Northwest Region Meets in Walla Walla Joan Bateman and Tom Harper
W hat happens when you put 25 + orchid lovers in the same room ? How about lots of fun , laughter and education ?! And it was a day full of all of these . The IPA Northwest Region 3 meeting was held on Saturday , October 15th at Orchidaceae in Walla Walla , Washington . Participants came from all parts of our large geographical region including Seattle , Portland , Tri-Cities , Spokane , Lewiston and Ontario . Our activities started on Friday night with a spaghetti feed and bonfire at the greenhouse for folks arriving early . We had a fine time preparing the greenhouses , getting the meeting area in order and setting up the large tables to accommodate our visitors for dinner . Mark Srull , owner of Orchidaceae , is famous for his made-from-scratch homemade spaghetti sauce featuring lots of tomatoes , garlic , Italian sausage and all the trimmings of salad , crusty garlic bread , dessert and wine . His recipe did not disappoint and was greeted by rave reviews . Many of us made more than one trip to the spaghetti pot . It was sooo good !
What a feast ! After dark , we gathered around the bonfire on the cool evening exchanging orchid stories well into the night . What a great setting among orchid friends to conclude the day .
On Saturday morning , we began with a short history of the IPA , how it was formed and its growth in the 20 + years of its existence . Afterward , our featured speaker , Tom Harper , provided us with an excellent and interesting program on Phalaenopsis species and breeding . Tom is a retired educator and owns and operates Stones River Orchids in Franklin , TN . He is also the current president of the IPA . Tom ’ s program was entitled “ The 12 Most Important Species in Phalaenopsis Breeding ”. Each species was presented alphabetically and included some terrific pictures , showing some of the Phalaenopsis species growing in their native habitat in the wild . Each species was listed with its plant and flower characteristics including color , patterns , size and number of flowers on the inflorescence . The species breeding features were also presented and included both good and undesirable contributions to breeding . Pictures of both primary and complex hybrids using the species were featured to give the audience an idea of how each species contributed to today ’ s
Phalaenopsis - Fourth Quarter , Vol . 21 ( 2 ) 2011
Tom Harper , Mark Srull and David Edgley listening to culture questions . modern hybrids . Tom ’ s program was well illustrated with lots of educational and useful information . Everyone enjoyed it and was quite complimentary of it .
For our lunch , the pizzas arrived on schedule and everyone enjoyed their favorite . Afterward we had a lively auction . Our auction table featured an excellent variety of plant material donated by a number of our attendees . The items that fetched the most money were a copy of Orchid Wiz donated by Alex Maximiano , Managing Director of OrchidWiz , LLC and a leatherbound and signed copy of Phalaenopsis : A Monograph donated by the IPA . Andy Wright , our auctioneer , proved that he could definitely raise monies for the IPA . Our auction raised $ 1390 and paid for all the meeting expenses with some money left over for next year ’ s meeting . Wow ! What a generous bunch of orchidists . After the auction we held a panel discussion on Phalaenopsis culture with Tom Harper , David Edgley and Mark Srull . With growing experience in such diverse parts of the country from Tennessee to both sides of Washington State there were growing tips and tricks for everyone . We asked people to bring problem orchids and questions to stump the panel . One question was asked about the benefits of fir bark versus sphagnum moss . Fir bark has been used for years with excellent results , but newer methods of processing it are not the same as the older ones specifically in two ways : the bark is not as clean containing bits of wood and trash in the bag , and drying of the bark is not as efficient resulting in a higher moisture content reducing its life span in the pot . Another consideration in potting media is its pH ( i . e . acidity / alkalinity ). Orchids prefer to grow in an acidic media much as they do in their native environments amongst the ferns , mosses and leaf debris on the tree limbs and trunks . Knowing the pH of your water is essential to successfully growing orchids . This is also true regarding your fertilizer . Select the right one based on your water ’ s pH and the nutrients you want to provide your plant . Follow the directions in applying the fertilizer , because too much can injure the roots and stunt your plant ’ s growth .
Sphagnum moss provides several benefits not available in bark mixes and replicates the plant ’ s native growing environ-
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