Monthly Meeting - Julia Redman

Monthly Meeting - Orchid Seedling Development, or ”What Is Flasking” 

Have you ever wondered about how new orchids are made? Many orchid growers reach a point where the question shifts from how to grow orchids well to how orchids actually begin at all, and what that might mean to you as an orchid enthusiast.

Our guest speaker Julia Redman will cut through the mystique and unpack how this all works. In this discussion, we’ll take a visual journey of that earliest stage - making the cross, starting the seed and watching them grow. Essentially, we’ll learn about the how and why of “flasking” - the art of growing orchid seedlings en masse. Whether you’re interested in dabbling in hybridization yourself, or just curious, we’ll get a behind the scenes look at this mysterious process by which all your favorite plants came to be.

Julia has always had an overzealous interest in plants of all kinds, and began growing orchids more years ago than she’d like to admit in the *cough* 90’s. Did her first plant live? Of course not! Not to be deterred, she kept up, read everything, and even worked at an orchid nursery on weekends during college. Eventually growing a few plants wasn't enough, and more trouble had to be made, so clearly breeding orchids was the next step. As a scientist, she was uniquely positioned to begin flasking orchid seeds, though she admits using laboratory equipment hardly qualifies as normal Friday night hijinks. These days, she uses a cannibalized guest room as a lab, and the craziness continues.

Julia offers orchids and other interesting plants for sale at juliaredman.com. Preorders for pickup at the meeting will get 10% off. Please place orders by June 11

Please have your plants on the show table by 11 a.m. 

Lunch is potluck so please consider bringing a dish to share if you are able to.