MHOS NEWSLETTER. June 2016

Transcription

1 MHOS NEWSLETTER MHOS is an Affiliated Organization of the American Orchid Society The Mid-Hudson Orchid Society meets the 2 nd Sunday of each month at 1:30 pm at the Union Presbyterian Church, 44 Balmville Road (corner of Balmville Road and Beech Street), in Newburgh, NY Bring your blooming orchids for the show table Meeting Dates June 12 speaker Joe Silva of Silva s Orchids: Propagating Orchids from Seed (NP) July 10 Members Elaine Grega & Fred Plant: Redlands International Orchid Festival (P) September 11 tbd October 15, SATURDAY Fall Show & Sale 11:00 3:00 Nov 13 tbd Dec 11 elections and holiday potluck dinner 2017 Meetings No meeting in January P: member plant sales permitted. NP: member plant sales not permitted June 12: Propagating Orchids from Seed with Joe Silva of Silva s Orchids Find out what it takes to fertilize an orchid, mature the seed pod, germinate the seeds, and grow them to blooming size. July 10: The Redlands Orchid Show with MHOS Members Elaine Grega and Fred Plant The Redlands International Orchid Festival is the Woodstock of orchid events, with seventy vendors from all over the world attracting a crowd of blissed-out orchid hobbyists from North America and the Caribbean basin. As a steel band plays, they stagger through the grounds of the Fruit & Spice Park of Homestead, Florida, clutching bags of purchases and wondering how many more plants they can possibly buy. They accost each other with See what I just got! and Where did you get that and are there any left? There are no formal exhibits, but individual growers bring plants for AOS judging. (Ethel Goldberg, mother of the wrestling star known simply as Goldberg, has been a judge at Redlands.) Our own Elaine and Fred will give use their impressions of this extravagant event next month. Mechanical Damage Orchids suffer mechanical damage when something other than a pest or a disease damages the plant. Mechanical damage can be caused by too much light, too little light, inconsistent watering, lack of humidity, rough handling, and stress from temperature extremes. Too much light is not the same thing as heat stress, though the two can go hand in hand. An odd effect of too much light is that inflorescences will not grow as tall as they should because they want to avoid light rather than reach for it. The flowers of the Miltonia spectabilis in photo 1 got trapped in the leaves because the plant got too much light this winter. Too much light can also cause yellowing of leaves (photo 2). It s hard to determine the right amount of light for an orchid because individual species and hybrids vary in this regard, but if the leaf color becomes more yellow than green, it is probably getting too much light. Some orchids have red pigmentation in the leaves that is brought out by high light. This protects the leaves, but can indicate that light is too strong. This writer had a recent disaster when the timer in a growing case failed to turn off and it went unnoticed for several weeks. This caused damage to the epidermises of Cattleya leaves. The plants with red pigment made out a little better than the others, but in all cases the epidermis is no longer smooth (photo 3), and the pseudobulbs are dessicated and weak. A number of Bl Yellow Birds were in this case, and, being hybrids, some had more red pigment in the leaves than others. Two of the plants reddened and acquired a few scale, indicating that the pests were attracted to the most stressed plants in the case.

2 Page 2 May 2016 MHOS Officers & Volunteers President* Ruth Nattras rnrn@frontier.com Vice President* Dennis Sandberg dhsandberg@optonline.net Membership Secretary* Brenda Peterson Corresponding Secretary* Barbara Russell Program Secretary* Elisabeth Mansfield Elaine Grega Recording Secretary* Barbara Russell Treasurer* John Warren AOS Rep Maryelisa Blundell mblundell@frontiernet.net Librarian Ruth Nattras Newsletter and Website Isabel Lopatin isabel.lopatin@gmail.com * MHOS Officer Other positions are volunteer Long, arched, pliable leaves lose strength when they get too little light. This can cause them to break horizontally at the point of stress where the leaf can no longer bear its own weight. This is most often seen in Cymbidiums, as in photo 4. Inconsistent watering causes new leaves to grow inconsistently. When the leaves are growing, lack of water creates thin tissue. If there is too much time between waterings, the leaf crumples into folds because thick tissue is followed by thin tissue repeatedly and the pressure from the thick sections causes the thin sections to fold. This is certainly an aesthetic issue, but, with orchids whose inflorescences emerge from the leaf axil, the inflorescences can get mangled because the leaves are not growing straight. The folds are also good hiding places for pests. Photo 5 shows a leaf that suffered from this treatment. Sufficient humidity makes our orchids glow. During the rains this spring, outdoor humidity invaded homes and greenhouses, and gave orchids a lift: leaves perked up and the roots absorbed water more quickly. Keeping ambient humidity up in winter is difficult, but it doesn t just help the plants: it can also keep spider mite populations down. Try to keep the relative humidity in your growing area at a minimum of 40%. This is especially important for orchids that need dry winter rests, because the growths will shrivel beyond recognition without it. New growths will still emerge in later winter and early spring, but they will not be able to draw much support from the old growths, so will be less vigorous than we would want them to be. Lack of humidity can cause orchid leaves to develop vertical splits, as with the Cymbidiums in photo 6. Orchids that don t get watered much in winter need to have high humidity or their pseudobulbs will shrivel. When this happens, the pseudobulbs are less able to support the new growths in spring. Rough handling can crease or break leaves. The portion above the crease will turn brown as it loses moisture because it cannot draw more from the plant (photo 7). Remove the brown part by cutting it at the crease once the tissue is dry. If the crease is cut when the tissue is still green, it s easier for the plant to become infected. Temperature extremes destroy plant tissue. Sunburn occurs when the temperature inside the leaf builds to the point of causing cells to collapse. It can destroy enough tissue to create dry, light brown areas on the leaf, as in photo 8. Heat will also cause symptoms that look like underwatering, because the effect is the same: water leaves the plant more quickly than it can be taken up. Leathery leaves and shriveled pseudobulbs are the result. This is also what happens when there is too much light: the plant is working to the point of exhaustion because it will not rest if light is constant. When the water in a plant turns to ice, it expands and bursts the walls of cells. This causes various forms of necrosis on the leaves, like browning, yellowing, wilting, and rotting, as in photo 9. Mechanical damage happens. All growers have dropped a plant, watered inconsistently, or gotten lighting wrong. The plant can t be helped after the damage occurs, but lessons can be learned as long the cause of the mechanical damage is known. Don t just come to MHOS meetings to enjoy the plants and the programs, bring damaged plants so members can diagnose problems and suggest solutions. Different opinions might be offered, but there will always be something to learn.

3 Page 3 1. Inflorescence too short due to too much light Horizontal break in leaf weak from receiving too little light Leaf broken by impact 8. Overly yellow leaves 3. Leaves with damaged epidermis Pleated leaf from inconsistent watering when it was growing. (The leaf is now mature.) 6. Vertical split in leaf caused by insufficient humidity Sunburn on the apex of an arched leaf 9. Frost damage

4 Page 4 Societies in our Region 1 st Sunday, 11:30am Central NY Syracuse 1 st Sunday, 1 pm Northeastern PA Lakeville 1 st Tuesday, 7:30pm Pinelands Medford, NJ pinelandsorchidsociety.org 1st Saturday, 1:30pm North Eastern New York Albany/Colonie, NY 2 nd Monday, 7:30pm Suffolk Setauket 2 nd Tuesday, 7pm Greater Westchester White Plains, NY 2 nd Tuesday, 7:30pm Deep Cut Tinton Falls, NJ 2 nd Wednesday, 7pm Manhattan New York, NY 2 nd Wednesday, 7pm Connecticut Farmington or Cheshire 2 nd Thursday, 8pm North Jersey East Hanover 2 nd Thursday, 7:30pm Long Island Lynbrook longislandorchidsociety.org 3 rd Sunday, 2pm Western PA Pittsburgh, PA 3 rd Sunday, 2pm Southern Tier Binghamton 3 rd Tuesday, 7pm Staten Island, NY 3 rd Wednesday Matinecock - Oyster Bay, NY 3 rd Wednesday, 7pm Greater NY Bronx, NY 3 rd Thursday, 7pm Ramapo Englewood, NJ 4 th Tuesday, 7pm Jersey Highlands - Augusta, NJ wordpress.com Events in the Northeast The Amherst Orchid Society is happy to host the first annual New England Summer Orchid Fest! Friday, June 24th, 12-5pm & Saturday, June 25th Smith Vocational & Agricultural High School: 80 Locust St (Rt. 9), Northampton, MA Free of charge. Featuring: AOS sanctioned Judging on Saturday, June 25, starting at 12 Noon Any vendor or Fest attendee may bring their own plants for AOS judging (plants should arrive by 11am to be registered for AOS award consideration) The Comfort Zone Food Truck which serves a variety of fresh gourmet pretzels! Vendors OrchidPhile: Specializing in miniature and novelty Phalaenopsis orchids Piping Rock Orchids: Specializing in Paphiopedilums & Phragmipediums Marlow Orchids: Unusual species including Angraecoid, Bulbo., other genera. Fair Orchids: Specializing in Paphiopedilum & smaller Vandaceous plants Gold Country Orchids (Alan Koch) Flora-peculia: Specializing in Neofinetia, Japanese orchids & orchid species Ecuagenera: Specializing in South American species Grace Emporium: orchid embroidered apparel Kelley's Korner Orchid Supplies: Specializing in media and material for orchid Growing Many vendors will take pre-orders. Just look at their websites. NORTHEAST JUDGING CENTER CHAIR, STAMFORD - JOHN SULLIVAN, 299 VILLAGE PLACE, WYCKOFF, NJ 07481; C: (201) , H: (201) , JOHNDSULLIVAN@OPTONLINE.NET Judging takes place at the Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens, Silver Educational Center, 151 Brookdale Road, Stamford, CT at 12:00PM on the third Saturday of the month. Send cut flowers to: John Sullivan, 299 Villiage Place, Wyckoff, NJ Orchid events around the world can be found in the AOS magazine Orchids or on the AOS website at Check before traveling to see if there may be a local orchid event at your destination

5 AOS Judging The Northeast Judging Center holds two monthly orchid judging sessions: 1 st Saturday of each month at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston, MA. New contact for directions: Robert Winkley (617) rd Saturday of each month at the Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens, 151 Brookdale Road, Stamford, Connecticut. Slides or presentations at 10am, judging begins around 12pm; bring your lunch. For further information, contact Rita Cohen at or orchart@optonline.net Check out our Facebook Page It s Mid-Hudson Orchid Society Mid-Hudson Orchid Society c/o Isabel Lopatin 13 Pine St Cold Spring NY Directions to AOS Judging at the Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens Formerly at the Hampton Inn, Elmsford, the regular AOS Northeast judging meetings have moved to a new location about minutes away, at the Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens, Stamford, CT. From the Merritt Parkway (Route 15). Take Exit 35 and follow High Ridge Road (Route 137) north for 1.5 miles to Brookdale Road. Turn left on Brookdale Road and proceed 3/10 of a mile. The entrance to the Bartlett Arboretum will be on your right. It is a beautiful facility and a great place to visit. Their website is or you can call `