January 2005

The Orchid Grower

Upcoming Events

• Feb 5-6
  Orchid Quest
  
• Feb 18-20
  Batavia Orchid Show
  
• Mar 5-6
  Green Bay Show
  
• March 18-20
  Illowa Spring Show
  Davenport, IA

Meeting Dates

• Jan. 16: Orchid Quest Preparations
  
• Feb. 20: Those Challenging orchids, Member Discussion
  
• Mar. 20: Stay Tuned
  
• Apr. 17: Stay Tuned
  
• May 15: Potting Orchids, J & K Orchids
  

Officers and Committees

January Meeting - Orchid Quest 2005

This month's meeting will be about preparing for Orchid Quest. This is our biggest endeavor of the year, and it is a great opportunity to learn more about orchids. It is worth helping just to see all of the orchids on the vender tables before the gates open at 10 on Saturday. We still need people to fill positions at Orchid Quest, so keep your calendars open Feb. 4-6. We will pass around a sign up sheet at the January meeting.

There will also be ribbon judging at the January meeting. Remember that the winner of each class receives an Orchids by the Ackers gift certificate at the end of the year.

Times to look for Orchid Quest 2005 ads

TV: 
Mon. Jan.31st at noon on Channel 3 News - Linda Barcz of the Bruce Co. garden program

Radio: 
PBS Radio channel on Fri. Jan.28th, 11AM to 1230 - OGG member Wayne King will do a call-in show
WCLO (AM 1230), Sat. Jan. 29th and Sat. Feb.5th, 8AM to 9AM - Phyllis Williams of K&W Greenery, Janesville gardening program

Hermann Pigor's Talk

The December membership meeting was held at Olbrich Gardens at 1:30 on December 12, 2004. Our guest speaker was Hermann Pigors of Oak Hill Gardens. Before starting his dendrobium program he volunteered information on growth and growing of the plants that were brought in for judging. First up was an Oncidium Twinkle 'Red Fantasy'. If your orchids- oncidiums and paphs as well as other orchids have brown leaf tips they may be suffering from excess fertilizer. Try fertilizing less. The brown leaf tips could be due to some type of "root rot" due to an inadequate growing medium and may need to be repotted in different medium. The next plant up for our educational enjoyment was the Cycnoches herrenhusanum 'Golden Ring'. Hermann explained the meaning of the Latin name (herren- like heralds for royalty; husanum- house) but perhaps what was more interesting was the fact that the plant could alternate between producing male flowers one year and the possibility of producing female flowers the next. Fascinating! Next up was an Angraceum. Hermann mentioned that these were fairly "heavy" feeders so plant/pot accordingly. He suggested the grower try planting in a slightly larger pot with a mix that retains more water and more fertilizer.

Hermann then began his program on growing Dendrobiums. The word Dendrobium means "Grows on trees" (Dendro- trees; bio- life). They are not parasitic but do cling to trees with roots. Dendrobiums are adapted to go through a dry season but Hermann believes that cool temperatures are more important than a dry season to get these plants to bloom.

It's important to realize that there are more types of dendrobiums than any other type of orchid- At last count there were between 1200 and 1600 different types. They are divided (as far as show books) into 3 types. Nobile types, Dendrobium-Phalanopsis types and everything else. The Nobile types tend to have shinier leaves. They drop these leaves and the buds form where the leaves were. These plants originate in the high altitudes of India and are mainly cool-growing. He suggested they could be grown with Cattleyas in the summer, then apply bloom booster such as 10-50-10 in the fall. Allow them to become drier and do not fertilize from November to January. You should get blossoms up and down the side of the stem where those leaves fell off earlier. Begin watering these when you see the new growth beginning and repot when the new growth is 5-8 inches tall.

The second type of Dendrobium was the Dendrobium-Phalanopsis types. These originate in/near Australia therefore they are warmer growing. This type grows taller than Nobile type with flowers developing from a stem that grows out of the top of the center of the plant. These types do not lose their leaves (at least they aren't supposed to). Despite the "Phalanopsis" aspect of these dendrobiums, Hermann suggests that these too can be grown outside in the summer.

Other dendrobiums of note include the superbum (superb-um not super-bum) which are closer to the Phal-type warm-growing. They tend to grow up, and then arch over and down. They have a tendency to drop leaves before they bloom. They also tend to produce many keikis. Kingianum is another dendrobium with a tendency to produce lots of keikis.

Thank you to Meg McLaughlin for this summary.

Orchid Guild Volunteer Positions

Not only do we need every member to help make Orchid Quest a success, but we need every member to help the Guild work too. If you have never volunteered for a position, please consider helping in any way you can. There are a few positions within the Orchid Guild that are urgently in need of filling. This is another great way to meet members of the Guild. Everyone on the board and the officers will help and support members that fill these positions. Please ask an officer or board member if you have any questions.

Treasurer - Steve Thimling (our current) treasurer will help you learn everything you need to know about being treasurer. No experience is necessary to become treasurer. Please talk to Steve if you have any questions.

President - Right now Elaine Malter (our vice president) has assumed the president's responsibilities. The whole board will support the president in their duties. You don't need to know much about orchids to be the president. It is much easier to run the Guild with both a president and a vice president. Please consider helping the Guild by filling this position.

Away Show Chair - The Guild needs someone who can coordinate our away shows. This will involve making sure that we have people to pick up the show plants, set up the display, and then take it down. Often there is someone from the Guild going to the different shows and our members just need to be coordinated. Setting up Guild displays is a very important part of supporting the other orchid clubs in Wisconsin and the surrounding states. They in turn, support us by setting up a display at Orchid Quest. If we can get a couple people to sign up, this position can be run as a committee.

Ribbon Judging - We need a few people to record scores and bring the supplies for out ribbon judging. There will be a couple people helping run the judging. You do not need to know a lot about orchids to do this because the whole Guild is here to help you learn.

Spring Sale - Another important fund raiser is our Spring Sale. We need somebody to organize picking up plants from Ackers and setting them up at Olbrich. We always have a lot of help for this sale, and we need a member the head the volunteer team.

Please remember that we need every member to volunteer if we want the Guild to continue. If you are new, or haven't helped out before, or it has been awhile since you last volunteered, please ask the members of the board how you can help.

December 2004 Judging results

First Place:     Steven Thimling  (Cischweinfia pusilla)
 
Second Place:    Wayne King (Phrag Eric Young), Meg McLaughlin (Oncidium Twinkle 'Red Fantasy'), Steven Thimling (Phrag Eric Young).
 
Third Place:     Meg McLaughlin (Cookara Tropical Snow Flake 'Hua' x (Dial. Snowflake x Ctna Keith Roth), Steven Thimling (Angraecum sesquipedale)

Renew Your Membership

Remember that membership dues are due by the end of the year. You can fill out a membership form and give it to Steve at the November meeting. Download the pdf form here.

Batavia Orchid Show

This show is held at the Charlestowne Mall in St. Charles, Illinois.  Dates are February 18-20th.  Set-up starts at 3 pm on Friday. We are planning to set up a display at this show, and we need members to help set up and take down. Please contact Elaine (608-238-5871 - egadzicki@charter.net) if you can help.

Proposed Additions and Changes to By-Laws

#1.     For the first time in the history of the Guild, the Nominating Committee failed to submit a nominee for President.  The only provision in the By-Laws to fill this position is under the "temporary absence or disability" provisions found in Article IV which requires the Vice President to be the acting President.  Since, under the current By-Laws, the Office of the President cannot be filled until May 2006 (see Article XII), the current vacancy would not fit a reasonable concept of "temporary".  The unfilled position creates two problems: 1) difficulty in achieving a quorum for the Board to do business (ie 4 voting members at its meeting) and 2) the absence of a President at the time of the next elections (May 2005) which means that the person elected Vice President at that time will have to act as President for at least one year.
 
Since there are no provisions in Article XII "Nominations and Elections" for the failure to elect an officer due to be elected, a provision is needed and language is proposed as follows:
 
 
" In the event that the Board or Officer position to be filled is not filled under the above provisions, the President or Acting President shall appoint a Search Committee to continue efforts to find a nominee.  That Committee shall provide a progress report to the Board at each meeting.  Once a nominee has been found, the Board shall, at its earliest opportunity, submit the name of that nominee to the Membership for confirmation, and, once confirmed, the person shall immediately take the position for which elected."
 
 
#2.     Article XVII  "Distribution and Dissolution" is read by some as giving the Board sole power to dissolve the Guild without consulting the membership.  If the Board, for some reason, is unable to achieve a quorum to conduct business, it will be unable to function and be unable to dissolve the Guild.  In general, it seems good policy to require membership consent to any action to dissolve its organization.   Recommend the following change.  The current provisions may remain, but the following introductory paragraph should be added.
 
" The ranking member of the Board of Directors (President or Acting president, Treasurer, and Secretary, in that order)  shall propose to the membership a resolution to dissolve the organization and the rationale for this proposal.  A majority vote of the membership present at a membership meeting is required to ratify the proposal.  The membership may also be asked to propose a distribution of assets under this provision" 
 
At the end of this Article, the following is needed:    "If the Board cannot achieve a quorum to implement a membership vote to dissolve, the ranking member of the Board of Directors is empowered to do to so."

Submit Your Photos

Every month we want to include a gallery of photos to enjoy. I don't have many plants in bloom, so I will need your help. Email your photos to Brook (orchids@tinamoupottery.com) by Feb. 1 for inclusion in next month's newsletter.