The OSGKC hosted the Orchid Show at the 2011 Kansas City Lawn & Garden Show in Kemper Area, Feb. 11-13. The society and several of its members received major show and AOS awards for their exhibits and individual plants. Click on the image to see video of the OSGKC Exhibit. Photographs of society members’ exhibit are featured on “Photos” page. The society’s major award winners are
Show Awards
Rick Day – Masd. Strobelii, Best Masdevallia
Erin Morrison – Exhibit, Blue Ribbon for Junior Exhibitor (Erin is 9 years old.)
Joy and Mark Prout – Exhibit, Best of Class Amateur Exhibit
Joy and Mark Prout – Paph. St. Low, Best Paphiopedilum
Mark Prout – Den. Roy Tokunaga, Best Dendrobium and Best Specimen Plant
David Bird – Exhibit, Best Open Exhibit
Al Clinton – watercolor, Best Orchid Art
Susie Hanna – Den. Aussie Chip, Best Miniature
Susie Hanna – Epi. Little Miss Sunshine, Best of Class 10-16
Tony King and Jason Thoren – cut orchid flower, Best Orchid in Use
Monica – Lc Tokoyo Magic x Slc Tangerine Jewel, Best Cattleya
Doug Martin – Cyp. formosanum, Best Phragmipedium and Cypripedium
Beth Martin – Gongora scaphephonus, Best Miscellaneous General
AOS Awards
David Bird – HCC
Monica – Lc Tokoyo Magic x Slc Tangerine Jewel, HCC
Al Clinton – Masd. Atahualpa, AM 80 pts
Orchid Society of Greater Kansas City | News 
I bought a Dendrobius (happy face) orchid at the L&G show. Last weekend I noticed the flowers wilting. Looking closer, I found sticky beads. It must be some bug or disease.–VERY unhappy. Do I need to throw the $35 orchid out so it does not infect my other plants, or is it too late? Should I cut off the infected stalk and try to save the remaining two stalks, or is the entire plant ruined? Help! What should I do?
Thank you, Ann
Hi, Ann,
Sounds to me as if you have scale. When I have this problem, I wipe off infected leaves with Neem oil to fight scale. Unless the entire plant is infested with scale — and that would be clearly visible — there is no reason to throw out the plant. It might, however, be a good idea to separate the new Dendrobium from your other plants. I’ll send out an email to OSGKC members and ask them if they can give any additional tips or suggestions.
Ann,
Bring your plant to our meeting this Sunday for a diagnosis. Might be bugs, but it might be sap, too, often displayed by healthy plants. Couldn’t tell for sure without seeing it. Beginners meeting at 1 p.m., basement of Broadway Methodist Church. The genus Dendrobium is one of the largest and ones in the Latouria section last up to three months, but Dendrobium sulcatum only lasts a week. Hope we see you Sunday.
Hi Ann,
Mark is right. The sticky beads could be a response to bugs like scale or excess sap. Plants use a process called photosynthesis to make sugar. Well grown plants sometimes make more than they can use so they excrete the extra as sap. If you can’t see any bugs, it’s probably just a happy orchid. In my experience, by the time you see the beads, the bugs are pretty obvious. Here’s a link to a picture of scale on an orchid leaf.
http://garden-photos-com.photoshelter.com/image/I00009oWHIUauubA
If you do have scale, or any other bugs, you can treat with neem oil or any of the other horticultural oils on the market. But my favorite is rubbing alcohol. Dilute the 70% solution sold in most pharmacies 50/50 with water and spray it on your plant. Or you can dab it on with a Q-tip. Do the same if you use one of the oils. Then wipe off the bugs to make sure the treatment gets under the shell. Like the alcohol the oils are contact killers; that is, they coat the outside of the insect and smother it. So they only kill the ones you see and get it on. Make sure you get into the seams between the leaves and the stalk. Peel off any dead sheaths and check for more under there. These treatments only kill the adults. The eggs and larvae live in the potting medium so you’ll have to repeat the treatment three times, every week to ten days.
All flowers wilt sooner or later. This was probably a coincidence, unrelated to any bugs the plant may have. I’ve seen orchids with very heavy infestations and lots of flowers that looked fine except for the bugs on them. I usually try to pick out a plant with the buds just opening so I get to enjoy them as long as possible.