Next Meeting March 2nd, 2022 @ 7:00pm
Location: Venice Community Center (doors open at 6:30pm)
The Speaker will be Naoki Kawamura – Presenting:“Vandas”
I have been growing orchids for little over 20 years. After my friend bought a house, I asked her what she wanted for a house warming gift. She said a white Phalaenopsis and mentioned a boutique orchid store in Portland, Oregon. I visited the store, and was overwhelmed with the variety of orchids, especially multi-growths Paphiopedilum micranthum, which price tag was $800. I just walked away with a white Phalaenopsis. A couple days later, I went back to the store and got myself a Dendrobium. As I tried to learn how to take care of it, I read a couple books. I also joined Oregon Orchid Society to learn more from other growers.
Although I could not buy the Paphiopedilum micranthum, I acquired my first green Paphiopedilum at the society meeting. As I visited the monthly meeting, I brought more orchids home from local vendors/speakers. All of the sudden, my dining table became an orchid table. Due to cold weather in winter, all orchids were grown under lights. They responded to the environment well, and I was able to rebloom them.
When we moved to a new house in 2003, our small garage was converted to an orchid growing area. We had over 100 Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums which were grown under 4 units of 400 watt metal halid lights. All the orchids stayed inside all year along. What I didn’t understand was the effect of light spectrum. They seemed to have grown, but not many bloomed. While I was struggling to rebloom Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums, I read a blog on Orchid Board about a lady in Michigan growing Vanda under lights successfully in her basement. I drew a design of the structure and built it out of PVC pipes. That was the beginning of my Vanda growing in Oregon. As my Vanda collection started growing, I started selling my Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums. I believe that was when Facebook became popular and I met several orchid friends from Florida through Facebook. A trip to Tamiami International Orchid Festival and Redland International Orchid showbecame our annual vacation.
Relocating to Florida was our life long dream and it became true when I accepted a National Sales Support Manager position in April, 2016. Why Venice? We never visited Venice before, but thanks to John Masters and his friend/realtor, we managed to purchase the house without walking through it. Orchid collection was shipped to a friend in Orlando and he had helped them get acclimated to Florida sun.
All my orchids are grown inside the pool cage. This is a completely different environment than I was used to in Portland Oregon. Little did I know that it gets cold here for Vandas. I love new challenge and strive to learn more to grow better.Thanks to the Florida North Central Judging Center, I received 24 American Orchid Society awards in 2021; 7 HCCs, 14 AMs, 1 FCCs, 1 CCM and 1 CHM.