October 2019 – Alan Koch

Alan KochIt is a distinct pleasure to welcome back Alan Koch of Gold Country Orchids in Lincoln, CA.  Alan will be speaking to us on ‘Cattleyas 365, 24/7’ where he will provide us the knowledge on how to build a cattleya collection that will flower all year long and tell us how to grow them.  Alan will highlight the species that have been used by hybridizers for years to control bloom time and his talk will be adapted to our climate conditions.  He also will provide the plant opportunity table including some of his novel hybrid cattleyas and related orchids. 

Alan’s visit is being co-sponsored by POS and SDCOS. He will be speaking on Oct. 1 in Balboa Park on ‘Unusual Species for the Cattleya Grower’. More details can be found on the SDCOS website.

Alan Koch owns and operates Gold Country Orchids where he specializes in miniature and compact Cattleyas.  Alan started growing orchids in 1969 with three 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.  Alan 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.  He is recognized as an expert in the Brazilian Cattleya alliance and is a trend setter in miniature compact and Cattleya breeding.  Alan has been published in the Orchid Digest, the American Orchid Society magazine, as well as many international publications.  He has also been published in several proceedings of the World Orchid Conference and he is an internationally known speaker.  He is a past member of the AOS Judging Committee, and the Research Committee, as well as an accredited judge and is training coordinator for the California Sierra Nevada Judging Center.  Alan also served two terms on the Orchid Digest Executive Committee and 3 terms on the Board of Directors, as well as two terms as a Trustee for the AOS.