humidity. This houses. The Trustees spent all day doing a results in more transpiration of water than the roots can strategic plan for the AOS the details of which will take up as a replacement. To overcome this, place the plants on trays filled with pebbles and water, mist Longwood gardens were of course wonderful and frequently or have lots of other plants around. Their are a must see for anyone horticulturally inclined.
transpiration will increase the local humidity.
Wrinkled leaves are an indicator of water stress. To Programme Notes by Inge Poot
check for the cause, water the plants and the next day, As a pre-amble to the programme given by Russ remove them gently from the pot to check the roots. If Vernon in September, 2008 on the orchids grown the roots are white, increase the watering frequency. If by the Eric Young Foundation on Jersey Island he the roots are brown and mushy, re-pot the affected plants and water them less frequently.
soaked in rain-water before use, because it is full of Water quality is very important. Use low solute salt, because the coconuts are floated in the ocean to water such as rain water , reverse-osmosis water their destination. To remove this toxic salt, -even if the (this uses a lot of tap water to produce. The medium is washed-soak overnight in rain-water, drain, typical reverse osmosis unit uses 4 parts tap fill again, wait one hour, then drain again. water to produce one part de-ionized water.
This medium is very slow to break down. Coir, a shredded form of coconut husks looks a bit like economical) . When the water evaporates it osmunda and that is the form they use for leaves all the minerals that were dissolved in it behind. At first it burns root tips and later the entire mature root. To prevent salt build-up re-pot frequently. Also use water with a pH of 5.5 to 6.5 occasionally to dissolve the salts and flush them If the particular plant seems to not like coir, use 30% out of the medium. This lengthens the useful life coconut chips . They have tried this mix for 3 months now and it seems to work well so far.
On the other hand, the purer your water is the Other people have used Rhodan (which is attic more you need to supplement with trace elements insulation cut into cubes) with good success.
and not just fertilize with the macronutrients.
Mario Ferrusi uses sphagnum plus Styrofoam beads Fertilize at ¼ strength every time you water and once a month, water heavily without fertilizer. As mentioned before, flowering is the biggest stressor To change the pH to the desired range , use "pH for plants. If they produce fragrance, then the energy -Up" or "pH-Down". Both are available in pet consumption is very much higher. To make sure the stores that carry aquarium supplies. You can also plant does not flower itself to death, cut off all dissolve a bit of lime or ammonium hydroxide to Odontoglossum inflorescences produced from the first raise the pH and vinegar to lower the pH. Get a of May until the end of August. Do use active cooling pH tape or strip in the pet store to see how you to reduce temperatures during hot spells. are progressing towards your desired pH. If your After September first you can allow the inflorescences water contains a lot of minerals(-if it is "hard"), to grow since temperatures will be lower and stress the then the minerals will buffer the pH, that is make plants less. They will usually produce 2-3 the pH resistant to change. You will therefore inflorescences per new growth at this time if well need far more pH-Up or pH-Down to change the Light: Odontoglossums need almost as much Black Spots, can be sunburn, but they are usually caused by a bacterial or fungal infection.
foot-candles of light. If they get the higher light, Peppering of tiny black spots is a bacterial infection .
This organism can get a foot-hold if condensation of Re-pot when the roots come out of the bottom of water occurs on the leaves because of low air movement, high humidity or dropping temperatures.
Potting mixes: At the Eric Young Foundation, Oncidium Sherry Baby is very susceptible to this where you see nothing but superbly grown plants, organism, as are many Odontoglossums.
they felt that good New Zealand sphagnum grew High temperatures can cause a calcium deficiency, the best Odontoglossums and Lycastes. As good which too shows up as black patches.
sphagnum became hard to get they switched to To prevent bacterial and fungal spotting, use Douglas fir bark and perlite. In this mix, the roots get damaged when the plants are re-potted. When the quality of the bark available deteriorated and became very unpredictable, they tried HP Promix Physan 27 once per month. Make sure the pH of the plus bark plus perlite. It turned out this mix water you use for this spray has a pH of 6.5 or above to mandated too frequent re-potting. They did extend Next came some lovely pictures and comments on the the life of the mix by sprinkling lime unto it, but it plants grown at the Eric Young Foundation: Eric Young wanted to develop tetraploid (4n) plants to They grow in coconut now. Coconut must be help produce showy plants that are appreciated by the general public as well as orchid growers.
day temperature is 50 degrees F (10 degreesC).
M r . Y o u n g ' s f a v o u r i t e g e n e r a w e r e As for the Odontoglossums, red colour is introduced by the use of Cochlioda species such as Cochlioda sanguinea. This genus makes the flowers smaller, but The present head grower at the Foundation is introduces branching of flowering stems and true red Chris Purver and he oversees different growers colour. However it does not do anything for warmth specializing in each of the major genera -to achieve their breath-taking results.
Odontoglossum harryanum does introduce more Mr Young also started to collect a fantastic library warmth tolerance. You can tell its influence on the and this is added to by the foundation personnel.
flowers by the squaring of the lip, spotting near the base of the lip and a splash near the base of the line-breeding and by colchicines treatment of the flasks to double the chromosomes. To be able to The problem of reflexing lips in Odontoglossums is get flowering plants of new crosses quickly, and largely genetic and has little to do with culture. thus be the one to name the new cross, the cross is often first made with a tetraploid and a diploid resulting in fast-growing, but sterile triploids. Once Odontoglossum nobile were not separate during early the cross has been named the tetraploid version hybridizing and as a result the parentage of many of the cross just has to grow up to get awarded modern hybrids is not as stated. O. crispum produces fewer but larger flowers, often with lacerated and The Calanthes grown by the Foundation are crisped edges to the flowers. It has many varieties with selected on the basis of being good pot plants.
or without lots of colour. O.nobile produces many small, but flat flowers with almost entire edges. The Grouville -a lovely red- are a must.
flowers are far more frequently a creamy white with few Paphiopedilums are still being hybridized by the Foundation. They never stopped their interest inthe large complex hybrids and as a result are nowahead in their breeding just as the large "toads" Show time:
Now is the time to set flower buds on your Phalaenopsis plants, so they will be in full bloom for Foundation are famous in orchid circles. Their our February show. According to p185 in the March Phrag . Don Wimber and Phrag. Jason Fischer 2007 copy of "Orchids" here is how to get are wonderful! To get the reddest colour in these Phalaenopsis to bloom: Keep the plants at a constant hybrids keep them cool when they are in bud. By day and night temperature, at or below 25 C (77F) for keeping them cool they respire less and more 4 to 5 weeks. It works faster at 25C than at 20C. Once the flower spike is visible grow the plant at 17C to 26C sugar-based red pigment. Another hint on how to (63F to 79F) depending on how fast you want it to spot tetraploids- they tend to have wide leaves.
grow. The buds on the inflorescence will initiate when So any plants in a flask of colchicine -treated the flower stem is 5cm (2") long, but the temperature seedlings, they can pick out the 4n plants right must be below 28C (82F) or you will get keikis instead of flowers and /or bud drop. Also remember that As for Cymbidiums, they are grown to huge size temperatures over 27C (80F) reduce the flower count by the Foundation! The British like their and make the flowers thinner and shorter lasting.
Cymbidiums to be less full, but flatter than we do.
If you want to keep a Phalaenopsis growing but not Xanthic yellows are cymbidiums that have no flowering-to get it to a big size that will produce a stunning flower display- grow it above 28C (82F). If the non-xanthic yellow cymbidiums are represented days are 30C (86F) not even nights at 25C (77F) will by lovely clones at the Eric Young Foundation.
induce flowering. Low lighting of 40footcandles or less The Jersey Cymbidium house has high pressure will also prevent flowering, but at that low illumination mist above and below the benches. The house is the plant will not grow well either.
heated by hot water pipes placed under the Pitson, our chemistry experimenter also found that benches. During the winter the minimum night fertilizing with a high potassium fertilizer induces flower temperature is 45 degrees F (7 degrees C). The spikes in phalaenopsis. He did not say at what temperature he kept the plants though.
Put holes 2-3cm (one inch) up from the base of thesaucer to make sure the water level never rises above Galeandra Culture:
the 2-3cm (one inch). Her plants are wonderful! Ipresume she uses a low concentration of MSU fertilizer Copy the successes of Anita Kho and grow your Galeandras in clay pellets and place the pot into2.5cm (1") of water.
MEMBERSHIP Renewal 2009
DATE : ______________________________________________________NAME: ______________________________________________________ADDRESS: ___________________________________________________CITY: _________________________ POSTAL CODE: _______________TELEPHONE: (___)________________ EMAIL: ____________________ How do you wish to receive your monthly Newsletter: --- Mail or --- e-mail
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MEMBERSHIP PLEASE RETURN TO:
Single or family $25.00 per calendar year Southern Ontario Orchid Society
Badges $7.00 per person. c/o Ms. Hess Pommells, Apt. 503,
370 Dixon Road, Weston, ON, M9R 1T2
CARD NUMBER _______________ Phone 416-245-0369
October 2008 Show Table
Paphiopedilum St.
Synea Tan

The plant of the month for October 2008, was
Paphiopedilum Saint Swithin grown by Synea Tan.
Congratulations Synea! Synea says the plant is very slow
growing. She potted it in large coconut chunks on the
bottom of the pot and small ones in the top third of the pot.
She re-pots it every year to year and a half. She waters
the plant with rain water to which she adds MSU fertilizer
at the rate of ¼ teaspoon per 2 gallons of water. Every
other month she flushes the pot with plain water. The plant
spends the winter in a bay window with a Southern
exposure protected from the strongest sun by sheer
curtains. The temperature of the bay window is a minimum
of 23 to 24 degrees Celsius. Synea summers the plant out of doors on the North side of the house under the eaves of the house. The plant thus gets morning and afternoon sun, but is shielded from the noon -day sun by the eaves of the house

Source: http://www.soos.ca/Newsletters/2008/SOOSNEWSNovember2008.pdf