August To Do List

General

• To avoid excessively high summer light levels and temperatures for your plants provide sufficient shade, increase air movement, and increase frequency of watering/misting to cool plants and prevent them from drying out.  This is particularly important for individuals who live and grow in inland areas, although temperatures on the coast also should be high during this period.
• Although cattleyas, dendrobiums, encyclias and vandas thrive in high light levels, phalaenopisis, paphiopedilums, miltonopsis, masdevalias and other lower light plants can easily burn. These genera also are easily stressed by high temperatures so try to move them to cooler areas of your growing structures or bring them inside.  Make sure they receive adequate water, paying particular attention to mounted plants.
• With the exception of some warmer growing cattleyas and dendrobiums, most of your orchids should be repotted by now. Watch for the emergence of new roots from pseudobulbs before repotting the warm growers. Repot when roots are small and just beginning to show in order to minimize damage to soft tissues and avoid transplant shock, giving plants a head start into the growing season.
• Continue to set aside extra divisions or duplicate plants as donations for the POS auction or for silent auction at the meetings. It will prevent overcrowding of your benches and make someone else happy to get a piece of your prized plant.
• Maintain good hygiene practices to minimize transmission of pests and viruses, particularly during the warm summer months when pests and diseases can proliferate very quickly and spread throughout the collection. Carefully inspect plants for scale and aphids and treat early to minimize spread.
• More details on specific genera can be found on the AOS website

Indoors and Greenhouse

• Address high light levels by adding shade cloth or painting with shading compound to avoid burning sensitive plants. 
• Carefully monitor greenhouse temperatures as higher summer temperatures can easily cook plants. Make sure fans and automatic vents are in good working order.  Mist plants to increase humidity and cool down temperatures.
• Continue to provide good air circulation for indoor plants to discourage diseases and pests such as mealy bugs and scale. Treat early to avoid spreading to other plants. More info on pests and diseases can be found at the AOS website.
• Maintain increased watering and fertilizer to accommodate growth during this period. Avoid over fertilizing to minimize root damage and growth of soft growths. Keep to one half to one fourth the recommended amount on the package.

Outdoors

• Continue to monitor and control snails, slugs and pests during warm weather. They can do considerable damage to plants in short order.
• Cattleyas and oncidiums should continue to bloom and/or produce new root and bulb growth as well as hardening off of growth produced in the spring.  Maintain increased watering frequency and fertilizer as new growth is observed and repot as appropriate. Stake oncidiums to support flower spikes.
• Catasetums should be full grown by now.  Continue to give them warm temperatures, high light and fertilize well at each watering to take full advantage of the warm growing season.  You will be rewarded by rapid growth all summer, followed by beautiful blooms in the fall and winter.    More details on culture can be found on Fred Clarke’s website. 

The monthly To Do list is a collaboration of several POS members. We appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, and feedback on our new feature. Please send them to newsletter@palomarorchid.org!