Orchid Repotting Workshop

Orchids, they're beautiful, delicate and hard to take care of. Except that while they are beautiful, they are much hardier than most people believe and with a little knowledge, you can care for them like a pro. Come and join orchid enthusiast and Outreach Coordinator of the Sacramento Orchid Society Dave Veach as he leads participants in learning more about these amazing plants. He will teach you the basics of orchids, and orchid care, and lead the class in a step-by-step, hands-on, orchid repotting session. You'll learn the value of repotting your orchids and how to get them to rebloom. Participants may bring their own materials including pots, media (Sphagnum moss or bark), and an orchid or they may purchase a materials kit that includes everything you need (pot, media and an orchid). Material kits will be provided at the beginning of the class. Each student gets one Phalaenopsis orchid, a second orchid can be purchased with your ticket. Instructor Bio: As a retired software engineer, Dave is a problem solver. Hawaii has always been a favorite vacation destination of his and in 2010, while on a trip to the Big Island, he bought a flask of Cattleya orchids from Akatsuka Orchid Gardens. He figured, why spend $40 on a single orchid when he could get over 40 of them for that same price in a flask. Of course, he knew nothing about orchids at that point, so the results of de-flasking the orchids was disappointing. He got 45 baby orchids out of the flask and promptly killed (he prefers to think of it as "Died in my care.") 44 of the 45 orchids. Needless to say, he decided that he needed to understand how to take care of orchids so as not to repeat this mistake. It's worth noting that he still has that one orchid that survived. Dave went to his first meeting of the Sacramento Orchid Society (SOS) in April of 2011. At that meeting, he won a Dendrobium Green Lantern from the raffle table and it's been all downhill from there. Dave started to amass more orchids slowly and after the 3 years, he was up to 11 orchids. In 2015 Dave acquired 35 additional orchids and his collection has only grown larger from there. Somewhere around 2015, Dave joined the SOS board of directors as a director and has been on the board since then. Dave has been Show chairperson, director and recently President of the society for the last 3 years. He am currently on the SOS board as the Past President and Outreach Coordinator. Dave have given talks and taught classes to many garden groups in our area as well as at nurseries like Green Acres. Dave currently has about 250 different kinds of orchids growing on windowsills, in a small greenhouse and outdoors in the backyard. Dave does not specialize in any specific genus of orchids, he grows a large variety of different types of orchids. Like most intermediate or advanced orchid growers, many orchids (hundreds in fact) have passed away in his care. The trick to orchid success is learning what they want and need, and then providing it for them.