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Fenland Orchid Society |
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Newsletters |
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Health is Wealth
It is surprising as to how when one is not healthy you can make correlations to many things. In my own case I realise that real health is wealth and money cannot always be the successor to curing what is wrong I have lived what I call a healthy life style eaten and drunk to try to maintain my health, even over indulged at times but this has usually been on holiday. It has been the same with my orchids I have tried to give them the best as far as temperature, feed, water and good light etc so as they can repay me with beautiful blooms. When I see an orchid that is suffering then I do as I would myself and try to medicate to bring it round. It is by being aware of the plant and its needs that we are able to do just this but we must not be over anxious or we can do to the plant that we do to ourselves and that is stress it. A little stress does not do any lasting harm but like ourselves we have to be careful as to how far we go or we will finish up losing the plant.
All living things need to be healthy to survive the rigours of everyday life. We must maintain at times or own bodies to get the best from them. Not always do we respond to medication it sometimes has an adverse effect so think the same towards your plants. If you are medicating in some way a plant then be patient as things do not happen overnight. Fighting a mass of mealy bug means you have to wait for the insecticide to work (especially if it is a systemic type) and this may need a reapplication a few weeks later if you are to be sure of returning your plant to health.
Keeping a healthy body or for that matter a healthy green house of plants is a long term job but if it works then you have proved health is wealth.
Weird and Smelly by Lawrence Hobbs
30 members sat down to hear our guest speaker for the evening Lawrence Hobbs of ‘Lawrence Hobbs Orchids’.
A warm welcome from the members greeted Lawrence a firm favourite of the society and a well respected orchid society visitor.
Lawrence has completed nearly 30 years as an orchid grower and seller of orchids. He was once told that it must be nice to have an extension of his hobby as a job to which he replied” I do not have an orchid in my home and this is not my hobby it’s my living”. He did 6years at Stonehurst Nurseries before he was offered a partnership in the business. Then it was concrete greenhouses and they proved there worth in the 1987 storm when a tree was blown down with the end result of one broken pane of glass, wooden greenhouse behind was demolished.
He has had good and bad experiences with orchids as we all have but one Lawrence recounts is the time one of the hot box heaters fired with kerosene and vented into the greenhouse killed all his phals due to the air pollution from the heater, he now has outside venting.
With the use of colour slides and ably assisted by projectionist David Lawrence was able to not only show us the orchids of which he spoke but also to give cultural notes and whether or not the plant has a pleasant or foul fragrance.
A popular orchid is Phal. Violacea as Lawrence commented smelly but it flowers in succession so is a rewarding plant to have in your collection. The big blousy type is cattleyas, some can be difficult to grow.
Lawrence uses his own mix compost of bark, coarse perlite, and charcoal a free draining mix and watered with tap water mainly because it is low in salts where he has his greenhouses situated. L/C Mary Ann Carter ‘hummingbird has a beautiful fragrance and he tends to grow this specie at intermediate temperatures.
Dendrobiums of which there are more than 1500 species have a number which have good fragrance and with some of the new hybrids can be made to flower in warmer conditions. To get a lot of orchids to flower Lawrence recommended a 10 degree drop day to night temperature.
Paph. Maudiae is the favourite of Lawrence he likes the green colour of the flower. As to slipper orchids he said how some people found them to be more sinister than most he also said you either love them or hate them.
Where Phragmipediums are concerned Lawrence likes to use large Rockwool cubes as the potting medium as this holds a good amount of water which is what Phrags like. The green slipper orchid paph malopoense has a lovely perfume but you have to water the compost and not spray over head as this can cause crown rot. One orchid that can really be called smelly is Eria hyacynthoides it is yuk according to Lawrence.
As to Catasetums Lawrence likes to see these hanging up be it on bark or in a pot or basket as their pendulous spikes look more natural as they fall gracefully downwards.
Epidendrum stanfordianum an orchid that flowers from the base has a sweet fragrance reminding Lawrence of the old Dentyne chewing gum. With Prosthecia cochleata (old name) never over pot is the advice here and then the plant will reward you with the weird cockleshell shaped flowers, a weird one.
Lawrence showed orchids of very large flowers to the much smaller ones explaining culture and whether it came under weird or smelly. Members were treated to a wealth of information from a man with no notes but a good understanding of names and how to grow the particular species, there was something for everyone.
Maxillarias, coelogynnes, brassias and many more where displayed and spoken of from foul to grassy type fragrances Lawrence imparted so much information it became a little hard to take it all in.
After a brief question and answer session Lawrence then set about selling from the comprehensive display of orchids and sundries he had bought with him and a few members took advantage to either top up their collection or chose a ‘have a go’ orchid as a personal challenge
Lawrence gave us a good night and the members showed their appreciation to the full.
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October 09 Abridged |
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Angraecum Sesquipedale |
