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October 2000 NEWSSOOS Valentine Orchid Show February 10-11, 2001 Civic Garden Centre Toronto PROGRAM: Oct 1st Mark Rose of Breckenridge Orchids of North Carolina. Strictly fabulous Phals. Let Mark show you how he grows them to cabbage size! Remember set up only from 12 to 12:30 pm Admission and Plant sales start at 12:30 pm. Please, No Sales of any kind before 12:30 pm. November 11 and 12: Tour of local growers. If you are willing to show how you grow to others, please contact Margit Koritar at 416-425-5136. Small light set ups are especially needed. Dec 3rd Christmas Party Editor’s Message: I hope you all had a good summer, rain and all. It is time to get into the fall and winter orchid season. That means lots of shows, lots of good speakers at meetings and congresses, and lots more new orchids to tempt you. If any of you looked closely at the SOOS financial statement in the last news letter, you would have noted that the amount you pay in annual dues barely pays for the newsletter, some administrative costs, and the library. The cost of meetings, speakers, picnic etc. are all supported by vendors contributions and show visitors. The financial success of our shows is helping us provide better programming and the Summer Orchidfest without a raise in dues. We need your help with the show to keep it a success. SOOS is a volunteer run society. That means that things like the meeting programming and organisation, the keeping of records on over 300 members, the writing and production of this newsletter, the organisation and production of our annual show, the participation in other orchid society shows, the beginners program, and refreshments are all performed by unpaid volunteers. We are very fortunate to have a strong core of capable people that are willing to perform these functions year after year. Volunteer work fortunately is a strong tradition in the orchid world. The Canadian Orchid Congress the American Orchid Society, the Orchid Digest Corporation, and the Mid America Orchid Congress are all largely volunteer based organisations. The AOS judging system is entirely volunteer with the exception of the registrar in West Palm Beach. AOS orchid judges put in many volunteer hours attending at the monthly judging centres as well as traveling at their own expense to judge local shows and attending training sessions. Why do we do it? Because we enjoy orchids and orchid people. That is you and your orchids. Sometimes the workload gets too large and then we appeal for additional volunteers. We hope some of you will get involved and share in the camaraderie. At the October meeting the 2001 membership cards will be available. You can help us by renewing for 2001 now. In past years we have had about 100 stragglers who are first taken of the list in March, and then need to be added back on sometimes as late as August. SO PLEASE RENEW NOW FOR 2001. Peter Poot Coming Events September 30-1, Central Ontario Orchid Society Show, Guelph ‚ October 1, SOOS meeting 12:30 pm , Civic Garden Centre Toronto 7, Toronto Judging Centre, CGC 1 pm 14, Niagara frontier orchid society Show, Hamburg, NY. 21-22, Orchidfete 2000, ECOS show, Days Inn, Montreal. 18-22, Eastern Orchid Congress, AOS Trustees meeting, Williamsburg, Virginia. 29, Toronto Master Gardeners, Solutions to Problems in the Garden, CGC 9 am to 3 pm.. November 4-5, Niagara Region Show, Ste Catherines 11, Toronto Judging Centre, CGC 1 pm 11, 12, SOOS Growers tour. 18-19, Orchidofolie 2000 show, Sainte-Foy, Quebec. 25-26, Saginaw Valley O.S., Midland, MI. ‚ December 2, Toronto Centre 3, SOOS meeting 12:30 pm , Civic Garden Centre Toronto SHOWS. When summer is ending can shows be far behind? Attend an orchid show. Better still attend an orchid congress or volunteer to do a SOOS orchid display. Volunteer for our Valentine Show February 10-11, 2001. NEWCOMERS'MEETINGS For those of you who are new to growing orchids or who want more detailed cultural advice Wayne Hingston has arranged a series of Monday night meetings. These will be held at 7:30 PM in the Boardroom of the Civic Garden Centre as follows: October 16, 2000: Fertilizers and Repotting. November 20, 2000: Light, Humidity, Pest and Diseases. December 11, 2000: Phalaenopsis, Paphiopedilum January 15, 2001: Cattleya, Dendrobium. For further information contact Wayne Hingston at 905-649-2467. Cruising with Orchids, March 27 to April 8, 2001. Doug and Terry Kennedy are the hosts for a two day adventure in Costa Rica and a ten day cruise on the ms Amsterdam from Costa Rica through the Panama Canal via Curacao, the Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas to Ft. Lauderdale. Here is your chance to combine luxury cruising with orchid adventure and orchid company. Brochures and information available from Doug and Terry Kennedy. The Toronto Master Gardeners annual seminar "Solutions to Problems in the Garden" will take place Sunday, October 29 from 9 am to 3 pm. at the Civic Garden Centre. Cost is $20 at the door, bring your own lunch. There will be sessions on Pruning, Growing Roses, and The Urban Forest All are welcome. AOS Judging Results Toronto Centre, September 2 Restrepia roseola ‘Ilia’s Blush’ CHM/AOS 82 points Mario & Conni Ferrusi Cycnoches peruviana ‘Cloud’s Peppered Pearls’ CCM/AOS 82 points Claudio Rossi Odontoglossum povedanum ‘Bronze Jewel’ CBR/AOS Mario & Conni Ferrusi The Toronto Judging Centre monthly judgings are open to all orchid growers. You need not be a member of AOS or SOOS. You can bring your plants to the Civic Garden Centre before one o'clock on the designated Saturday of each month. Plants are judged for AOS awards in accordance with the Handbook on Judging and Exhibition. If your plant is awarded there is a US $35 charge by the AOS. Non payment forfeits the right to future judging.. The Centre welcomes interested persons to come and observe the judging. There are opportunities to assist in plant research and administrative chores. WANTED VOLUNTEERS to assist in Judging Center Operation Assistant Photographer to help with awards plant photography during and after judging. Clerical Assistants to help with plant registration, plant research, and award data input. Qualifications: Reliable, enthusiastic and elementary three r’s. Must be available most centre judging dates from 12:30- 5:00 pm. Rewards: Get to know the judging system and the judges. See the awarded plants in their full glory. For further information, call Peter Poot at 905-640-5643 or Mario Ferrusi at 905-892-4187 TV Stars Recognized Chee Chong, Y.K. Lee and Lina Chan were instrumental recently in helping the society obtain free publicity by assisting in the production of an orchid talk tape for Fairchild TV. We thank all of them, but especially Lina for her preparation and gathering of the plants that were used. Publicity like this helps getting visitors out to our show, which in turn helps us provide better programming at our meetings. Neem oil has been much in the orchid news of late. A number of vendors sell it. If all the claims are true, it must be ideal for home use. Here is some info that appeared in the Ottawa newsletter recently. Ed. NEEM OIL - submitted by Rick Sobkowicz At the April Ottawa Orchid Show, Bill Sutherland of B&B Hydroponics was selling numerous hydroponic supplies and drew my attention to a new product that he recently acquired and was selling: Neem Oil. There are so many new products constantly coming on the market that I did the usual eye rolling, sighing and patiently listened to what Bill had to say before moving on to tend to other show related matters. Later, I learned from other orchid vendors that some of them were also distributing Neem Oil and that a favorable article on this product was published in the newsletter of the American Orchid Society. My wife, Margaret Haydon, acquired a small bottle from Bill, used the product and finds it to be an effective agent for controlling some of the orchid insect pests that we all come across from time to time. In preparation for this month's news letter, I turned to the Internet to find what I could on this product and found numerous helpful sources of information on Neem Oil and the Neem tree. One of the sources was Larry Evans of Blue Pagoda Orchids in Englewood, Florida. I found what he had to say quite useful because he talks about proportions (how much neem oil to use with water) and the results he has had with his pets, something that a lot of orchid growers who also have pets are concerned about. The second source of information is the Neem Foundation whom I have quoted to a great extent. There are many other benefits to be derived from the Neem tree and for those of you who have wider interests, the extracts from the Neem Foundation are offered for your reading pleasure and information. ( Not copied editor SOOS ) Here is the Larry Evans information, extracted from his web site: I can only tell you of my experience with Neem Oil. I cannot recommend Neem oil because our government has not approved its use on orchids or on any plants. When I refer to Neem oil, I mean pure Neem Oil as pressed from the seeds of the Neem tree. I have never used any product with Neem oil in it. I don't know that it would be as safe as pure Neem oil. Where does Neem oil come from? Originally it came from India. The Indian natives have been using Neem for about 3000 years as an internal remedy as well as an ingredient in tooth paste, soap, shampoo, cosmetics and skin creams. I have never used a product in the greenhouse whose effects were as efficient and long lasting as Neem. Insecticides and fungicides that I had previously used were a short-term fix - about two weeks. And the smell was offensive and lasted for days. But it was what was available to keep a clean insect free greenhouse even if the fumes from most insecticides caused me to have allergic reactions. Due to a long term illness, my greenhouse became a disaster area. In January, as the phalaenopsis were spiking, the mealy bugs moved in by the thousands. About 75% of the mature plants had fire ants in the pot. Scale was rampant. We had snails and slugs so big they looked dangerous. Toxic sprays did not get rid of them completely. The first time I used Neem oil (I oz. to I gallon of water + few drops of dishwashing liquid (Editor's note: Sunlight or Ivory Dishwashing Soap is recommended), I sprayed every plant, bench, walkway and under every bench. In a few days there was a definite improvement. I waited 2 weeks and sprayed again. I kept a close eye on the plants, no mealy bugs, scale and best of all the fire ants were gone. And no more slugs and snails. I didn't spray again for six months. I found a snail and a slug, no other live stock', but I decided to spray everything again. The beauty part of using Neem oil is that you don't have to wear protective clothing or special breathing equipment and there are no sickening odors. Neem oil does have an odor, best described as 'kind of like onion soup'. However, the odor only lingers for a short time. How does Neem get rid of insects? Most insects die shortly after spraying. Those remaining become sterile and do not reproduce. I've heard a story of 2 desert locusts, 2 grape leaves and 2 bell jars. One grape leaf was sprayed with an insecticide, the other with Neem. One locust and one grape leaf were put under each bell jar. The locust ate the toxic leaf and died. The other locust refused to eat the Neem sprayed leaf and starved to death. From my experience the storey could be true. I believe it is better if you can prevent the insect from eating the plant, than to let them eat the plant and then die. It takes years to lose the damaged leaves on most orchids. Flowers can be ruined before the critters will die from insecticide. I've not been disappointed with Neem Oil. I'm sure that many who read this will be sceptical because of the 'do everything' claim. We have a cat that has grown up in the greenhouse. Neem hasn't bothered her at all. Panzie greets all comers and we certainly would not use anything that would hurt her. We also used Neem on my daughter's dog, a Shar-pei. The dog was biting and chewing her fur and making sores and bald spots all over her coat. The veterinarian said she had hair mites. There is a treatment for this - a series of 6 dips at $65.00 per dip and only a 50% chance of a cure. I suggested that she try using a 'Neem rinse' after bathing the dog, using a I oz. to I gallon of water. This treatment was followed for three weeks. The dog has stopped chewing herself and has grown back a full glossy coat. It is also harmless on people. A lady in our orchid society has an allergy to mosquito bites. Living in Florida she had a problem working in her garden, fishing or taking an evening stroll. She had used spray repellents but it was difficult to use and not always satisfactory. She tried Neem oil and she swears by it. When I use Neem oil I only mix the amount I will use within four hours. Neem is very biodegradable and will start to break down quickly. If it is kept in the refrigerator at approximately 40F the shelf life is extended. As any organic oil, it will turn rancid. How soon will depend on the storage temperature. We have used pure Neem oil on cattleya, dendrobium, phaleanopsis, oncidiums, vanilla, vanda, peristeria, etc. We have detected no damage to any of these plants. Tips on Using Neem Oil* 1 Pure Neem Oil will retain its potency much longer if stored at about 40° F in a low light area such as a refrigerator. 2. Do not mix anything with Neem oil until you are ready to use it. Mix only the amount of Neem oil you will use in 4 to 6 hours. 3. A new batch of Neem oil, water and a little soap (according to the label) should be mixed each time you are. going to spray. 4. The soap (dishwashing detergent) is used to help emulsify the oil. If no soap is used the Neem will not mix into solution with the waiter and spraying will not be effective. 5. Spray the complete plant including the top of the potting media. Spray benches, walkways and any surface over which an insect might travel. 6. A mixture of 1oz.to 1 gallon of water should be used for spraying. A weaker solution may be used as a maintenance spray. It is impossible to give a definite schedule for spraying, however a "close eye" will help each person to adjust a timetable to maintain clean plants. You will probably not have to spray as often with Neem as with toxic insecticides. *The different Neem Oil products on the market may require handling different from what is described here. Please be sure to read the manufacturer's instructions carefully before use. SOOS Valentine Orchid Show Judy Floyd again heads up the publicity campaign to get the public to our annual show in February. She will have the posters and dollar of coupons for distribution at the December meeting. If you expect to be able to place a large amount of this material, please see or phone Judy at 905-822-5117 Advertisement Move forces sale. All plants healthy and blooming size. Best offer takes all. No individual sales please. Will deliver in GTA. Bulbophyllum rothschildianum ‘Red Chimney’ FCC/AOS Paph. St. Swithin ‘Rex’ FCC x ‘Grace’ AM 10 Paph. armeniacum bare root 4 Paph.. micranthum bare root Phalaenopsis violacea Oncidium Smithin ‘Jennifer Dauro’ FCC/AOS Sederia japonica Pot. Hoku Gem ‘Super Spots’ ( Bl. Richard Mueller x Slc Tangerine Jewel ) Asconopsis Irene Dobkin ‘York’ FCC/AOS Bl. Morning Glory ‘H&R" ( B. nodosa x L. purpurata ) Phrag caudatum Cymbidium - large, unusual yellow. Contact Barbara weekdays at 416-233-0040. WINTER’S COMING Have you brought your tender plants in yet? If not, be sure to debug and deslug them, before you bring them indoors. Those creatures will multiply even better inside. Have you checked your heating system? Even if it is in working order, a badly adjusted system can cause harmful fumes, or fail at the worst moment. Do you have an emergency plan for your plants in case of power or heating system failure? |
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