Monthly Meeting

 Potting Mixes: A variety of different potting media and mixes can be used to successfully grow orchids.
Everything You Need to Know About Basic Orchid Culture and More   Read more »

 Peter T. LinWe are pleased to welcome back Peter Lin as our speaker for February.  Peter will present the topic ‘Neofinetia falcata and its Hybrids’, which will feature this Japanese native orchid species, a bit of history, the many forms and varieties, and a selection of its hybrids within the Vanda alliance.  He also will describe how to grow these marvelous temperature tolerant orchids.

Neofinetia falcata is native to Japan and has been grown there for centuries.  They are highly treasured and come in many flower forms and leaf forms.  It has been used with other vandaceous genera to produce charming compact hybrids.

Peter started growing orchids over 25 years ago, but then stopped due to school and starting a career.  It wasn't until about 9 years ago that the orchid "bug" came back and he is now heavily involved once again.  He is an accredited judge with the American Orchid Society and a hybridizer of mini-catts.  He enjoys meeting with other orchid enthusiasts, and can often be found at various orchid shows and societies around the country.  He also has thousands of photos of his orchids that he maintains on Flickr.   Read more »

Alan KochWe are delighted to welcome as our first speaker for the 2013 season Alan Koch of Gold Country Orchids in Lincoln, CA.  Alan will talk on “Species Habitat and Hybrid Culture”and will teach both novice and advanced growers how to link the way a species grows in the wild with how to grow the species and it’s associated hybrids in your collection. This program is strong on orchid culture and will help us improve the ability to grow and successfully bloom our own orchids.  Alan will provide the plant table as well as offer additional plants for sale at the meeting.  

Alan owns and operates Gold Country Orchids (www.goldcountryorchids.com), where he specializes in miniature and compact Cattleyas. Alan started growing orchids in 1969 with 3 Cymbidiums given to him by an aunt.  While in college he became interested in other orchids and discovered many would grow outdoors in Southern California.  He has moved five times as his orchid obsession has led to the need for more growing space.  With the last move, he purchased 10 acres of land in Lincoln, California for his 250,000 orchids.     Read more »

Gilbert J. HoStanhopeas are the upside-down jewels of the orchid world. They are not often cultivated but fairly easy to grow in our Southern California climate with a few basic rules. These plants are highly fascinating as their pendant flowers are among the most highly evolved and specialized of all orchid flowers. The flower spikes emerge through the bottom of the growing basket to hang freely like birds in flight.  With an emphasis on the roughly 70 species currently recognized, Gil's talk will cover basic information about different Stanhopea growing conditions in nature and the origins of Stanhopea collecting and identification. Hybridizing stanhopeas will be mentioned briefly and the talk will conclude with an overview of cutlure conditions for growing Stanhopeas in our Southern California area. This section will serve as this month's culture class.   Read more »

An Amateur’s Attempt at Orchid Hybridizing

Alex NadzanOctober’s speaker will be our own Alex Nadzan who has been collecting and growing orchids for over 20 years with emphasis on Cattleya, Oncidium and Cymbidium species and hybrids. Alex was first bitten by the orchid bug in the late 1980’s when he attended an orchid show at the Chicago Botanic Garden and purchased from Orchids by Hausermann, Inc. two orchids, a Cattleya and Oncidium, both of which he still owns and manages to bloom on a yearly basis.  His orchid collection, which now consists of a few thousand orchids, expanded after he and his family relocated to San Diego where conditions are favorable for growing outdoors compared to the Chicago area.  

Over the last 7 years, Alex has embarked on an orchid hybridizing program devoted primarily to creating novel, compact and cold-tolerant Cattleya hybrids.  He will discuss his attempts at producing new hybrids, providing an overview of orchid hybridization basics including pollination, seed production and germination, deflasking and raising orchid seedlings to blooming size. He also will show blooms of some of his first hybrids and share some of the novel hybrids in progress.

As part of his talk and in place of the culture class, Alex will demonstrate how to deflask and start out orchid seedlings for those members who may what to try their hand at it.   Read more »