ANNOUNCEMENTS



ARE YOUR ORCHIDS VIRUSED--We are now ready to offer virus testing to members of AAOS at very reasonable rates. These tests use a sensitive immunological method to test for the two most common and troublesome viruses that are likely to infect your. orchids. At the March meeting we'll have copies of the instructions for submitting samples for testing, and a copy of the form that should accompany each sample. You can xerox these forms, just write the information on a sheet of paper, or you can get more forms from me at the meetings.

Why should you want to test your plants for virus? First, if you have a plant that has mottled, streaked, or spotted leaves; irregular splotches of color, or necrotic spots in the flowers; or in general is losing vigor and flowering, it could be virused. If so, there's no cure, and the plant, its pot, and potting medium should be destroyed, and no time should be wasted trying to cure it. Other plants may have virus, but show few or no symptoms. Such plants may still grow and flower well, at least for a while. Those plants can certainly be retained, but they should be isolated to avoid infecting the rest of your collection, and divisions should not be distributed (we are going to become increasingly vigilant about questionable plants being distributed via our raffle and silent auction). Finally, you should test new acquisitions,,especially if they are mature plants, divisions, or mericlones (not so important with seedlings, though). Any respectable vendor will replace or refund a virused plant within a reasonable time (i.e. a month or so, before a new infection would become apparent).

If you have any questions, please call me at (313)761-5859 or Connie Bailie at (313)747-6493. We encourage you to take advantage of this new service to members, to help you keep your orchid collection clean and green.--Harry Winter



EVENING ORCHID COURSE AT MSU--beginning Wednesday, March 13, 96, 7-9 PM, and during the same time period on four subsequent Wednesdays at Michigan State University Evening College, the course is entitled "Cultivating Orchids at Home" Slide-illustrated lectures on various aspects of orchid biology, environmental requirements, propagation methods, and pest control. Sources of plants, growing supplies, and literature will be recommended. A limited enrollment course. Wednesdays, beginning March 13, 7-9 PM. 168 Plant Biology, 5 sessions, $40. Instructor - Renate L. de Zacks (517-351-7380), Evening College Lecturer (Renate has grown orchids for many years and is an active member of the Greater Lansing Orchid Society). Registration: in person, Room 10, Kellogg Center, MSU, 8:00-12:00 and 1:00-5:00 daily, Monday-Friday, or call (517) 355-4562 to register by phone, charging fee to Visa or Mastercard.--Neal Foster



From the AAOS Show Committee: We now have all of the main positions filled for the 1996 AAOS Orchid Festival to be held at MBG in mid-April. The volunteers are: Wendy Frisch , Publicity Director; Paige Hartman, Hospitality Supervisor; John Lewis, Staging Manager and Vendor/Society Liaison; Barb Larime, Volunteer Supervisor; and Alex Challis, Show Chair and Judging Coordinator.

Now we are going to start signing up additional volunteers for some of the various tasks that need to be performed during our show. In no particular order of importance: We need to have various dishes of food for the Friday, April 12th, Set-Up Meal at 6:00 PM, the Preview Party (hors d'oeuvres, etc.) about 8:00 PM Friday and the Judges' Lunch on Saturday, April 13th, about 12:30 PM. There will be a Food Sign-Up Sheet circulated at the March meeting, or one can be mailed to you. We also need help in setting up for these meals. Paige Hartman (426-2704) is coordinating this, and she will have copies and information available. Show Staging Setup Assistants are needed on Friday from 9:00 AM - 12:00 Noon at Matthaei to help set up tables, etc. and then Staging Tear-Down Assistants after the show ends on Sunday at 5:00 PM. John Lewis will be coordinating/handling these functions.

On Friday, we will need volunteers to help the vendors and society exhibitors to unload and bring in their plants. During the show itself, several functions need to be taken care of: Hosts are needed in the exhibit area, not only to keep visitor's hands from fondling or damaging any orchids, but also to help answer any basic questions about orchids, orchid-growing, or the AAOS. Vendor Support Assistants are needed to give relief to the vendors, helping with sales or such.

We also need members to staff our AAOS/Orchid Information Table, the Book, Baubles & Trinkets Sales Table, and the AAOS Orchid Supply Sales Table (latter to be done outside on the patio.) Barb Larime (426-4067) will be supervising the various positions. Unfortunately (but fortunately for her), Barb is in Hawaii for the next couple of weeks or so, so see either Connie or Alex (971-6186) for information. We will have sign-up sheets available at the March meeting. Clerking for Saturday Ribbon and Trophy Judging. If you have an interest in clerking at our show, read Connie's article above (President's message) on her first clerking experience. Then if you still have an interest, you can go to the training session on clerking given by Don Garling, tentatively scheduled to begin promptly at 7 PM on Tuesday, April 9th, at Neal and Meredith Foster's, 2115 Georgetown Blvd., Ann Arbor (663-0756). Plant Registration will need people to take care of the entries as they are submitted. This is a fairly simple but very important job. See Alex for these jobs. Sponsoring Trophies. Anyone interested in sponsoring one of the Best of Class Trophies, please see Harry Winter. These are awarded for the best Cattleya, best Dendrobium, etc. Cost should be around $10 per trophy, we'll have more info at the next meeting.--Alex Challis



FROM THE OTHER SHOW COMMITTEE (Those who set up the exhibits): When should you begin to groom your plants for the MOS Show, The Ann Arbor Flower & Garden Show, and/or the AAOS Orchid Festival? How about now? Some of the orchids displayed at the Lansing show were pretty nice plants, but unfortunately were not staked until the flowers had already positioned themselves or had opened. This leads to flower spikes with flowers going in various directions or in unnatural positions. We have copies of a talk on this subject for those who would like some advice. Also, please look carefully for any pests that may be on your plants. We don't mind one or two critters that can be taken off easily, but plants with heavy infestations will not be allowed in the exhibits. We don't want to contaminate other people's plants.--John Lewis and Lynn O'Shaughnessy



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