April, 2015

Eyes on Orchids Newsletter of the Baton Rouge Orchid Society

P.O. Box 66242—Baton Rouge, LA 70896-6242 April, 2015 - Volume 57 - Issue 4

www.batonrougeorchidsociety.com - 225.308.1404 – info@batonrougeorchidsociety.org

March Meeting - Wednesday, April - 15 - 7 p.m.

Burden Center - 4560 Essen Lane

Program: “Tips and Tricks for Orchid Growers”

Glen Ladnier, Gulf Coast Orchid Society

President’s Message

1

SWROGA Spring 2017!!! The Baton Rouge Orchid Society was awarded this show at their meeting in Tyler, Texas on March 27th. Now we need to begin work on preparing for it, as we may think it is a long ways off, but a lot of work needs to be done quickly. The main thing is to determine a date and locate a place for the show. We will ask for volunteers at the April meeting to begin the early work and if anyone would like to volun-teer to be show chairman please step forward. Speaking of shows, our annual show is just a little over 3 months away, but I know that Lata Johnson, Show Chairperson has it well under con-

trol. Volunteers will be needed to handle a lot of the work leading up to the show and during the show. I want to thank Bob Danka, James Jeansonne, and Beth Blackstock for providing a very interesting and informative program on watering and fertilization at the March meeting. It goes to show that there are many different factors and condi-tions which affect our ability to grow beautiful orchids. This month will again be a program to help us grow Orchids, with a fa-miliar face in Glen Ladnier who will talk about Tips, Tricks and Gadgets for growing orchids. Personally, I like to know things and ideas which makes growing orchids “easier”. At the monthly meeting on April 15 (tax day) we will discuss the final plans for the potting workshop to be held at Terry Rehn’s home on Saturday May 2, from 2:00 until about 6:00 PM. Please begin looking through your large plants that you are considering dividing and repotting to see if there are any that you could bring to the workshop, you will be able to keep at least one division if you want. This is a great hands on training and learning opportunity, and you will most likely leave with new plants to add to your collection. As everyone who was in attendance at our March meeting knows, the lighting for the display plants has been greatly improved so please bring your bloom-ing plants this month for everyone to see and enjoy. See on the 15th!

Bob Lank

BROS Officers, 2015 President Bob Lank 225.978.2615 pops1548@cox.net

Vice-President Valerie Creehan 225.756.8363 vcreehan@bellsouth.net

Secretary Marie Williams 225.205.8069 damaresq@bellsouth.net

Treasurer John Nelson 206.817.5400 john@laorchid.com

Show Chairman, 2014 Lata Johnson 225.933.0801 ljohnson@sulc.edu

Newsletter Editor Danna Spayde 225.317.0933 orchidnut_2000@yahoo.com

Board Members John Graham, thru 2015 Jim Gershey, thru 2016 Randy Johnson, thru 2017

SWROGA Reps: James Jean-sonne &Tin-Wein Yu AOS Rep: Tin-Wein Yu Orchid Digest Rep: Frank Zachariah

Standing Committee Chairs: Program Co-Chairs ♦ Lata Johnson ♦ Tin-Wein Yu Membership ♦ Valerie Creehan Finance ♦ John Nelson Librarian ♦ Bob Danka Refreshments ♦ Nancy Morri-son

Minutes of March Meeting

President Bob Lank opened the March 18 meeting at 7 p.m. There were 30 members present. President Lank re-minded members to sign a sympathy card for Ashley Matherne, a long-time friend of the BROS, who passed away this past week. Bob reported that the Board had recently approved, by unanimous vote, a motion for the Society to place a bid to sponsor the 2017 SWROGA Spring Show. The membership supported this by a show of hands to indicate that they would be willing to volunteer. The Board also approved the spending of $500 to upgrade the Burden meeting room with additional LED lighting. The potting workshop will be held on May 2 and hosted by Terry Rehn. This year the emphasis will be on teaching and hands-on participation. There will be more information to come. John Nelson, Sarala Palliyath, and Ed Gaskell had a birth-day during March and were given orchid seedlings. Mary Rice was welcomed as a new member and Stephen and Rosa Rice were guests in attendance. President Lank thanked the members who volunteered at the LSU Spring Garden Show and also thanked Nancy Morri-son for volunteering to head up the Refreshment Committee. Bob announced that the new directories are available and recognized Lata for her work on this. Members were remind-ed to pay membership dues if still unpaid and that there are numerous sign-up sheets at the Treasurer’s table, including: trophy donations for the July Show, ordering name tags, and serving on the Refreshment Committee. Bob Danka and James Jeansonne presented a very in-formative program on plant nutrition, assessing water and fertilizer quality, and how it impacts our local orchid cul-ture. After the break, Lata discussed how to set up a drip irri-gation and misting system for a greenhouse and demonstrat-ed the required tube fittings. Randy Johnson reviewed the bloom table. The raffle and door prize plants were presented. The meeting was ad-journed at 9 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sue Ellen Graham for

Marie Williams Secretary

2 April, 2015

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Happy April Birthday

to the

Following Members:

Blair Many 4/29 Lane Seab 4/27 Billy Yelverton 4/1

The AOS webinar lineup for April: Cattleya lueddemanniana: April14 Greg Allikas (This is a members only webinar.) Greenhouse Chat: April 21 Ron McHatton (This webinar is open to everyone.)

AOS Webinars

April Program

Tips, Tricks, and Gadgets

By Glen Ladnier

Glen was raised in a small community north of Gulfport, Mississippi by a mother who passed on to him her love of all growing things. He has lived most of his life in South Mississippi. Glen has been growing orchids for approximately fifteen years and continuea to exhibit his plants in orchid shows around the four-state area. He grows orchids from areas all around the world and has a keen interest in species orchids, especially local species in Mississippi. Currently Glen belongs to four orchid societies in close proximity to his home and has performed as an officer in three of the four. He enjoys speaking about different aspects of orchids, and has given multiple programs for orchid societies and local garden clubs within driving distance. Glen’s love of competition is a driving force in his affection for orchids, whether it be expressed through competing in local orchid shows, or through simple show-and-tell events at society meetings. He enjoys a good relationship with Crosby Arboretum, in Picayune, Mississippi, and gives an annual presentation on "Native Orchids of South Mississippi". He has also provided them with numerous native orchids, from an endangered colony, for inclu-sion in their amazing pitcher plant bog.

Ashley Matherne

Long time members of the BROS were saddened by the death on March 16 of

our long time friend, Ashley Matherne. Ashley had been a member of the Ter-rebonne Orchid Soci-ety for many years and owned Orchid Retreat orchid nurse-ry. He was an avid orchid enthusiast and hybridizer and won

many awards for his plants. Many of us have some of his plants. The funeral spray was made form his own orchids. Several of our BROS members attend-ed the funeral on March 20, and the Soci-ety provided some food for the reception afterwards. We will miss Ashley. He was always a cheerful face at our annual Show and all the shows in our region and enjoyed showing his greenhouses to visi-tors.

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Upcoming Shows

1. Redland International Orchid Show, May 15-17, Fruit and Spice Park, Homestead, FL.

2. New Orleans Annual Orchid Show and Sale, May 29-31, Lakeside

Mall, Metairie, LA. 3. Acadian Orchid Society Annual Orchid Sale and Show, June 12 - 14

at Ira Nelson Horticultural Center, Lafayette, LA. 4. Baton Rouge Orchid Society Annual Show and Sale, July 10-12,

BREC Center, 7950 Independence Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA.

We extend our sincere sympathy and condolences to Eliska Fauntleroy and her family upon the death of her brother Merlin Anthon on March 15.

BROS Meeting Dates

2015

Meeting Dates May 20 August 19 June 17 September 16 July - Show - October 21 No Meeting November 18 December ?? - TBA Christmas Party May 2 - 2 to 6 p.m. Potting Workshop a Terry Rehn’s house. See page 10

Mark these dates now on your calendars so you won’t miss any

meetings!

New Member

At our March meeting we welcomed new member Mary Rice from Hammond. Her son and daughter-in-law also visited with us.

Condolences

Dinner with Glen

& Marilyn

Before our April 15 meeting we will en-tertain Glen and his wife Marilyn for dinner at Drusilla Seafood. Everyone is invited to join us there at 5 p.m.

Water Quality

At our March meeting Bob Danka made a very interesting presentation on the re-sults of water quality studies related to how water and fertilizer affect plant nutri-tion. He has provided the information to us in PDF format which is attached to the email along with this newsletter.

Borneo Trip from page 5 He sent the itinerary as a PDF file and a selection of pho-tos showing some of the highlights of the trip, all of which I have available as emails. I will be happy to send these to anyone who might be interested in further infor-mation about this trip.

5 April, 2015

Green Growers Schedule

Potting Workshop May 2 No other meeting in May

June 10 August 12

September 9 October 14

7 p.m. at the home of Gene & Thelma Berg

425 Nelson Dr. Come for good fellowship, re-

freshments, and learning - and door prizes.

A year ago BROS received in formation from Stewart McPherson about books published by his company, Compendium of Miniature Orchid Species Vols 1 and 2. The books have recently been nominated for the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Annual Literature Award. His company has also published 25 car-nivorous plant books. According to his web page, “Stewart McPherson founded Redfern Natural History Productions in 2006 to produce focused natural history products that did not then exist. Books he wished he could have read. Expeditions he wished he could have joined. And wildlife doc-umentaries he wished he could have watched.” Several persons who purchased copies of the miniature orchid books asked Mr. McPher-son to organize an expedition to Borneo to ob-serve orchids in their natural habitats. He has subsequently organized the Borneo Orchids Ex-pedition to take place from Thursday July 30th – Friday August 14th 2015. The following promo video showcases the expedition, so interested persons can see the itinerary, and what to ex-pect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM_NCq1r2zg. More information on page 4

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The above Orchid Emergency card can be found in the Conservation area of the AOS website. It’s a great idea for conservation of endangered collections. It can be found at this link http://aos.org/images/img_content/carecard.gif

Announcements by Bob Danka

1. I am looking for my copy of the June 2003 Orchids magazine. I think that someone inadvertently walked away with it from the meeting in March. I had it there to show the original article about the Michigan State fertilizer, but it was gone when I went to leave. 2. I have a coffee plant available for anyone who is interested in having it. The plant is about 6 feet tall, and does bear beans. Interesting conversation piece; free to a good home!

Some Notes on Aerial Roots in Phalaenopsis

Note: People often ask about aerial roots which Phalaenopsis send out in abundance. Below are notes that I have found on various web sites about the aerial root phenome-non. Some of the opinions contradict each other.

As orchids grow they continually send out new roots, and often the new roots start above the surface of the medium and begin to head off to parts unknown. This is typical orchid behavior. The next time the plant is repotted be sure to select a (probably larger) pot into which these new roots will fit comfortably. Stony Brook Orchids - December 27, 2014

You'll often see aerial roots growing up out of the pot to absorb moisture from the air; there is no need to bury these when repotting. http://www.orchid-care-tips.com/

April, 2015 7

Note from Frank Zachariah: Ron McHatton will be our Webinar speaker in May. He wears many hats at AOS. His titles are Chief Operating Officer, AOS Policy Information, Publications, Educa-tion, and Nomenclature. I asked him a virus question last week, and he gave me permission to publish his reply in our newsletter. My question: Do the assays used to test for virus only test for harmful or disfiguring viruses? I have heard of cases where someone will discard a symptom-less plant that tested positive. His response: I want to cry when I hear things like that. The tests are designed to find cymbidi-um mosaic, tobacco mosaic and odontoglossum ringspot, the most common viruses in most orchids. You can buy specific tests for bean yellow and some of the Rhabdoviruses and topoviruses, but they are more expensive and less common. That said, they are designed to err in the direction of false positives, and any positive test, especially when the plant and flowers are asymptomatic, should be carefully retested. These tests are also very sensitive, and the number of false positives depends on the skill of the tester. It's the same science that is behind all the medical tests that we go through, and I cringe when I see people use these without first washing their hands, using disposable gloves, so they don't handle the cut surfaces of the leaf and, worse yet, using a used razor blade to cut a leaf sample. Smokers will often test pos-itive for tobacco mosaic virus on their hands. It's an old wives' tale that the virus is transmitted to plants (it can happen if the leaf surfaces are damaged but not with a healthy undamaged plant - there's no verifiable evidence for that). The companies that sell these kits don't tell people to clean the surface of the leaf with alcohol prior to the cut, but I think you should. I know a commercial grow-er here in Florida that had his phalaenopsis tested for elemental analysis and failed to clean off the calcium and iron residues from the outside of the leaves he cut. The results came back with toxic concentrations of both those elements, and off he went trying to fix his "critical problem." The bottom line is that the tests work for a few selected viruses (only indexing gets them all, and you need an SEM to do it properly); they are very sensitive and throw more false positives than negatives; and most people use them without really following appropriate protocols. Symptomless plants that test positive should be retested before being destroyed. Unfortunately we are living in a virus-hysterical world right now. The tests are good if used properly and following appropriate protocols.

Viruses in Orchids

More on Aerial Roots Many orchids produce aerial roots outside the pot, this is due to how they grow in the wild, on trees with their roots exposed to the moist atmosphere. If an orchid such as a Phalaenopsis makes lots of aerial roots it is a sign that the plant is happy in its environment and the roots should be sprayed regularly. Healthy roots have a grey covering and often green growing tips at the ends. If the roots turn brown and die it is a sign that the environment may be too dry for the plant. On the other side, it can also mean that the roots inside the pot have rotted if the plant has been over wa-tered. Check the state of the pot roots to monitor the watering. Healthy roots = healthy plant! Burnham Nursery - December 27, 2014

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March Photo Gallery

April, 2015 9

March Bloom Tables

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Annual Potting Workshop

For many years - probably 20 or more - the BROS has held an annual potting workshop in the Spring, usually April or May. This Workshop replaces the Green Growers meeting for that month. For a long time the Bergs hosted the Workshop at their home. About 10 years ago Clyde Howland began hosting it. This year Dr. Terry Rehn has graciously agreed to host it. There will NOT be a Green Growers meeting in May because the Potting Work-shop will be held on Saturday, May 2 from 2 to 6 p.m. at Dr. Terry Rehn’s home in Prairieville. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to learn more about dividing and potting your orchids, to enjoy good fellowship with your fellow BROS members, and to tour Terry’s estate. The Workshop will be held outdoors under Terry’s magnificent live oak trees. You will need to bring your own chairs. We will send out a reminder email with more de-tails about the food situation as the time draws nearer. Below is a map and driving directions to Terry’s.