April Message from the President

Lycaste Belle Ribicoff, named in honor of our centenarian member, has bloomed!

Greetings all...Spring has sprung.  The days are finally getting longer (though the dinner hour continues to sneak up on me so that dinner gets started late!) and many of your plants may be getting started on new growth.

If you have Catasetums you may be tempted to start watering or repot them.  WAIT!  You need to continue to withhold water until the new grow is a good 3-4" tall.  At that point it is safe to start watering.  If they are busting out of their current pots, it's also time to repot.  Just be careful of those new roots when you do.  Cycnoches, which are in the same alliance, depend on those new roots to survive.  The roots on the older pseudobulbs die off, and you may only have the new growth continuing on.

After plants have finished flowering and begun new growth is the best time to repot, if needed.  Remember not to jump up more than an inch, or two for fast growers, in pot size.  There are excellent culture sheets available on the American Orchid Society website.

For our April meeting this coming Sunday, our NSOS secretary and student AOS judge Karen Timko will be presenting her talk on Orchid Basics.  This is great opportunity for our members, new and not new, to learn some valuable information about how to grow that neat plant (or 3, or 7, or......) that you purchased at our show   as well has an opportunity to share tips and tricks amongst the group.

Remember to bring your blooming plants for our show table. Hopefully Lyc Belle Ribicoff will still be fresh come Sunday so you can see it in person.

And don't forget, our fundraiser table!

See you Sunday!

Ginna