We have an in-person meeting scheduled for next Tuesday, September 24 at Congregation Beth Sholom, located at 7525 E Northern Lights Blvd.  We will begin gathering at 6:30 PM with the meeting actually beginning at 7 PM.  Be sure to mark your calendars.  I will send out another reminder on Monday night along with the Zoom link since our plan is to also broadcast via Zoom for those of you who cannot make it.  Our program will be a webinar from the American Orchid Society entitled:  Orchids for Everyone: The Most Popular Orchid Genera and How to Identify Them – Module 2 of the Master Gardener Series and will be presented by Janeil Payne and David Vandenbroek.  The program summary follows:  "Selecting the right plant for the right place is the key to success with orchids and other houseplants. There are so many to choose from at the grocery stores, box stores, online, and at orchid shows. In this module, Janeil Payne and David Vandenbroek help identify the most popular genera of orchids available and provides a basic overview of some growing and care concerns for each.”  

I think you will find this to be a very interesting program and, especially for those of you new to the hobby, a good introduction to the most frequently grown orchids that hobbyists around the world enjoy.  Obviously, this will go well beyond Phalaenopsis, the most common orchids offered at big box stores.  You just might find some new interests.  When we do our next group order I will try to select a source with a variety of these types.

One more reminder, be on the lookout for blooms open next Tuesday so you can have them at the ready for the Show-and-Tell portion of our program.

A board meeting is scheduled for 6 PM on Saturday, September 7th. We will be discussing returning to in-person meetings and selecting the venue for future meetings. There may be other items, as well.

Yes, we do have a meeting this coming Tuesday, August 27 at 6 PM.  It will be a Zoom meeting and feature a subject we all hate, but must know about:  "Pests, Diseases, and Troubleshooting Problems" and will be presented by our favorite orchid authority, Ron McHatton, education director for the American Orchid Society.  The webinar is described as follows:  “Prevention and early detection are key to controlling insect and disease problems in orchids.  Join the American Orchid Society Doctor for a talk about the many pests and diseases that may be targeting your orchids and other houseplants.  Dr. Ron McHatton will show you how to identify, mitigate and give solutions for the many common orchid problems.”  He does like to begin with simple solutions and escalate as needed.

On another exciting front, we will be doing a group order from Krull-Smith Orchids in Florida.  To participate in the order visit Krullsmith.com and check out their offerings.  DO NOT PLACE YOUR ORDER ON THE WEBSITE.  Rather, make a list of the plants you want and send it directly to me.  I will gather the list and send it off as a unit.  Krull-Smith will send back the cost of each order by name and we will collect your money for the order and postage before the order is actually placed.  Then they will all be shipped to me and I will sort them out so you can pick up your plants.  This isn’t as good a deal as we usually get, but it is still an opportunity to acquire some first class orchids that you will not find at your local big box store.  If our total order reaches $1,000 we will get a 5% discount, $2,000 will get us a 10% price reduction.  Shipping will be 20% of the cost of your plants and will be collected prior to the order.  To help out, I will spend some time on the Krull-Smith.com website at the Zoom meeting on Tuesday to assist you in navigating the site.  I will answer questions about orchid varieties with which you may not be familiar and the care they need.  I have ordered from these people off and on for about 30 years and have never been displeased.  

Feel free to send your list to me anytime, but the ordering period will end Tuesday, September 3.  I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Our July 23 meeting will be at the Alaska Botanical Garden for a tour led by Patrick Ryan, Education Specialist. We will begin at 5:30—please note that this earlier than our usual time! We will also be trying to hold an election to fill vacant seats on the board. Leah Goodstein and Bob Malvin are our candidates for office. We will need a quorum of 6 board members and 6 non board members to achieve a quorum, so please try to attend if you can. Besides, we always have a wonderful time at the ABG seeing what is blooming and what is new.

Orchids 101: Back to the Basics. This is a PowerPoint presentation covering the do’s and do not’s of orchid culture. It includes growing environment, tempertures, light requirements, humidity and how to water your plants (Please “Don’t just add ice!”).

The Alaska Orchid Society is planning to participate in the Midtown Mall Spring Flower and Garden Show. It is an all day event and prospers from many club members participating. There will be lots of orchids for sale and it will be an opportunity to check out some new must-have orchids for your collection. More details will be announced as we get closer to the date, but do mark your calendars for this big event. Prior to Covid it was our biggest and most important event of the year.

Our program will be a tutorial by Wayne Toups on how to go about repotting your orchids. Some of the topics covered will be when to repot, what size pot and potting medium to use and how to care for them after they are repotted.

Our program this month will be a Webinar from our parent organization, the American Orchid Society and will be a Webinar presented by our favorite orchid expert, Ron McHatton. It will be one of his Greenhouse Chats featuring the following subjects:

Cattleya tight leaf around the sheath
08:48 Mounted orchid watering
12:59 Phalaenopsis cutting the old spike
14:52 Dendrobium leaf spots and yellowing
18:30 Phalaenopsis bloom spike coming out in the wrong place
20:45 Pseudobulbs shriveling can they be restored
22:48 Phalaenopsis black spots on the leaves
25:19 Cattleya stunted new growth
28:01 Growing in very low humidity
30:04 Leaf problems, possible virus
32:07 Watering with clear pots
33:39 Miltoniopsis leaf damage
35:56 Osmoglossum pulchellum not reblooming
37:47 Repotting different orchids in the same pot
39:30 Psychopsis when to repot
41:32 Cattleya repotting with a lot of exterior roots
44:13 Using a cool humidifier
47:01 Phalaenopsis amboinensis reblooming
48:41 Phalaenopsis saving it with no roots

Our program will be an American Orchid Society Webinar: Phalaenopsis: From Soup to Nuts with David Edgley. “ Join Accredited Judge and Chair of the AOS Judging Committee, David Edgley, for a wonderful panorama of Phalaenopsis breeding and the culture needed to grow these delightful orchids.”

Our program will be an American Orchid Society Webinar by Carol Klonowski entitled Multifloral Paphiopedilums. “What is a Multifloral Paph? Yes, it has more than one flower, but what makes these different? What are the rules for growing and showing these wonderful plants? Join Carol Klonowski as she takes us on a tour of the various species and hybrids and what influences the breeding.”

Wayne will present one of his PowerPoint presentations entitled “Some of Wayne’s Favorite Orchids.” For those of you who saw this presentation years ago, there will be new pictures added with some spectacular flowers. I hope you can join us.

Our program will be on Brassavola: AOS Accredited Judge Beth Martin presents Brassavola, a beautiful and graceful orchid.

Lycaste: Current Trends in Hybridizing and Judging—Tim Culbertson, noted hybridizer and AOS judge, takes us through Lycaste, with his perspectives on judging to help us to understand what breeders are striving for to satisfy purchasers.

We will be watching an American Orchid Society Webinar by our favorite presenter, Ron McHatten. It is one of his Greenhouse Chats and covers the following topics:

05:07 Cattleya repotting
08:36 Zygonisia pseudobulbs yellowing
10:48 Oyster shell supplement
14:12 Epsom salts
16:55 Leaf damage in general
19:30 Using garlic, ginger, and turmeric for root growth
21:50 Urea in fertilizer
26:22 Leaf spotting
28:58 Leaf damage from mites or virus
33:00 Cattleya purple spots on the leaves
34:40 Temperature classifications
39:55 Root development
41:13 Aerial roots and trimming them
43:34 Extended answer to question #1
45:22 Mixing fertilizers together
46:22 Moving your orchid to a different growing area
48:05 IGR’s and when to use them
50:15 Repotting and how much it effects the flowering
52:37 Mounted orchids and watering them
55:23 Mixing products for scale
57:57 Trimming roots

We will be having a guided tour of the Alaska Botanical Garden for this program. It has been a number of years since we have been there and it will be fun to see how things have progressed whilst enjoying the terrific display of flowers at the Garden. Please note that we will be starting at 5:45 rather than our usual time!

This meeting is tentatively scheduled to occur in Debbie Hinchey’s garage and will be a repotting party. Members are invited to bring up to two orchids to repot. Individuals will need to provide their own pots, though we usually have some available for purchase at the meeting. The club will provide the potting medium and whatever advice might be needed.

Our meeting will begin at 6 PM with a program by Wayne making his annual appeal to summer some of your orchids outdoors. It will include suitable varieties and suggestions about hardening them off and where to site them for the summer.

Our meeting will begin at 6 pm and include an American Orchid Society Webinar by Ron McHatton covering the following:

4:21 Bulbophyllum saving a near dead plant
9:12 Dendrobium winter rest
14:07 Leaf fungus treatment phyllosticta
15:46 Pseudobulb spots and damage treatment
18:49 Encyclia new growth dieback
22:22 Travel and caring for your orchids
25:02 Virus signs on the bloom
28:08 Keikis how to create them
30:32 Clear pots with holes
33:32 Outside plants with too much sunlight
36:11 Leaf damage from mites
38:13 Roots with gray mold
42:04 Fertilizer general discussion
51:23 Cattleya with blackened pseudobulbs
55:20 Phalaenopsis leaf damage
58:55 Switching from moss to bark
1:06:12 How to inspect the roots
1:08:20 Physan 20 Ron’s opinion

Our program this evening will be two American Orchid Society Webinars:

Substance and Texture:  How do these attributes of orchid flowers affect our impression or color.

Greenhouse Chat:  April 14, 2021 Answers to a lot of questions you didn’t know you needed to ask.

The Zoom meeting will begin at 6 PM with the program shortly thereafter. We will be watching a Webinar from the American Orchid Society, our parent organization. The program will be presented by Ron McHattan and entitled Orchid Diseases and Their Management. Also, don’t forget to have your blooming plants handy for Show-and-Tell

This would normally be our Annual Holiday Party, but due to the obvious we will have a Zoom meeting. Due to technical difficulties last month I was unable to present the program on roots, but we will be trying again this month. I have a plan and a backup plan so hopefully it will go smoothly.

We will have a Zoom Meeting entitled Roots: It’s All About the Roots. Join John Salventi as he presents a topic near and dear to every orchid grower: how to take care of those precious roots! Roots are the lifeblood of our orchids. He will discuss all the methodologies to take care of our orchid root systems. One of the founders and owners Parkside Orchid Nursery in Pennsylvania, John began as hobbyists in 1986 and entered the commercial orchid world. John is now part of Salventi-Purviance Enterprises, LLC which provides orchid consultation, lecturing and teaching, and sales of greenhouses.

I will send out a Zoom invitation at about 4 PM and open the meeting at 5:50 so we can get set up by the meeting time.

If you are not a member, but would like to attend one of our Zoom meetings feel free to contact me through the website and I will send you an invitation when the meeting time nears. Guests are always welcome at the Alaska Orchid Society’s meetings.

I will present the program on Paphiopedilum faireanum at a later date.

We will have a Zoom Meeting entitled Roots: It’s All About the Roots. Join John Salventi as he presents a topic near and dear to every orchid grower: how to take care of those precious roots! Roots are the lifeblood of our orchids. He will discuss all the methodologies to take care of our orchid root systems. One of the founders and owners Parkside Orchid Nursery in Pennsylvania, John began as hobbyists in 1986 and entered the commercial orchid world. John is now part of Salventi-Purviance Enterprises, LLC which provides orchid consultation, lecturing and teaching, and sales of greenhouses.

I will send out a Zoom invitation at 6 PM and open the meeting at 6:20 so we can get set up by the meeting time.

If you are not a member, but would like to attend one of our Zoom meetings feel free to contact me through the website and I will send you an invitation when the meeting time nears. Guests are always welcome at the Alaska Orchid Society’s meetings.

We will have a Zoom Meeting on the subject of Growing Under Glass, which is a webinar from the American Orchid Society. Chris Miller, a grower of all orchids small, will show us how to build and maintain orchidariums for those plants that need special growing conditions, humidity, light and temperature. 

I will send out a Zoom invitation about 6 PM and open the meeting at 6:20 so we can get try to get in by starting time.

If you are not a member, but would like to attend one of our Zoom meetings feel free to contact me through the website and I will send you an invitation when the meeting time nears. Guests are always welcome at the Alaska Orchid Society’s meetings.

September would normally be the month our meetings return to the BP Energy Center, but, as we are all aware, nothing is normal this year. We will be watching an American Orchid Society Webinar entitled Growing Odonts Without Getting Frostbite. The regal odontoglossums have a long tradition of finding favor among orchid connoisseurs. Their colorful and often intricately patterened flowers make them well worth the effort to grow them if you can provide the right conditions. Join Russ Vernon as he shows how their cultural requirements can be easily met.

I will send out a Zoom invitation about 6 PM and open the meeting at 6:20 so we can get try to get in by starting time.

If you are not a member, but would like to attend one of our Zoom meetings feel free to contact me through the website and I will send you an invitation when the meeting time nears. Guests are always welcome at the Alaska Orchid Society’s meetings.

The next Zoom meeting of the Alaska Orchid Society is this Tuesday, August 25 at 6:30 PM.  I will send an invitation to the meeting about 30 minutes before.  If you have blooming orchids you might want to have them handy for Show-and-Tell.  The program will be a Webinar from our parent organization, The American Orchid Society.  I have watched the program and found it to be helpful and informative.  I did learn a few new things.  Details follow:

The internet is an amazing resource full of information about orchids! Bill Bodei's timely talk will provide insights on how to leverage the web as an orchid hobbyist. Whether identifying and solving for a pest or disease issue, sharing culture experiences, or becoming a more discerning buyer, there is something in this talk for everyone from the novice to the advanced. Bill is an AOS Trustee and Chair of the Membership and Marketing Committee.  

After this program we will have a Question and Answer session, so get those questions in mind and I will try to help.

We will have a Zoom meeting with Wayne presenting a PowerPoint show entitled “Easy Orchids.”

We will have a Zoom meeting this month. The program is TBA.

This month we will have a Zoom meeting about Cattleya orchids. I will have lots of pictures and cultural information. If you have blooming plants have them handy for Show-and-Tell.

We will do a Zoom meeting on repotting orchids and giving your orchids a summer vacation outdoors. If you have blooming orchids you might want to have them handy for Shows-and-Tell.