Rob Halgren wrote:
OrchidKitty wrote:
I'm in New England, and my orchid society is having a show next
week.
They're asking for members to bring plants. I've got some phals and
a
cattleya that are showable, but they are all in S/H. Keeping plants
warm in the car is no problem. However, the show location, a large
room, is likely to be cold because the outside doors will be open
when
people bring in the staging for the setup and vendors unload their
plants.

So, does anyone have any advice on this? Should I keep the
reservoirs
full, or empty them? Is it likely that this experience will
negatively
impact my plants--or even kill them?


First, I wouldn't worry too much. You have spent considerable
time,
money, and emotion on your plants, and you deserve the opportunity to

show them off to other people. Cold and cool are two different
things.
The plants you have will tolerate temperatures that feel quite cool
to
you. People take orchids to shows all the time, and they wouldn't do
it
if they killed their prized plants.

That said, a show is stressful to a plant. Moving a plant from one
window to another is probably a little stressful too. But neither is
so
stressful that you need to worry about long term effects. Sometimes
flower life is shortened a bit (I lost some nice phal flowers at the
last show, but that was set up in a blizzard). The plants are fine
though.

If you are careful in getting your plants to the car, and from the
car
to indoors at the show, that will eliminate most of the problems. I
wouldn't move plants without some sort of covering in low
temperatures
(anything below 40 is low to me). Even on very short trips. Lots of

people assume that the distance is short so it won't make a
difference.
Maybe that is true most of the time, but I don't take the chance.
A
garbage bag over a box works well.

I've seen plants in semi-hydro at shows. Usually the exhibitors
take a
bit of tape and close off the drainage holes to prevent leaks. I
think
that is probably better than draining all of the liquid out. I'd
guess
that plants in this system will tolerate shows a bit better than
those
in traditional potting mix, but that is just a guess.

Remember that just because you don't have any unwanted critters on
your
plants, it doesn't mean that the rest of the exhibitors are clean.
You
will want to isolate your plants when you get them home for a week or

so, and maybe spray them with alcohol or soap solution just in case.
If
that sounds like too much bother, then at least keep an eye on them.

Thanks Rob, you've eased my mind. Temps will probably be in the 30s on
the day of the show, and I definitely will keep them covered on the way
there, and probably until they are placed on the display. I hadn't
thought of covering the drain holes with tape--good tip! Keeping the
plants isololated is a bit of a problem, so I'll definitely clean them
up when they get home.