Diana, I can't match the stories of the experienced & the professional
growers, but I remember one experience from my first incarnation as a
grower, in my early teens.

I had visited the home of a schoolmate for the first time. He had
this magnificent D. discolor (undulatum in those days) growing on a
mango tree in the back yard. The pseudobulbs weren't all that long -
maybe 3' or a little more. But fat! They must have been at least 2.5"
in diameter, probably closer to 3. And green, and lush! It may have
been a combination of more shade than its normal habitat, & perhaps
something nutritious in the bark. Anyway, I was impressed, & admired
it fulsomely.

Well, the next time I visited him, he referred to that orchid with
great delight, and, glowing with pride, invited me to ccome & see what
he had done with it.

He had PRUNED it!!!!!!! Not one bulb longer than 12". Every one of
them cut short whilst still on their outward taper. I seem to
remember I stayed polite. No idea how I managed that.

On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 21:40:04 GMT, "Diana Kulaga"
wrote:

What a meeting we had yesterday! It was new officer installation day, so the
main part of the meeting was given over to that and a talk by our county
sheriff (who, by the way, was very funny- when he swore us in he used
language that he uses when swearing in a deputy, including "if necessary,
lay down my life" for the society).

I did a "bad plant" clinic first, with a bow to Kathy (I've done this
before, and the group loves it). An experienced grower brought in a hugely
underpotted Catt and wanted to know what was wrong with a leaf that was
turning black, and how to repot, since the plant was growing sideways all
over the place. Those were the easy questions (sunburn and divide or mount).
What she didn't mention was the scale that was running rampant all over the
poor thing! Yikes!

Another gal asked if she had made a mistake when she "cut the stalk" off her
"way too big plant", which she did not have with her. We went into Karnak
mode to try and figure out what kind of plant she was talking about and
finally decided she had decapitated the canes on a Dend. So, we showed her a
Dend to confirm, but Nooooooo, it wasn't one of those! It had leaves coming
out from both sides. She had cut a Vanda into sections, because it was "just
too tall"! For her, we recommended a copy of Ortho's All About Orchids, if
for no other reason than she needs to learn the difference between a
Cattleya and a Vanda, etc. And she said she has 20 orchids! Is there
something akin to the Dep't. of Children & Families for a situation like
this?

There was loads more, and we all had some good belly laughs, even the people
who brought the plants. Well, that's one of the things we are there for -
education.

And I picked up a Bulb. lobbii 'Kathy's Gold' AM/AOS x Bulb. bicolor 'D&B'
AM/AOS from the member sale table, for only ten bucks. Will post pix when
it's fully open.

Well, that didn't turn into the rant I thought it would.......

Diana




Dave Gillingham
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