Feature :- Chris Nicholas will talk on Oncidiums

    Floral Art :- "For My Valentine"

March. 7^th. Committee meeting 8pm at Chequers 51 Wellwood St. Lenah Valley

    Feature :- Jim Smith will demonstrate repotting of terrestrial orchids

    Floral Art :- "Song Title"

March 27^th. Orchid mix collecting at Bermuda south of Huonville.

April 2^nd. Mixing and bagging of orchid mix at Mike White’s Margate

April 4^th. Committee meeting 8pm at A&H Millward 26 Glenmore St. Rosetta

April 18^th. Regular monthly meeting at Legacy Hall Macquarie St

    Feature :- Wayne Dawes wil give a talk on the growing of Disa’s

    Floral Art :- "Autumn’s Beauty"

    Feature :- Autumn Show

    Floral Art :- "Posy for my Mum"

    Feature :- John Whitney to talk on Sarcs.

    Floral Art :- "Winter Time"

29^th. Sept. – 2^nd. October Tasmanian Orchid Society Spring Show

The Tasmanian Orchid Society Inc. disclaims all liability against any loss or damage, which may be attributed to the use of any article or material mentioned in Greenhood. Contributions express the views and opinions of the contributor and are not necessarily those of the Tasmanian Orchid Society.

The deadline for all articles is the Friday, ten days prior to the monthly meeting. No Exceptions.

What a wonderful turnout of members and plants at the January meeting, so many of our new members, thanks to all those growers who helped to provide information and assistance by telling the meeting what and how they were growing and caring for their plants during the hot weather.

Your committee held its first meeting for the year last week and a lot of ground was covered. I think members will enjoy what we have in store.

You can look forward to Chris. Nicholas and Oncidiums in February.

The annual barbecue will be on 27 February at Tolosa Park, Glenorchy (see over)

March is our AGM and presentation of prizes and something on Tasmanian terrestrial orchids.

The collection of ingredients for the orchid mix will be on 27 March in the forest behind Huonville (more info next month)

Mixing and bagging of the mix will be on 2 April at Mike White’s home, Margate.

Wayne Dawes will be repotting Disa in April.

The first Sunday in May is the annual get together at Ross of members of all orchid societies. This is a chance to renew friendships, make new acquaintances or buy and sell orchids.

As mentioned last month there are still a few cymbidium plants available for the competition $5.00 each. Because the pots are large those members who previously purchased plants may bring the label into the meeting rather than carry the plant.

Sarcochilus seedlings will be available for another competition, price $5.00, see Barry Wilson.

I would like to hear from newer members on what they wish to hear or see at meetings to help them in growing their orchids.

Keep on repotting and enjoy your orchids.

Completed Nomination Forms, Notice of Motions and other items you wish to have placed on the agenda must be forwarded to the Secretary prior to the meeting. Please use the nomination forms inside your newsletter and keep the ‘business’ end ticking.

No more noisy enjoyable annual auctions raising funds for our society, no more Irish jokes, no more edgy skits at our Ross meeting. Rex finally lost his long and hard battle with cancer on 12 January 2011.

It’s hard to remember when we first met up with Rex and Lyn but one of my outstanding memories is the Scottsdale Orchid Conference. Rex and a very dedicated cadre from the Scottsdale Society staged what Rex promised would be the biggest and best show and conference Tasmania had seen. It was fun.

That probably triggered an ambition to become an orchid judge and he worked hard to deepen and broaden his knowledge of orchids eventually achieving his aim when both he and Lyn qualified as Australian Orchid Council judges and became integral members of our judging panel.

Rex was very innovative. I can recall a fertiliser applicator he made for Phyl which was mounted on a little sled and powered by a washing machine motor; his foray into making terra-cotta mounts for orchids, gauges for measuring blooms etc. He even made us a set of glazed ceramic bowls which are reserved for special occasions. The list is endless.

On the other hand I quickly learned not to get lured into deep and meaningful discussions, he was always a jump ahead just as a seemingly innocent question on orchid judging always turned out to be complex and not so simple.

Rex was one of those characters we have to have to make life interesting. He was always a jump ahead of us average bears, always ready to help and with a most enquiring mind. He will be missed.

I cannot talk about Rex without mentioning Lyn. She has always been there, always one step behind, supporting him in his ventures and curbing his enthusiasm. Rex’s passing has left a big gap for her to fill, but knowing her fortitude and determination and with strong support from her family and friends she will succeed.

The thoughts of us all are with Lyn and her family at this sad time.

I am saddened, as I’m sure all our working judges are, to report we have lost another member of our judging panel, Rex Johnson.

Rex, together with his wife Lyn, joined our judging classes some years ago and every few weeks would arrive in Hobart about 6.30 p.m. and head home to Underwood after the classes ended around 10 p.m. After gaining their judging credentials they judged shows throughout the State as well as in Victoria.

When I retired as Australian Orchid Council State Registrar, Rex stepped in to fill the position – not such an easy undertaking for the ‘new kid on the block’ but he tackled it head-on and continued until he was forced through illness to relinquish his post. Rex and Lyn worked as a great team and Rex will be sorely missed by our judging panellers. We do hope that Lyn, a very competent judge, stays with us.

Our thoughts are with Lyn and her family at this very sad time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was good to hear the January meeting was a great success with lots of new faces and again with lots of very diverse and well cultured plants on display.

Sorry I had to miss the meeting but hopefully see you at the next.

In the meantime keep up the good work and keep our meeting judges as busy as ever.

The TOS annual BBQ is at Tolosa St. Park, Hut 12 ( near playground and toilets) Reserve Glenorchy on Sunday 27^th. of February. T.O.S. will supply meat, bread and onions for the BBQ. Please BYO drinks and chairs and a salad to share.

27th January 2011

Further details from the author:

'Many well-documented stories are in this book – of the one-armed Roezl being trapped on an active volcano, of the fashion-concious Ruiz taking a silver chamber pot on his expedition to Peru, of the English collector being murdered by his native wife, and Orchids, Orchids, Orchids. Of a modest Lincolnshire lass and the bombastic and treacherous German taxonomist, and Orchids, Orchids, Orchids. Stories of the Orchid Nurseries of Linden, Loddiges and Low, of Bull, Williams, Sander, Veitch and Booth – Booth? – and Orchids, Orchids, Orchids.

'A history of Masdevallias and so much more. The stories behind the names of the orchids we grow and love.

'Neither a cultural guide nor encyclopedia, this book is factual and with over 1,000 coloured illustrations, some never previously published, is a joy to the eye. It contains a wealth of biographical details of both plants and people, and the stories it contains will captivate the interest of non-orchid buffs.'

'Forward by Rudolf Jenny. A4 size with nearly 700 pages (Warning - may contain traces of humour !)’

'Only available from: Steve Manning, 4 The Cedars, Nantwich, Cheshire. CW5 5GZ. United Kingdom.’

‘The price is £45, but post & packing to Tasmania works out at £32 - so a total of £77. At current exchange rates that works out at approx $124 Aus.

The p & p rates are so high because the book weighs 2.7 kilos. There are 670 pages & well over 1,000 illustrations.’

‘Copies are already held in the libraries in RBG Kew; RHS Wisley; Glasnevin, Dublin; Kiel University, Germany, New York Botanic Garden; Atlanta B.G.; The Huntington Institute etc.’

‘I am able to accept payment in stirling drawn on a UK bank - other currencies and banks are too costly for me, but payment can easily be arranged through Paypal.’

Temperature

Light

Humidity

Air circulation

Watering

Fertilising

For the beginning of February the RTBG Conservatory displayed the last of the Brassia verrucosa, Masdevallia barleana, veitchiana and colossus, Encyclia cochleata and Miltonia spectablis

The hanging baskets of Stanhopea tigrina made for a spectacular display with much public comment. The scent filled the conservatory.

For those that were orchid spotting there was a pretty basket of Dendrobium thyrsiflorum.

The last of the Cymbidium lowianum are lingering and while there a few decent flowers I haven’t the heart to remove them. These have been on display for at least 4 months.

At the last meeting of TOS we tabled an unknown Phalaenopsis orchid. We brought the orchid to the meeting so that more experienced growers could have a look and advise on a couple of things, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

At the Spring Show in 2009 Margaret Thiessen won Grand Champion with an unknown phalaenopsis. At the display next door Barry Davison had two lovely white phalaenopsis with blooms as big as dinner plates. I can remember saying to Halina how it would be great to have a heated greenhouse to grow these plants.

It wasn’t long after this that we attended the open greenhouse event organized by the Society. Margaret invited us into her house where to our surprise phalaenopsis were growing in her front room as indoor plants. We have seen the same at Barry’s house also.

In The June 2010 issue of ‘Greenhood’ Mike White wrote an excellent article about the experiment he conducted at Margaret’s house recording minimum temperatures during the cold winter months. This prompted us to check what the temperature in our house was getting down to in winter. The temperature fell to 10C on the very coldest of nights. We now knew we didn’t need a special heated greenhouse to grow phalaenopsis.

One weekend we wondered into Bunnings for some odds and ends and heading to the garden section we spotted this little phalaenopsis on the bargain shelf. It looked very unhappy all on its own. The watering had been spasmodic, one of the leaves had fungal spotting with weeping sores some of which had drilled holes right through the leaf and the roots were broken off, brown and dying back. Being suckers for runts and orphans we purchased the plant. We took it home where we cleaned up the fungal weeping with a cotton bud dipped in anti-fungal. The plant was then placed on a tray of glass beads filled with water for humidity. It sat there for 3 months doing nothing at all but most importantly not deteriorating any further.

At a meeting at our house we spoke to Bev Woodward about the plant and she informed us that the plant needed some sun and also repotting as the crown was too low in the mix it was in. We repotted in a bark and styrene mix using a clear pot and moved it to a Northeast facing window where it receives early morning sun through our vertical blinds. As the sun climbs in the sky so the light moves across the leaves until a bit before noon it goes into shade. The plant responded straight away putting out good strong roots. The plant had an old spike on it that wasn’t removed and this soon started to put out a new flower with more coming. With clear pots you can see when the mix has dried out and requires flooding with water. This is about once every 4-5 days at the moment. We can’t wait to see how it goes in the months ahead.

That is the story of our little Phalaenopsis orchid and from it you can see that you don’t need a special heated greenhouse to grow these delightful plants and we hope that more members will have a go at growing them indoors as they are really quite easy to grow once you have found a spot that they like.

With the weather the way it has been it is hard to stay with hard and fast rules,I have been watering nearly every day as it seems to get hot late in the day.

Keep the water up to your plants, and damp down on those hot nights as they like a sudden drop in temperature to initiate the flower spikes, until the hot weather has past, in late Feb or early March. Once the hot whether has gone start to reduce the water, and do not damp down at night, this will only increase the humidity and Cyms. do not like it, unlike other orchids. Of course this only applies if we do get the usual hot weather that is normal for this time of the year, so you will have to use your own judgment, according to what the heavens dish up.

As I said in last month's notes, now is the time to use a more solid food on your flowering sized plants, one that is lower in nitrogen, commonly called 'Blossom Booster'. Keep the healthy growth in small plants [ non flowering size ] going for as long as you can, with high nitrogen fertilizer, because as soon as the weather cools down it will stop.

New flower spikes will start appearing from now on so keep an eye out when handling your plants so that you do not break them of, and look out for pests especially members of the scale family, red spider and any leaf eating grubs, snails and slugs they are very active more so after the first rain following a dry spell. Slugs and snails will totally destroy a new flower spike in one night and ruin your years work.

You can pot-on once we are into middle March and it is starting to cool down, but leave any repotting [dividing ] until April which is a good time to look at any you missed in spring.

Use the last of daylight savings and warm evenings to tidy up your plants and as you do, look for any new flower spikes, you may be surprised how many you find.

I have finally come to the conclusion that, as with fanatical surfers, orchid growers lives are controlled by today’s weather and tomorrow’s forecast.

I refer of course to retired growers who have nothing better to do than bask in the sunshine all day and watch their plants grow. I wish!

This was only brought to mind by a remark made by Helen Jackson a few days ago. Helen said she could feel autumn approaching and that summer had done its dash.

That got me thinking and yes, when I collect the Mercury from the front lawn in the mornings the wrapper is quite wet from dew on the lawn. Dew in midsummer; never.

Likewise I run a number of maximum-minimum thermometers throughout the growing areas and they’ve been consistently showing maximums in the low to mid twenties; where are those scorchers of mid-summer. Incidentally, I’m writing these notes at the end of January.

Last month I mentioned my wish for an Indian Summer and that’s what we’re having right now except that it’s three months early. I experienced one of these phenomena in Canada in 1943. Late summer seemed to go on forever and I thought Canada’s weather was fabulous until the snow came, and forgot to go, then I changed my mind.

Actually the foregoing has little to do with orchid culture, except that we’re always conscious of the weather and try to plan according to the forecast.

The fact is that after my comprehensive notes of last month I have nothing much to say and Newsletter Editor Mike won’t be happy if I turn in a blank sheet so I had to write something.

Incidentally, Mike would be very pleased to hear from any members prepared to put pen to paper. It may be just a small one off on how you grow something that most of us struggle with, or such like. We can only learn so much from books and the internet; the best information comes from local growers in local conditions. Its usually quite basic and quite often comes from newer growers thinking outside the square.

Give it some thought, your first effort is the hardest.

January’s notes should be good for the next 2-3 months provided you work by the weather and water accordingly, and hope for that Indian Summer.

It’s still a good time to repot those plants just making new growth or roots. In my case the laelias are all done but I’m still waiting on a few reluctant oncidiums and after that the encyclias and sophronitis are pleading to be potted, plus a few tail-end mini-catts. So much for basking in the sun!

I’ve heard talk of a little red spider (false spider mite) showing up here and there. Red spider thrives in dry conditions so get to work with that daily misting especially up through the leaves, that I’m always harping about. I like a hard misting which really moves the leaves around and ensures all surfaces are covered.

You’ll get as wet as the plants, but you’ll soon dry out this time of the year.

More waffle next month and let’s hope our real summer arrives in the meantime.

It's great to see all the suppressed growth from last year raking off and the new shoots around the edge of the pots. A continuation of the warm weather will ensure growths develop fully, mature and start flowering m the spring.

One problem that comes with hot weather and new growths is the trapping of water down in the soft growth and hot burning sun during the day heats the trapped water and cooks the soft tissue of the new growth.

Early morning watering is onc defence and not doing heavy overhead watering during the heat of the day is another. If you must reduce the temperature and increase the humidity in your growing area, water under the benches and on the paths.

Although mounted plants are not as susceptible to this problem they do need additional attention during the current spell of hot weather. To ensure plants receive adequate moisture, fine misting will be of great benefit.

Potting on can continue but be careful with new growths and roots, water well after repotting and keep plants shaded until they have re-estabilised themselves properly.

Aphids are still about (they don't all just stay on the roses) when sighted, don't leave one! because it will soon become a 1000 and once new leaves are damaged they will never recover.

Attention to detail now will pay off in the spring with a fine flowering.

. Not much to say at present, water thoroughly about once a week and mist lightly daily, weather permitting. If fertilising be careful not to overdo it. If not sure, better not to fertilise at all. Finally as with all orchids, keep a look out for aphids, mealy bugs and other pests and at the first sign of attack have the insect spray ready to use.

The last few months have been difficult as far as culture is concerned. What with consistently warm-hot days with no rain in sight and most nights quite cool at times, it is hard to know what to do for the best. At least here at Clifton the afternoon sea breezes help to temper those hot days.

I have had temperatures above 35^oC on some days and luckily being at home, I have been able to drop that temperature down 8-10^oC by using the fogging nozzle. Works wonderfully well.

Growth of leaves and bulbs for the next few months will be a good indicator of how good your flower display will be next August/December. What you do now will greatly determine your results.

Leaf length should have reached its maximum already with some leaves 40-50cm on the most vigorous hybrids. Some hybrids and especially the species tend to be much smaller. The bulbs on the hybrids however still make up to a good size while the species generally are always much smaller. So with this in mind our aim is to provide the optimum cultural practises to achieve this.

Watering is now a daily event. On these hot days it is better to water early hi the morning, then in the evening Give the leaves a fine misting. They seem to appreciate that drop in temperature that misting creates. Watch drainage, it must remain good.

If the water is a bit slow passing through the mix give the pan a few good thumps on the side to move any fine silts or sediment and rewater.

Continue with weekly fertilising, using weak applications of any good balanced high nitrogen brand, onc with added trace elements if available, until about mid-March. It is time then to change to a low nitrogen high phosphorous potassium mix to mature and ripen the bulbs before the leaves fall.

1 give my lot a couple of feeds of Dynamic Lifter that has soaked for a few days and then made up as a weak solution and applied by watering can This treatment appears to have boosts them along nicely.

Keep an eye out for aphids, they seem to like the tiny leaves on the bulbils now forming on top of some bulbs. Slugs and snails are always about, lay plenty of bait (but mind your pets) as these critters can ruin a whole years work in no time at all

Good growing

That the gum from the pseudobulb of Ansellia is use by some tribesmen in East Africa to stick flights onto arrows.

Editor Mr M White 72 Esplanade Margate 7054 Ph. 6267 1589