Join us for a hands on workshop: Tissue Culture and Un-flasking

A flask can take many forms, the basic requirement is a sealed container that can be filled with media and sanitized, where the orchid explants can be cultured. Flask in hand, Paph. Magic Paradise ‘Merlot’ x Paph. victoria-regina

Meeting Date: Wednesday, February 14th at the Farmington Senior Center;  Doorsopen at 6:30pm for socializing and the meeting starts at 7pm.

The Farmington Senior Center 321 New Britain Ave, Unionville, CT 06085

Presentation: Orchid Tissue Culture Basics and Unflasking Workshop

Our upcoming meeting in February will feature a hands on un-flasking workshop. We are putting together a short presentation on orchid tissue culture, after which where we will de-flask and pot up Paphiopedilum seedlings for everyone to take home. After talking with Dave Sorokowskyover at Paph Paradise, I decided on a nice hybrid sequential blooming Paph, amazingly enough he is claiming it can be bloomed in as little as 18 months out of flask! For those of you interesting in looking up the lineage, the cross is Paph. Magic Paradise ‘Merlot’ x Paph. victoria-regina. The fee to participate in the workshop is $10 per person. This will include: 1 seedling, potting mix, and container for transitioning the plant out of tissue culture.

Ever wonder how new orchid crosses are produced commercially? The process is a bit more complicated than popping a few seeds into a pot and watching them develop into a seedling. Early orchid growers sowed the dust like seeds of orchids onto moss trays in the greenhouse, success was very low and few plants were produced with this method. After a selected was bloomed successfully and found to be worth keeping the only way to propagate the plant was the slow process of division from growing leads. Early orchids were expensive and of limited availability to the general public unless in the form of jungle collected plants. With the advent of tissue culture the germination rate increased, making it feasible for production of seedling crops. At the same time a choice selection of a plant could be clonally propagated from meristematic tissue and multiplied exponentially faster in vitro than through division.  While you can order blooming sized seed grown or meristem culture plants, many growers also offer the option of purchasing flasks of young plants. Successfully transitioning plants out of the flask takes a bit of care to ensure that the tender orchids are properly acclimated to the new growing environment. The workshop part of the talk should demystify the process a bit for the hobbyist, with a controlled environment grow chamber of light rack this could be your next orchid adventure.

The pod parents Paph. Magic Paradise ‘Merlot’ AM/AOS x Paph. victoria-regina are both very attractive plants and should produce some nice offspring, seedlings all bring something unique to the table, maybe even an award winning cross in the batch!

Keep in mind February weather can be inclement, if the weather looks bad we will send out a memo to let people know if the meeting is still on. With any luck the weather will stay as mild as it’s right now!

Don’t forget to bring along your blooming plants for this month’s show table. It’s always exciting to see what’s coming into bloom, looking forward to an awesome show table! See you there!

Please print and fill out the ID card for the show table below.

Join us for a Talk on Orchid Viruses with Christian Lesage

ORSV Color Break Lc. Sierra Skies ‘Leone’ x C. Portia ’Mrs. Carl Holmes’

Meeting Date: Wednesday, January 10th at the Cheshire Senior Center.  Doors open at 6:30pm for socializing and the meeting starts at 7pm.

The Cheshire Senior Center is located at 240 Maple Ave, Cheshire, CT 06410

Presentation: Let’s Talk About Orchid Viruses: Prevention and Detection, a Collector’s Approach to Virus Management

Our upcoming January meeting will be held at the Cheshire Senior Center on January 10th and will feature a talk that I am putting together on Orchid Viruses. This is a topic I wish I had known about when I first started working with orchids. It only came onto my radar once there were severe symptoms of plant decline manifesting throughout the collection I was working with, truly a situation that would strike fear in the heart of any orchid professional. When we think of disease causing organisms in plants and animals we often overlook the commonalities between the maladies we experience and those that affect plants. While we can’t necessarily come down with a fungal case of botrytis or a viral case of CymMV there are similarities in howdiseases are spread in plants and as in animals. It’s important to be aware of common orchid pathogens so that disease prevention in your plants becomes as second nature as washing your hands before eating.

There are over 30 virus that have been found to affect orchids, with the two most common viruses found in orchid collections being Cymbidium Mosaic Virus CymMV and Odontoglossum Ringspot Virus ORS. Both viruses have a high level of persistence outside of living host tissue and are usually spread mechanically between plants while we are working with them or on contaminated surfaces, tools, debris, or potting materials. The talk will focus on identifying the signs and symptoms with an emphasis on how to take preventative measures to keep your collection clean. If you have ever had chlorotic or necrotic leaf streaking, flower color break, blossom necrotic streak, sudden plant decline, or just a plant that seems to underperform you may have been dealing with an orchid virus. I will go over the testing protocol in place for confirming a viral infection as well as best practices for handling plants to prevent the spread of a virus in your collection. Rather than being intimidated by an unseen threat to your plants you should feel empowered to make the right choices for keeping your plants healthy.

Keep in mind January weather can be inclement, if the weather looks bad we will send out a memo to let people know if the meeting is still on. With any luck the weather will stay as mild as it’s right now!

Don’t forget to bring along your blooming plants for this month’s show table. It’s always exciting to see what’s coming into bloom, looking forward to an awesome show table! See you there!

Please print and fill out the ID card for the show table here