September 15, 2024 Meeting

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Date: Sunday 09/15/2024

Location: Spartan Community Center of Hazelwood
134 E Elizabeth St, Pittsburgh, PA 15207

 

12:30 Spartan Center opens

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1PM Mini-Class in the classroom

Topic: All organisms have a name. . .  common and scientific

By: Zander Morrison

By examining names we can get useful hints on significance, care and culture.

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1PM OSWP Board Meeting in the auditorium

All OSWP members are welcome to sit in on the board meeting.

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1:45 Break

 

2:00 OSWP Business Meeting, Show and Tell, Raffle

 

2:45 Break

 

3:00 Speaker Presentation

Topic: Warmth Tolerant Masdevallias

Speaker: Wade Hollenbach of Wade’s Orchids

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Not all Masdys are frigid. Some can even warm up to you! Presented are Masdevallias that can tolerate and even thrive in intermediate and warm conditions. I also present cultural techniques that assist the grower in Growing this wonderful genus.

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Wade has been a vendor at our shows for a number of years.  He has been growing orchids since 1978. Wade started growing orchids in 1978 when he saw a Dendrobium nobile var. pendulum for sale in a local nursery. Despite all attempts to kill it, it flowered. This sent him on a quest. If it won't die, maybe others will! His endeavor continued with the construction of greenhouses and the emptying of pockets. To his consternation, the majority of them refused to die! Little did he know that the magical power of these plants turned him to a supporter. It is now 40+ years and he is growing in his 4th greenhouse. He says he is enslaved to their whiles and dedicates his retirement life to heating them in winter, cooling them in summer, and buying more and more fans to keep a buoyant, tropical breeze blowing across their leaves.

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He is  a member of the Central Pennsylvania Orchid Society, Orchid Society of Western Pennsylvania, and the American Orchid Society. He grows in a 21' X 24' greenhouse and sells orchids to help pay the fuel bills for the greenhouse. He also sells orchids because he enjoys purchasing flasks and community pots that he feels have very good potential in some way. He is beginning a breeding program with Encyclias and the Cattleya alliance with a goal of providing healthy plants to others at reasonable prices. He has fond memories of days long gone where it was inexpensive to invest in new directions in breeding and growing the seedlings on anticipating becoming the first person to see the flower of this unique orchid. He hopes to bring that format back to you, the orchid grower.

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Wade will be bringing a lot of overgrown small cattleyas from Sunset Valley at $20.  He has given permission for members to also sell plants.

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4:00 Meeting Over and Clean-up

 

4:30 Spartan Center closes

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