2006 mailing list messages

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From: Orchids
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Ceratostylis Articles
Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 07:25

I am led to believe that the AOS Bulletin 1987 had a Articles but am unable
to confirm this or find out if this is correct.

From: Andy Mckeown
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] fans & books
Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 09:25

I have just been given about a dozen computer fans and I am just sorting out what to do with them. Any tips on connecting them up would be great.

I have Enc mariae X vitellina growing in hydroculture, intermediate temps and good light − seems happy

In response to the question about fans, I have been using second hand computer fans for a few years now. I did not expect them to last long , but the only casualty was one I dropped in a bucket of water (rather a severe test!).

From: Peter Fowler
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Fwd: Orchids in flower in April 2006
Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 12:50

Sorry Tricia, It looks like the files I sent were too large & you had to do
some work on them. They are the smallest files I can produce on my DSLR
Canon 350D camera, so will have to do some post production work in the
future.

From: Tony Watkinson
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Orchid Growers Manual
Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 09:50

Found on the Orchid Guide Digest... a download of the full text and pix of the Orchid Growers Manual 7th edition by Williams. 102 Mb though, so you better have broadband.

From: Tony Watkinson
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Orchid Growers Manual
Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 09:55

From: Roger Grier
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Wilsonara Kolibri.
Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 11:00

Some months ago Andy McKeown and I swapped a few plants, and one that Andy gave to me was Wisonara Kolibri. The little darling is now in flower and I am very pleased with it. The flowers measure about 30mm by 30mm so it's not a large flower, but a very pleasant small type.

From: jns tropic
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual
Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 22:55

Thank you Tony for the book. It took 15 minutes to
download it to my desktop with DSL. It took only 2
minutes to copy it to a CD. Now I can remove it from
my desktop, no reason to keep such a large file
on the computer when a CD will be a safer place.

When I started to grow orchids there was only one book
for sale in Florida. It was Whites 'How to Grow
Orchids'. It would have been helpful if I lived in
the north east of the USA. I had to get on my bike
and ride around until I spotted a greenhouse. The
owners were always happy to give a young boy
information.

From: jan
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 06:20

Tony Watkinson wrote:
> Hi Peter
>
> Forgive a dunce, but could you explain the meaning of the following.
>
> 3DA340
>
> Perhaps this is something pommy that us in the antipodes are ignorant of. !!
>
> Tony
>
Mysterious codes like that in the text come from using an email program
that doesn't send the emails as plain text; they are meant as some kind
of 'formatting' I suppose. If only people would use a proper email
program (ie. not Outlook)...

From: Ron Newstead
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 17:05

Jan,
Why is Outlook not a proper email programme? It was recommended to me by a
software specialist who said it was better than Outlook Express.

From: Geoffrey Hands
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 19:55

Tony has it back-to-front . Outlook Express is the cheapie, stripped-down
version of Outlook . But Outlook is a complete suite of programmes, whereas
OE is only the (stripped down) e-mail prgramme.
Outlook is far more versatile, clever etc − the only problem is that it is
hellishly complex, and sometimes (often ! ) one can't see how to make it do
the things it can do !
With OE there is no problem − like any cheap and cheapful programme, it
can't do complex things anyway , so you do not need to spend days figuring
out what to do to try to make it behave....

From: Geoffrey Hands
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 20:00

My broadband did it even quicker , and I have already had a dip. Its great
value for the 50 pence for a disc, and 5 minutes work , but I have to admit
it's not as satisfying as sitting in an easy chair with a glass of the
favourite tipple, just turning pages...
But it made me wonder − who did all that work , scanning all those pages in
, and what do they get out of it ? I suppose there is no nasty worm , trojan
or whatever , hidden in there ?

On 09/04/06, jns tropic wrote:
>
> Thank you Tony for the book. It took 15 minutes to
> download it to my desktop with DSL. It took only 2
> minutes to copy it to a CD. Now I can remove it from
> my desktop, no reason to keep such a large file
> on the computer when a CD will be a safer place.

From: jan
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 06:35

Ron Newstead wrote:
> Jan,
> Why is Outlook not a proper email programme? It was recommended to me by a
> software specialist who said it was better than Outlook Express.
>
> Ron N
>
Hi, Ron,

A brief explanation, then. First my background − I am a UNIX systems
administrator and programmer and have been for about 25 years (time
flies; I hate it when it does that). Thus I am likely to be slightly
biased against Windows, which I see as a kind of toy (especially XP with
it's Fischer-Price look). I am not being very fair, but I enjoy that ;-)

Now to what I really don't like about Outlook, which may interest people
in general. Firstly, it is unreasonably complex, at least if all you
want is to receive and send emails. This is because it can do a lot of
things that are handy in a large office, such as maintaining shared
calendars etc. I would say that for a home user it is hardly worth the
money over Outlook Express, but that is of course a matter of taste.

The second, and potentially more worrying aspect is security. For some
reason Microsoft have chosen to integrate a large number of technologies
in many of their office products, such as the ability to execute
embedded code, which has in the past given hackers easy access to
Windows systems and probably still does in many cases, since most home
users don't upgrade to the very latest patch levels (you would hardly
have time to do anything else if tried).

As an example of one bad idea in Outlook and other email programs is the
combination of 'previewing' and HTML. 'Previewing' is what happens when
you highlight the email header and you see the email in the lower half
of the window − this is the way most of us read emails, I think. 'HTML'
is the language that is used to create web pages; you can write emails
using HTML (there's an option to do so in most email programs), which
allows you to make emails that look just like a web page, with
hyperlinks and pictures etc.

Both of these features are quite nice at first glance; except when used
maliciously. Once, some years ago I received such an email in my office
(everybody in the office did) − it was an advert for a pedophile
website, with pictures and all. Apart from my natural disgust and
outrage it also had another effect: when it was previewed in my email
program, the embedded pictures were downloaded and somewhere I was now
registered as having accessed a pedophile website. My immediate
reaction, when I realized this was to contact the METs − but I think you
can see how easy it is to incriminate somebody with an email! What makes
it worse is that there's no rule that dictates that images must be
visible. I can easily create an email that will download 10 pictures to
your computer without your knowing it − I just set the size so small
that all you see is a dot.

This is why I don't like Outlook − as far as I know there is no way of
turning off interpretation of HTML emails; maybe there is now, but it's
no longer relevant, since I now use Linux. There is another email
program that I can only recommend: Thunderbird − it's free, it only does
email (and newsgroups), and you can turn off HTML.

From: jan
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 06:45

Geoffrey Hands wrote:
> But it made me wonder − who did all that work , scanning all those pages in
> , and what do they get out of it ? I suppose there is no nasty worm , trojan
> or whatever , hidden in there ?
>
I don't think you need to worry about worms in this. PDF has so far not
been used for that purpose, and I think scanning >800 pages of an old
orchid book would be rather over the top. It would be more efficient to
scan a few pornographic pictures, if you were out to spread a worm.

This file is actually a huge collection of scanned images of the pages
in a book; it may look like text, but to the computer it is pictures,
which is why it is so large. As to why somebody has done it − there are
people in the world who simply do these things because they can and
because they want to give something to the world. I think it is a very
nice thought.

From: Tony Watkinson
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Orchid Growers Manual+
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 09:45

I didn't realise what a kerfuffle I would stir up with my query re 3DA340,
which is how Peters @ £40 + P&P" came out in the digest version of Orchid
Talk. Peter has explained how it happens, to me off line.

I do use Outlook Express as I find that a program that you get used to is
just so much easier than trying to learn the intricacies of some new program
that may or may not be better. I did try Thunderbird but was so used to OE
that my patience ran out too quick. Though I have done away with Internet
Explorer in favour of Mozilla Firefox.

The original posting on Orchid Guide Digest for the Orchid Growers Manual
came from Steve Topletz, who said....

To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:30

Under the Security Settings tab in (Tools -> Options), there is a
section about "Download Pictures".
Just flag 'Don't download pictures or other content automatically in
HTML e-mail'
Also, select the 'Warn me before downloading content when editing,
forwarding or replying to e-mail'.

The same problem about downloading unwanted photographs is more
difficult to get rid of when browsing to any web page. What do want to
do? Use lynx (a text only browser)? To be honest, big brother is that
smart that a one time download of those pictures does not make you the
big pervert. Everyone ends up with junk like that on his computer.

The one pixel images are used in html mails to track validity of email
addresses in mail shots (especially spam), or to track how many people
open a particular mail when a company does an emailshot.

I too am a Linux user (at home). It has come a long way since I started
using it back in '92. But it still has a while to go before I would
consider installing it on my parent's computer.

> Jan, Why is Outlook not a proper email programme? It was recommended to
> me by a software specialist who said it was better than Outlook Express.

From: jns tropic
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:05

Maybe you were closer to the site :). But I did do
better with the CD cost at 9 cents. If you can
tolerate reading a book from the monitor, then check
out Project Gutenberg.

> My broadband did it even quicker , and I have
> already had a dip. Its great
> value for the 50 pence for a disc...

From: jns tropic
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual+
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:00

I stumbled on your word:
Main Entry: ker·fuf·fle
Pronunciation: k&r-'f&-f&l
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of carfuffle, from Scots car-
(probably from Scottish Gaelic cearr wrong, awkward) +
fuffle to become disheveled
chiefly British : DISTURBANCE, FUSS

From: John Stanley
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] CDs and Gutenberg
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:55

I, too, thought Geoff was paying rather over-the-odds for his CDs (maybe
they were the olympic medal kind) but I am interested to notice your
reference to Project Gutenberg. What orchid books have you found there? My
searches have been spectacularly unsuccesful in that respect (apart from
Darwin perhaps)
John Stanley

From: mojca klancic
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual+
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 21:25

it is really nice of you to share the sendspace links with us. I tried to find what else can be downloaded from it but was not able to. I have registered, recieved their mail, answered, but still... Can you please help? Is there an index of files?

Jns tropic, I googled and found the Project Gutenberg, thanks a million. It si too a wonderful source of information,

From: Ronald Newstead
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] London Show ... and some orchid gossip
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 23:20

As regards the guarantee, surely if a number of us got together, this would
be possible „ or is it not that interesting?

Newbury − its successor. Anyone feel like putting up two grand for the
guarantee ? You never have to find the money unless the show goes broke -
so I am told − then the show can take place at Swindon, later this year.
Contact Don Smallman if you fee you can help .

From: Ronald Newstead
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Is this Cattleya maxima?
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 23:20

I cannot help with the identity but I would very much love to have one.
Where can I get it?

jrupp wrote:
I need help in confirming the identity of the cattleya I received about 1.5
years ago and is illustrated in the attached pictures. It was labeled as
Cattleya maxima 'Peru'.

From: jns tropic
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] CDs and Gutenberg
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 03:15

Sorry John, I have only been searching for good
literature and not thinking about orchids

From: Geoffrey Hands
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual+
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 03:45

The last time I saw Veitch's manual was when I was offered a copy , "only
slightly foxed" and "with many of the original illustrations still
included" for only £700 , by a well-known orchid antiquarian bookseller -
now no longer in the trade ( good old Norman )-so I am downloading this with
some glee !
Slightly more expensive ! (and John , I didn't stop to work out how much
CDs actually cost − I buy 50 for £5 or whatever it is that PC World charge -
and the maths are too difficult for a mere orchid grower at 3.30AM − one of
those sleepless nights − I did intend to change to DVDs − you get so much
more on each, but then I would still use a whole disc for a whole book, so I
suppose it would be much more expensive ! )

From: Geoffrey Hands
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Water-softeners
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 04:05

Does anyone have any ideas/comments about these ?
I have bought a water softener of the usual ion-excahnge type. I forget the
chemistry , but my understanding is that this swaps Calcium and Magnesium (
in the water) for Sodium. This does not produce "salt" in the salt and
pepper sense, i.e. Sodium chloride, but of course Calcium carbonate would
become sodium carbonate, magnesium sulphate would become sodium sulphate,
and so on. The point being that the Calcium and Mag. salts are ( or may be )
"hard scale" salts which results in deposits on leaves ( or rings on the
bath) but the sodium equivalents are "soft scale" which do not do this.
I know it works for baths. The question is will it work for orchids, and in
particular will the sodium salts be harmful ? Na Cl − yes . But NaCO3 , or
Na SO4 ( I'm making these up , but I suppose them to be more or less
correct ) − question ?
I have it in mind to connect this water softener to the mains supply in the
greenhouse so as to give me treated and also untreated supplies ; to use the
untreated supply for watering plants when drought necessitates this ( rain
tanks empty , water restrictions and price of metered water making RO
undesirable) but try the treated supply on some ivies, begonias etc -
initially , and also use it for my humidifier − and my swamp cooler − both
of which will deposit water on leaves . And it is this last fact which makes
me nervous !

From: Tricia Garner
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: Water-softeners
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 09:10

On 12 Apr, in article
,
Geoffrey Hands wrote:
> Does anyone have any ideas/comments about these ? I have bought a water
> softener of the usual ion-excahnge type...

For what it's worth, I experimented with a couple of identical Phalaenopsis
Green Gem plants (came in one pot when bought). For a year I watered one
with rainwater and the other one with water treated by our domestic water
softener. They both grew well but the flowers on the one receiving treated
water were a richer colour than the rain water plant and also the bark
didn't break down as much, if at all. Whether this would be as successful
with other genera I couldn't say.

From: John Stanley
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual+3-30am
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 10:25

Geoff,
You surprise me. At 3.30 am any self-respecting orchid grower would be out there, blunderbuss in hand, waiting for the slugs!
DVDs; one snag is that when it finally corrupts, you lose a lot more data than with a CD!
Printing out Veitch has improved my work-flow no end. I bound the parts with the 'perfect(!) binding technique using aquarium silione sealant. Works fine.

From: Geoffrey Hands
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] London Show ... and some orchid gossip
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 12:20

I would be game for a share , anyway . I'll see if I can get oin touch with
Don and enquire further.

On 11/04/06, Ronald Newstead wrote:
>
> Very interesting, Geoff.
>
> As regards the guarantee, surely if a number of us got together, this
> would be possible „ or is it not that interesting?

From: Geoffrey Hands
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] London Show ... and some orchid gossip
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 12:25

ps. Are you interested in/ do you know about Lawrence Hobbs importation of
cattleyas ( etc) from Carter and Holmes in USA ? He does this every year -
usually charges £1 per 1 dollar price in the catalogue, but then he pays
duty/VAT , sorts out all the permits, pays the carriage , etc., and the only
minimum quantity about it is that if your order is under £100 you pay
postage ( in UK) − over £100, post free.
They do have superb crosses , but mostly we are buying in 2inch and 3 inch
pots, so maybe a couple of years from flowering − but some are larger.
The delivery usually arrives about August by the way .
If you are interested you could message him , or I have a copy of the
catalogue ( he charges £2 for this unless you are a regular customer for
£100 or so of plants) and if you want to see it, try and remind me next
nonth when you are home

From: Silvio a Beccara
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Water-softeners
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 12:30

I know that too much sodium (i.e. the cation Na+, from any water-soluble salt)
is generally bad for plants. This is why ion-exchange water softeners are not
usually advised for watering plants. I don't know how orchids like sodium,
but generally they're more, not less fussy than other plants. I guess that
anyway, water from the softener could be used on a sparse schedule, for
instance when rain water is not available. The sodium, being highly soluble,
would be very likely washed away at the next watering with osmosis or rain
water.

From: Geoffrey Hands
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Re: Water-softeners
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 13:05

That is very helpful Tricia. Actually the only input I ever had about water
softeners being harmful ( the water from them, of course) was from the late
Bob Dadd , who on hearing that I had put one in, said "for God's sake don't
water your orchids with the stuff" and when I asked why , he said that
actual salt − which is of course used to regenerate the ion exchange bed,
gets carried over into the output water, at very small rates − and even at 1
part in a million could be harmful.
He was a chemist before he was an orchidophile, although I don't think he
was especially qualified in plant chemistry/bioscience.
But , I don't think he can have understood the plumbing arrangements − or
maybe he was talking about old designs − that conversation was a good twenty
years ago , with modern valving systems, I think there is virtually no risk
of cross contamination. So , if that were the only risk I'd take it
happily.
But from what you say , I will certainly try an experiment on orchids as
well as foliage plants, as soon as it is set up.
ta nicely, Tricia.

From: Tricia Garner
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Re: Water-softeners
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:10

No problem :-) I'm not sure whether our softener is ion exchange − all I
know is that the water is filtered through a resin bed (is that the same
thing?) which is periodically flushed with saline solution to remove
build-up of calcium. I was once chatting to the service engineer,
complaining about the lack of rainwater for the orchids, and he suggested
using softened water as, quote: 'it is pure' so I tried the experiment.
Most orchidists to whom I have mentioned it throw up their hands in horror
so now I tend not to talk about it!

From:
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Digest 2006 Volume 36
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:30

Sorry Ron, but I think that my plant may be the only one in existence. From
replies that I have received, I believe that it must be a natural hybrid that
occurred in Peru, as I was told it was legally collected from the wild in Peru.
I have one pot of this orchid which seems to be growing very well and making
new leads. I also see new buds developing in a mature sheath. This thing seems
to be a constant grower with no particular season. I am trying to be very
careful with it, so it will prosper.

> From: Ronald Newstead
>
> I cannot help with the identity but I would very much love to have one.
> Where can I get it?

From: Ron Newstead
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] London Show ... and some orchid gossip
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 22:50

My new greenhouse over there is coming along well so I hope to have some
space to fill for a change!

From: John Stanley
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] CDs and Gutenberg
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:20

Oh! I always thought orchid literature was (emphasis) "good literature"!
Just jokin' of course! But one of my hobbyhorses is wonderment about the
absence of scientific writing from courses in "writing skills" almost to
imply that, by definition, science can't be good literature!
Thanks for the info though, I thought I was missing out!
Cheers
John

> Sorry John, I have only been searching for good
> literature and not thinking about orchids

From: Tony Watkinson
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Project Gutenberg
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:40

Here is a link to an orchid book that I scanned and submitted to the Australian version of the Gutenberg Project

West Australian Orchids
Author: Emily H Pelloe
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks04/0400681h.htmlTony

From: Tony Watkinson
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Hortus Veitchii.
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:50

Further to the discussion re old books, Steve Topletz posted this on the Orchid Guide Digest.

I think I have about enough people interested in this book to make it
worth while. I estimate the text-searchable version of the scan will
be approximately 250MB in size. So if you want me to send you copies
on CD I would be happy to.

The only other hurdle remaining is that the book is very large in
size. It will require me to purchase a large format flatbed scanner,
which has a scanning surface of 12"x17", as the pagespans are 11"x15".
Luckily they are not very expensive (USD $200 via ebay) and I am happy
to purchase it as a valuable scanning tool. However, if you would be
willing to place a small donation to help me defray the cost of the
scanner I would be most appreciative. Consider that if you could find
a Hortus Veitchii to purchase, you would expect to may $550 to $1300.
Compare this to the $20 per person needed to cover the cost of the
scanner. If you wish to help share the cost you can paypal to
contact@nascentorchids.com, or send a cheque or MO; any amount is
appreciated. I'll need to purchase the scanner quickly, as I have
final exams coming up in three weeks, so sooner is better than later.

If you would like a CD, please reply including your shipping address.
I will also make the scans available for your download if you desire.

From: Tony Watkinson
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Sendspace
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 00:20

To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual+3-30am
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 11:00

From: Geoffrey Hands
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Re: Water-softeners
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 11:10

Yes, that's my view too − in fac t I am just about to plumb-in the softener
alowing a connection for my swamp coolers − delivered next week, and which I
hope to convert to using the mains/softened supply via ball valves, rather
than hose pipe refilled periodically , , and they will be 'stat switched to
come on at 25 deg. C, and hence the actual amount of sodium ending up on
leaves should be very, very small indeed. The humidifier will continue to
run on RO or rain , until I am better convinced of the actual ( and
hopefully) minimal risk − and I plan to go and visit a nursery somewhere in
the next week or two to try and buy a dozen identical cheap but healthy
plants, to give some of them my hard water, some of them my softened water,.
and the rest rain or RO, but all adjusted to trhe same EC and pH levels -I
hope that Brian or one of his merry men at Kingsteignton will find me some
suitable plants.

> Most orchidists to whom I have mentioned it throw up their hands in horror
> so now I tend not to talk about it!

From: Geoffrey Hands
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Re: Water-softeners
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 11:15

BTW Tricia, if your softener has a resin bed, yes it is ion exchange ( swap
calcium for sodium etc ) which means that the calcium ends up in your
resin. But when the resin beads are all calcium-salt covered, (?) they don't
work to remove any more calcium , so your brine solution is flushed through
the resin bed, and the sodium in the salt effectively displaces the calcium
, thus forming calcium chloride, which is water soluble, and so gets carried
away with the flush water, down the drain , leaving the resin coated with
sodium salts once more − I think this is what happens, If anyone knows the
chemistry better, please tell me.
I learnt it all once,about the difference between soft scale which is water
soluble, and washes off plants − which Cotswold water did − and hard-scale
which doesn't wash off, which is what Bournemouth water does. But the real
details of all this stuff has faded from my memory. And its not easy to
recover, even on the wonderful internet − so much stuff is simplified ( read
dumbed-down) stuff which often puts forward totally false explanations . (
Try looking up capillary flow, and sit back ready to laugh ! )

From: mojca klancic
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Sendspace
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 11:30

Tony, thanks. It is really a pity there is no index. Anyway you have opened a realy interesting subject, thanks for that too.

From: mojca klancic
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual+3-30am
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 11:35

From: "Blowers, Dave"
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Re: Water-softeners
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 12:40

From: Paul Johnson
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Re: Water-softeners
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 13:35

Geoff,
Before you go about setting up your experiment, you might want to
read the following research article:

A few weeks ago my wife and visited some friends in Las Vegas. Both
their well and municipal water supplies are so mineralized and
treated that the consistency is close to that of Cretaceous
limestone. Yet, they use this water on a large collection of
thriving Vanda and other vandaceous orchids, as well as other
orchids. The basic recommendation, and that followed by numerous
commercial and hobby growers over here, is that sublethal salty
waters are fine for many orchids as long as the roots/root zone are
not allowed to dry and accumulate salt deposits. My own experience
is the same. Now, pleurothallids are a major exception to this plan.

From: Ronald Newstead
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Jim's Cymbidiums.
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 13:35

When I started to grow Cymbidiums, I tried to grow them in my greenhouse
where the Minimum night temperature was 10ºC and flowers were very
infrequent. When I transferred them to a shady spot in the garden where (in
Cascais, Portugal) the winter night temperatures were much lower, they were
much more at home and flowered for me regularly.

Of course it may not have been just a matter of temperature. The greenhouse
was much more humid.

However, it is not a case of 50 at any time of the year ( which is critical)
but it is in the months when flower buds are initiated that temperature is
particularly critical.

When I had a purely cymbidium house I tried to maintain at least 52 if not
55 at night as the minimum , and I had no difficulty in getting flowering.

From: Ron Newstead
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: John's Cattleya maxima 'Peru
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 13:35

Sorry Ron, but I think that my plant may be the only one in existence. I am trying to be very careful with it, so it will prosper.

From: John Stanley
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Project Gutenberg
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 14:50

Here is a link to an orchid book that I scanned and submitted to the Australian version of the Gutenberg Project

West Australian Orchids
Author: Emily H Pelloe
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks04/0400681h.html

From: John Stanley
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Sendspace
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 14:55

Hi Tony,
I hope I'm not causing any embarrassment to the good folks organising this site but there are some other orchid forums on the planet! One, that is of interest in connection with Sendspace and recently available stuff is
http://retirees.uwaterloo.ca/~jerry/orchids/ogd.html. Not sure if you can get 'back issues' or an archive but let me know if I can help. The 'flavour' is slightly different from Orchid-talk but it is OK and there are no worries about it being a spam generator or anything of that sort! I subscribe to both.
John Stanley

From: John Stanley
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual-binding
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 01:25

Mojca and other members,
In order not to clog up this forum I have sent Mojca my simple binding instructions direct. If anyone else wants similar help/advice, please feel free to email me direct. My method isn't very professional, but it works OK.
John Stanley

From: jan
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Project Gutenberg
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 07:25

Tony Watkinson wrote:
> Hi All
>
> Here is a link to an orchid book that I scanned and submitted to the Australian version of the Gutenberg Project
>
> West Australian Orchids
> Author: Emily H Pelloe
> http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks04/0400681h.htmlTony
>
Tony!

Only one thing: the link comes back and says 'Page not found', but that
is easily remedied, since its only because there is no space between the
link and your name − I've mended that:

From: Geoffrey Hands
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Re: Water-softeners
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 08:55

Thanks for your contribution Paul, but is there a confusion here between
"salty" meaning , "containing mineral salts, e.g. Calcium carbonate " and
"salty" meaning "containing Sodium chloride" ?
I know perfectly well that the first is OK − at least up to a point , and I
can understand that in the USA "badlands" where the water is always brackish
, that water in salt content may be far beyond the point that I would
recognise from UK experience, and yes, it may still be OK but I have not
heard that the minerals involved included NaCl..
You see, cretaceous limestone is just magnesium and calcium ( plus the usual
carbonate or whatever. I never heard of sodium in limestone.
Its the sodium which is the worry.

From: Tricia Garner
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] OGD (was Sendspace)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 09:25

On 13 Apr, in article ,
John Stanley wrote:
> Hi Tony,
> I hope I'm not causing any embarrassment to the good folks organising
> this site but there are some other orchid forums on the planet! One, that
> is of interest in connection with Sendspace and recently available stuff
> is http://retirees.uwaterloo.ca/~jerry/orchids/ogd.html. Not sure if you
> can get 'back issues' or an archive but let me know if I can help. The
> 'flavour' is slightly different from Orchid-talk but it is OK and there
> are no worries about it being a spam generator or anything of that sort!
> I subscribe to both.

No embarrassment at all, John. I also subscribe to OGD. There are archives
and you can choose a digest or individual message format. There is actually
a link to OGD on the Orchid-Talk site :-)

I looked at the link you posted and went to the home page of Jerry's site.
I was chuffed to see he also mentions Orchid-Talk among the mailing lists.

When you do things right, people won't be sure that you've done anything at all.

From: mojca klancic
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Orchid Growers Manual-binding
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:40

John, thanks by heart. It looks really easy and efficient. I used to spiral bind all my home printings which is messy and just doesn't feel right in my hands.

From: Jean Lewis
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: orchid seed
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:50

If any of you collect orchid seed and have any you don't want would you
please consider sending it to this man please. I have heard from him several
times but I don't allow seed heads to form on my orchids so can't help him.
His address is below − thanks − Jean

From: John Stanley
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: Re: [OrchidTalk] Manual-binding
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 16:45

Mojca,
Glad you could understand it all.
I think it is better than spiral binding because there are no holes to tear (and repair) although you can't fold pages back on themselves..
Bound 'books' fit better either stacked horizontally or on edge as on a bookshelf
If there are problems, like an unglued sheet, it is easily fixed
And best of all it is very cheap and needs no equipment
On the other hand, there is a need for a little skill to make a good job.
Good Luck
Best wishes
John

From: Sharon Williams
To: Orchid Talk list
Subject: manual trouble
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 20:20

Hi all: I have tried several times to download the orchid manual, but the
transfer keeps getting stalled. Can anyone who has downloaded it stick it on
a DVD for me, or perhaps suggest a remedy for my download troubles? I have a
cable connection and have never had problems like this before.
Thanks
Sharon in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (perhaps the lone orchid talk member in
Canada???)

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2006 Archived Messages

April 8—14