SOUTHERN ONTARIO ORCHID SOCIETY NEWS June 2016, Volume 51, Issue 6 Meeting since 1965

Next Meeting Sunday, June 5, Floral Hall of the Toronto Botanical Garden,

Plant Sales 12 noon,

Cultural snapshots by Alexsi Antanaitis 12:15 on the stage, topic: Summering your out of doors.

Program at 1 pm , Claudio Rossi will speak to us about Easy Oddballs. Claudio is the founder and proprietor of Cloud’s Orchids. He is a former member of SOOS, an American Orchid Society judge and orchid hybridizer. His company sells many interesting orchid plants.

Members Show table: bring your flowering orchids, we can all learn from each-other and you can win points toward our annual table awards.

Raffle.

Rhyncholaelia Love Passion’ Orange Bird’ ( Rhynchlaeliocattleya William Farrel Cattlianthe Trick or Treat) CCM 88 points, Wilson Ng photo pp

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President’s Remarks Welcome Orchid Lovers. Plant of the month: Paphiopedilum [Paph.] What is the weatherperson doing to us? Here it is well Lebaudyanum (haynaldianum x into May and one day it is hot, the next day we have philippinense) grown by An- Li Sheng. snow. Will it ever be warm enough for us to put our plants outside? Even though our spring shows are over, I must make an adjustment to our ribbon standings for the TAOA show. Our apologies go out to Christine Williams for giving recognition to someone else for her first place ribbon. Please note that Christine's Paph. henryanum received a first place ribbon. She is a first time contributor to the SOOS display. Congratulations Christine on your fine growing and we are sorry for the mix-up.

The treats for the June 5th meeting falls to the members with the last names letter beginning with M. Thank you members with last names beginning with L, who supplied the delicious treats this past meeting.

The cultural snapshots will take place on the stage at 12:15 pm, before the meeting. Alexsi Antanaitis will be running these. All are welcome to participate in the sessions. The next session will be: Summering out of What a well-flowered, beautifully clean plant An-Li doors. Remember, if there is a topic you would like us to brought for all of us to enjoy! It had two inflorescences of cover, please let me know. 5 and 6 flowers and buds respectively and two developing inflorescences coming along to extend the We are beginning to put together our fall growing tour. flowering period. An-Li has had the plant for about 15 Please keep September 10th and 11th open. John years and lately has been growing it in ”Chinese stone” a Vermeer has been gathering members who enjoy pumice-like expanded clay product. She admitted freely sharing their optimum growing ideas. If you are willing to that she does not always remember to water the plant show the membership your growing techniques, we when needed, but it seems to be very forgiving. She would appreciate you letting us know so we can include grows it with a night temperature of 10 to 15C. She uses you. At this time, we have two of our vendors willing to a solution of 20-20-20 at almost all times for watering it share ideas. This will be a great opportunity for you to since the pumice does not supply any nutrients. see all the different orchids they have and perhaps Congratulations on a job well done! purchase ones that catch your eye. Three other members have offered their growing areas as well. Coming Events 2016 Again, please let us know if you would like to participate. May Toronto Native Plant Sale Our future speakers are as follows: Sunday May 29, 2016, 12 to 4 pm Christie Pits, 750 Bloor St. W. South end of Park, Toronto th June 5 Claudio Rossi Topic: Easy Oddballs (Christie subway station) th August 7 Orchidfest with Holger Penner th September 4 Alan Koch – to be announced All plants come from NANPS-approved ethical growers and nd October 2 Graham Wood Topic: Maudiae. Why has it are grown without neonicotinoids. changed so much The North American Native Plant Society is a volunteer- th June 5 will be our final meeting before we begin again based non-profit registered charitable organization in August with Orchidfest and our presenter Holger dedicated to the study, conservation, cultivation and Penner. So after this meeting, take a nice break, enjoy restoration of native plants. your summer, work joyously in your gardens, party hard, take the break you need and enjoy your flowers. June Remember they will love you for the attention. 4, TJC Monthly AOS Judging at TBG

5, SOOS meeting, Toronto Botanical Garden, sales 12 Happy Orchiding, noon, program 1 pm. Claudio Rossi.

Laura Liebgott Questions or comments: Please contact 18, Montreal judging, Jardin botanique de Montreal me at: [email protected] or 905 883 5290 July 2, TJC Monthly AOS Judging at TBG 16, Montreal judging, Jardin botanique de Montreal

August The inside 7, SOOS Orchid fest at TBG. TJC monthly AOS of the pouch judging 10 am, potluck lunch noon, after lunch Holger is really Penner from China pretty since the white 20, Montreal judging, Jardin botanique de Montreal surface is September spotted with 3, , TJC Monthly AOS Judging at TBG red polka 4, SOOS meeting, Toronto Botanical Garden, sales dots! 12 noon, program 1 pm, Alan Koch. Jason 10, 11. Fall growers tour. Fischer 24,25, Central Ontario Orchid Society Show, Orchids have come a long Cambridge, Ontario. way in improving the species by line-breeding. They have earned AM’s for their clones ‘Moyabamba’, ‘Purple Cow’ and a lovely AOS Judging Results deep magenta clone ‘Tesoro Marado’ with rounded Please note, all of these awards are provisional until that were held flat by a strong flat ventral . published by the American Orchid Society. . Not to be outdone they can also count some FCC’s Toronto Judging Centre, May 7, 2016: among their Phrag. kovachii awards. The clone ‘Ray Encyclia cordigera ‘Chrystal Star’ CCM-AOS 82 points Raab’ with a FCC of 90 points had only slightly turned Crystal Star Orchids under lower edges. Ryyncholaelia Love Passion ’Orange Bird’ ( Rhynco laeliocattleya William Farrel x Cattlianthe Trick or Treat) CCM-AOS 88 points, Wilson Ng. Paphiniopea (Stanhopea embreii x Paphinia herrerae) AM-AOS 80 points Doug & Terry Kennedy Guaricattphila Red Star (Cattlianthe Rojo x Myrmeccophila wendiandii) HCC-AOS 78 points, Jeanne Keading

Note! The next judging will be held at the Toronto Botanical Gardens, Saturday June 4, judges education at 10 am, judging at 1 pm. AOS Judging is a service of the American Orchid Society and is open to all!

Phragmipediums and Their Culture, by Jason Fischer, transcribed and adapted for an article by Inge The widest petals were achieved by a clone called Poot continued from the previous newsletter ‘Terminator’ , the result of sibbing the clones ‘Maximus’ Jason Fischer’s generous permission to use his photos and ‘Goliath’ to illustrate this transcription is very gratefully : acknowledged. What a

parent the Part 2: kovachii Breeding: clone This species will self-pollinate. The huge flowers keep ‘Terminator’ growing while open, but are best on day three since after will make! that the bottom edges of the petals start to curl under One of the and the petal edges start to undulate creating a messy problems of looking, somewhat floppy flower. Flowers that do not curl the species under at the lower petal edges have a large ventral sepal Phrag. that stops the curling. The dorsal sepal usually has a kovachii is strong cup in it near the tip, but Jerry Fischer’s clone ‘Big that as a Island Dreams’ AM-AOS seems to be only slightly seedling the cupped and may be a step in the right direction for plants grow eliminating this defect. 3

very slowly until they are 20 cm (8”) across and think Another interesting point was made by our speaker. To nothing of dying suddenly! Luckily after reaching that overcome the kovachii petal problems, the other parent size, the survivors grow much faster. This is probably as in a cross should be 4n. Even a 3n other parent is better a result of the species’ propensity for self-pollinating. It than a 2n. Also, 3n may even be bigger than the 4n would have produced a rather inbred population and version of the grex. only the plants lucky enough to have some genetic Phragmipedium Suzanne Decker (Phrag. kovachii x diversity survive. So it is no wonder that any hybrid with Phrag. Cape Sunset), where Cape Sunset contains this species would miraculously grow rather well! schlimii, longifolium and besseae, is a nice example of However since all other Phrag species are much smaller the merit of a polyploid crossed onto kovachii. The flowered and usually have narrow petals it is a long road flowers tend to be light pink with a white halo near the back to large round hybrids! base of the segments and the whole given oomph by the The hybrid of the small but full-flowered white and pink dark pink pouch. The odd plant will even produce tall, schlimii with kovachii, Eumelia Arias produced branched inflorescences! disappointing progeny of surprisingly narrow-petalled Phrag. Graeme Jones (kovachii X Barbara LeAnn) dull purple flowered progeny with a natural spread of up where Barbara LeAnn is besseae X fischeri, was to 10cm. illustrated with a lovely candy pink bloom with wide flat The cross of the red besseae with kovachii, Fritz petals. Barbara LeAnn is a cross similar to Hanne Schomburg again had a lot of progeny similar to the Popow but using fischeri instead of schlimii as one of the above, but there were some red progeny and they were parents. It illustrates that fischeri gives much more of course bigger. Using a 4n besseae improved the deeply pink progeny than schlimii. And it shows that in colour dramatically! the next generation too. The cross of the orange delassandroi and kovachii, Peruflora’s Cirila Alca had more brightly coloured offspring. Phrag. Andean Tears (wallisii /warscewiczianum /humboldtii X kovachii) is not a willing bloomer and according to a quip by our speaker only blooms in Montreal! However the large pink flowers with long, wide, down-curving petals are hard to overlook!

The cross Phrag Allison Strohm (Living Fire 4n X Phrag Peruflora`s Saltimbanco (kovachii X kovachii) produces some really gracefully ruffled flowers czerwiakowianum /boissierianum) can be very charming. in pink or light orange. The stance of the petals varies quite a lot, but they all Phrag Haley Decker (Saint Ouen x kovachii), where the have the attractive twisting and are quite wide compared Saint Ouen looks like an improved dalessandroi, was to the boissierianum parent. The soft pink colour is illustrated with a candy pink flower that had fairly wide attractive. Our own Heinz Ernstberger received an AM oval petals. The white pouch veined and flushed deep on his well-grown clone of this cross. pink provided a nice contrast. This cross is prone to colour break. It is hard to get a feel for the size of kovachii crosses without seeing them in the flesh. But one of the schlimii or fischeri crosses with besseae fits easily onto a single petal of a kovachii hybrid with besseae! 4

Phrag. andreettae is a small pale pink species looking like a schlimii with folded petals. Its F1 hybrid with kovachii (unnamed) is not great, but has the merit of being compact like the andreettae.

2nd Generation Hybrids Phrag. Emma Lomen (Fritz Schomburg x fischeri) has nicely shaped pink or orange flowers but unfortunately the big size got lost in the shuffle of genes!

Phrag. La Vingtaine (kovachii x Memoria Dick Clements) looks like a besseae on steroids! One of the clones shown had the infolded part of the pouch a bright clear creamy white, contrasting well with the dark red of the rest of the flower. The other clone was a pink with peach overtones.

Phrag. Alfredo Manrique (kovachii x Walter Schomburg), where Walter Schomburg is Eric Young X Andean Fire, is a similar looking cross, but the flowers are 25% larger. The clone shown was light red and had the infolded part of the pouch dotted and veined red. Some clones may branch, probably because delassandroi was used Phrag Fritz Schomburg X Waunakee Sunset 4n instead of straight besseae. produced offspring similar in colour to the Emma Lomen, but the shape was less full and less flat. The Phrag. Glen Decker (Jason Fischer x kovachii) Phrag. Black Cherry (Haley Decker x Mem. Dick shown had soft red flowers with very wide petals. White Clements) was illustrated with a deep red clone, but steaks on the proximal third of the mid-veins of the apparently the size was not even as big as Phrag Jason petals and around the base of the pouch high-lighted the Fischer! peach and yellow staminodal shield of the flower. Phrag. Bubbleberry (Fritz Schomburg x fischeri) had well-proportioned pink and white flowers. Phrag. Mephisto (Raymonde Faust x kovachii) had excellent large size and great rose-red colour, with a central white halo and was white on the infolded part of the pouch, but the petals were fairly narrow and a bit in- folded and undulating.

Phrag. Peruflora`s Spirit (Phrag. kovachii x Phrag. Eric Young) tends to produce huge plants. The flowers are fairly full and in the clone shown a medium pink with a darker pouch exterior.

In Phrag. Frank Smith (kovachii x Grande) the Grande won the battle for dominance of shape and the kovachii made the flower light pink. The petals are held vertically and in the clone shown resulted in a 21cm vertical natural spread!

Phrag. Joséphine Bonaparte (Cardinale 3n x kovachii) was not a success, because the 3n Cardinale made the genetics unstable and that resulted in an irregularly streaked dorsal. 5

Phrag. Apollo (Haley Decker x kovachii) was illustrated the clone shown, undoubtedly due to the fischeri parent with three very different clones. One had wide-petalled used. flowers in a glowing rosy red and a central whitening, but the lower petal edges did the kovachii undulating and the The quest for white Phragmipediums! tips had notches. The second one had besseae shape Phrag. Robert-Jan Quené flavum and petals and pouch a wonderful black-red, while the (besseae flavum x Fritz Schomburg flavum) used the dorsal was a coppery light red –unfortunately marred by besseae flavum 4n in both parents. The Phrag. besseae a big colour-break streak (a propensity that was probably flavum clone has a gene in it that suppresses expression inherited from the Phrag. Haley Decker parent). The of the anthocyanin based purple colour. As a result only third one `Perfection` had great shape and rosy red the yellow present in besseae is left. Phrag kovachii has petals and pouch, while the dorsal was light copper. very little yellow in it, so some clones should come out Phrag. Papa Frankie Quintal (Haley Decker x kovachii) as near white –and they did. was illustrated with a lovely clone in dark pink with the Phrag. Hanne Popow flavum x Fritz Schomburg flavum petals and dorsal heavily overlaid deep red. The flowers was hoped to have even whiter clones among its were large but nowhere near as large as kovachii. The offspring, since pink species are on both sides of the Fischers will have to continue to search for that magic family tree, but instead the almost white clone shown combination that results in a progeny that is larger than had a pink tinge to the pouch. Possibly the pink either parent, as happened with their Phrag Jason suppressor gene does not separate from the yellow in Fischer! besseae flavum. Phragmipedium fischeri crosses: Phragmipedium fischeri is a species from Ecuador and as mentioned before, it has more colour than the very similar Phrag. schlimii. It has an added magenta overlay on the dorsal sepal and varying amounts of magenta on the petal tips with one line-bred clone showing a magenta overlay on the entire petals. Some clones of this species do not have a staminodal shield. The two eyespots found on the schlimii staminodal shield tend to coalesce into a single more or less heart-shaped spot on the fischeri shield. Also the fischeri flowers are hairier than schlimii.

One problem with trying to increase the size of progeny flowers is that the more kovachii a cross contains the slower it will grow. Phrag. Kyle Quintal (Haley Decker x besseae) was illustrated with two clones. One was a soft orange whose flowers were flat and quite full and held on a well- proportioned stem. The other had a taller stem, fuller, darker orange flowers, but not as flat. The cross is smaller than Fritz Schomburg, but better shaped. There does seem to be a bit of a problem with colour break on the petal tips in one of the clones shown. Phrag. Laurei-Lei Quintal (Haley Decker x dalessandroi) had a besseae-shaped orange flower, a deep red staminode with a thin yellow picotee and a cream pouch flushed and veined soft orange. Striking! Using Phrag fischeri with Eumelia Arias (kovachii X Phrag. Robert-Jan Quene (Fritz Schomburg x besseae schlimii) produced some clones that combined the 4N) was like an obese besseae! Wonderfully wide improved size of kovachii with the good shape and pretty petals! colour of fischeri. Phrag. Q.F. Agnes Atkinson (Haley Decker x fischeri) had rosy purple flowers but with a white ventral sepal in

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Crosses with longer petals: A potting medium of pure diatomaceous earth chunks is best, but hard to get. Phrag. Incan Treasure x Jason Fischer had a Phrag. Another option is to use Miracle-Grow Mix (mostly peat- Don Wimber shape and colour, but bigger! moss and slow release fertilizer) and add bark or other chunky material Phrag. QF Naukana Kealoha (Incan Treasure x Or use a bark mix and add peat moss longifolium) was illustrated with three flowers, one a Or coconut husks and peat moss –which is the mix the flower with long pendant incurved petals, with a white Fischers are trying out right now. base overlaid rose-pink along the margins and all over the exterior of the pouch. The second flower lacked the For Phrag besseae and its hybrids try a mix of incurving of the petals and the third clone had light 50% peat moss, orange flowers with more horizontally held petals, but a 20% pine bark, lot of in-rolling of the margins. 20% sponge rock and 10% grit-sized diatomaceous earth. Grodan Grow Cubes (about 1-cm cubes of Rockwool used like a bark mix) works for some people. Never handle Rockwool unless it is very wet –the dust it releases when handled dry can give you a nasty pneumonia. New Zealand sphagnum should only be used for the caudatum complex species because they need to be grown drier and the greater dryness prevents the mix from getting too acid. They can be potted in it straight and kept just moist, but not sopping wet.

Pots: Ray Rand’s “Aircone” pots work really well, even without peat moss. (At SOOS, Jay Norris and Peter Decyk and possibly Eric Lee sell them). You can approximate the merits of these pots by using clear drinking plastic glasses and melting holes into them. They are too brittle for drilling or cutting holes. In the reservoir the pots stand in, use a Hydrotone air/ grow –stone (aquarium stoes have them) and a bit of The breeding portion of the presentation was finished off diatomaceous earth to keep the liquid fresh and with a lovely cross named in honour of Jason’s father. oxygenated. Phrag. Jerry Lee Fischer (Incan Treasure X besseae 4n) Ebb and Flow benches (eg “Heaven Flow”) where the turned out to look like a Don Wimber on steroids! Much fertilizer water is pumped into the trays for one hour per larger and much wider petals, but the same bright day work best for Phrag. kovachii. But an air-stone orange-red colour! A fitting tribute, rivaling the cross bubbler has to be put into the water to keep it high in named after Jason Fischer! oxygen.

Now some of Jason’s tips about the culture of Phragmiped iums: Seedlings need to have grown roots first before they are put into trays of fertilizer water. Drill holes into the sides of pots to allow in more air.

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You can set up a mini Ebb and Flow system using a 5 Discovering new gallon bucket for the nutrient solution, aquarium hoses, species and pump, aquarium bubbler, timer and a basin to stand your exploiting their Phrag pots in. The plants will grow twice as fast as with potential in hybrids: conventional culture. Change the nutrient solution at least once a month. Keep bucket covered to cut down on Line-breeding the algae growth. new species so Diseases: Erwinia rot is the most common problem. they become far Keep the crowns of the plants dry to avoid it. superior to anything found in the jungle! (Maybe it will eventually stop the stripping out of species in their native habitat!)

Future Welcome New Members Breeding Goals: John Cotsomitis To end on a Maria Bedolla positive note Joe Siklosi our speaker

enumerated

all the

improvement

s that still lie

in the future

of Phrag

breeding: Remake old hybrids, using modern line- bred species. Breed with different levels of ploidy:

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.Crystal Star Orchids

broker service with over 15 top orchid

nurseries

Summer Open House From June to August weekends only From 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. By appointment only Tel: 905-478-8398 or email : [email protected] 20815 2nd Concession Road East Gwillimbury Ontario L9N 0G9

Ching Hua Orchids, In Charm, Krull Smith, and Sunset Valley.

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May 8th, 2016 show Table Ribbons

Class First Second Third Class 1 Guarianthe (Cattleya ) Cattleya Culminant 'La skinneri 'Casa Luna' Tuillerie AM/AOS X Cat. Cattleya Alliance AM/AOS Aloha Case 'Ching Hua' Leslie Ee AM/AOS John Vermeer Class 2 Paphiopedilum [Paph.] Paph. fairrieanum ‘Pacific Paph. chamberlanianium Lebaudyanum, Plant of Shamrock’ Anne Antanaitis Paphiopedilum the month An-Li Sheng Rosanna Li Paph. dayanum Stan Luk

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Class 3 Phal. Princess Kaiulani Phal. Hybrid Alla Linetsky Brenda Davis Phalaenopsis & Phal. Baldan’s Vanda Alliance Kalaidoscope 'Golden Treasure' AM/AOS Henry Glowka Class 6 Dendrobium Gatton Dendrobium Santana Dendrobium Yamamoto Sunray (chrysotoxum X 'Canary' (moniliforme X Marion Curry Dendrobium Illuste) friedericksianum) Rosanna Li Sue Loftus Class 7 Angraecum germinyanum Lepanthes ophioglossa Maxillaria variabilis Stan Luk Saleem Baksh An- Li Sheng All Others Lepanthes gargoyla Saleem Baksh Class 9 Psychopsis papilio var aurea Baskets or Phalaeonopsis equestris Displays peloric Phalaeonopsis Mini Mark ‘Hock’ Paphiopedilum micranthum Henry Glowka

About SOOS: Web site: www.soos.ca ; Member of the Canadian Orchid Congress; Affiliated with the American Orchid Society, the Orchid Digest and the International Phalaenopsis Alliance. Membership: Annual Dues $30 per calendar year (January 1 to December 31 ). Surcharge $15 for newsletter by postal service. Membership secretary: Liz Mc Alpine, 189 Soudan Avenue, Toronto, ON M4S 1V5, phone 416-487- 7832, renew or join on line at soos.ca/members Executive: President, Laura Liebgott, 905-883-5290; Vice-President and Treasurer, John Vermeer, 905-823- 2516, ; Secretary, Sue Loftus 905-839-8281; Other Positions of Responsibility: Program, Mario Ferrusi; Plant Doctor, Doug Kennedy; Meeting Set up, Yvonne Schreiber; Vendor and Sales table coordinator, Diane Ryley; Library Liz Fodi; Web Master, Max Wilson; Newsletter, Peter and Inge Poot; Annual Show, Peter Poot; Refreshments, Joe O’Regan. Conservation Committee, Susan Shaw; Show table, Synea Tan, Cultural snapshots, Alexi Antanaitis, Directors at large Marion Curry, Lynda Satchwell and Kevin Hushagen . Honorary Life Members: Terry Kennedy, Doug Kennedy, Inge Poot, Peter Poot, Joe O’Regan, Diane Ryley, Wayne Hingston, Mario Ferrusi. Annual Show: February 11-12, 2017

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