THE BROMELIAD SOCIETY OF GREATER CHICAGO

THE BSGC NEWS

October, 2001

The Oct. 14th meeting is a lunch at 12:00 p.m. at Lamb’s Farm. The Bromeliad Society will pay for your lunch so please come. ( A map is provided. If you still need directions please call Wally Fox or the Goode’s.) Afterwards, we will be going to the Jamaican Gardens which is just down the road. We will have a raffle of Cryptanthus Durrell and a variegated Tillandsia. Micki Ogrosky bought many Neos. From Tropiflora from their sale. She will bring the extra ones that she doesn’t want to keep to sell to us. Tropical storm Gabrielle did considerable damage to the plants and facilities so Tropiflora had a special sale.

President’s Column

Thank you for your confidence. We shall return to normal. Go to Walt Disney and fly again.

This year will be new and exciting. We have our 2004 International Convention, Recruiting new members and Most of all, getting to know one another. Your Officers need Help. Please call. Let’s Talk.

We are having a guest, Joyce Brehm from California. (She is a brave BSI Director.) She, as well as the Reilly’s will be touring the three hotels we are looking at for the 2004 World Conference. They will help the BSI decide in which location the International conference will be held.

We had a small but lively group for our auction on Sept. 9th. Ed Littman and Wally Fox did a fine job as auctioneers. Micki Ogrosky moved that the slate of new officers be accepted. Ed Littman seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous in favor of accepting the slate. We would like to thank the officers from last year for doing a great job: President-Stan Wen, Vice-President- Mike Field, Treasurer- Chuck Stickels, Secretary- Martha Goode, Newsletter Editor- Steve Goode, Membership Chairman- Wally Fox and Webmaster- Stan Wen.

I hope everyone who had plants outside got them in. I use cygon on my plants to reduce the amount of pests, I bring inside. I water the plants first before watering them with the cygon solution. Be sure and follow the instructions; wear gloves that you use only when using pesticides as well as using the container for pesticides only. Wash hands thoroughly after you are finished. (We can’t afford to lose any member till after the 2004 Conference!) I did this over a 3 week period. During some of the time, my bathtub has plants and so we must use the shower downstairs. The plants get preference over the people at this time. (What do you mean at this time??)

 

In the September 16th business section of the Chicago Tribune, Chris Kraul had an article on the pineapple crop in Mexico. He said that the pineapples produced in Thailand had caused the prices of the local pineapple to drop from $120/ton in 1998 to $15/ton in 2000. Last year there was 4,474 tons of canned pineapple imported versus 692 tons the previous year. The area where 100,000 people depend on pineapple for their living is in southeastern Mexico. The market for their pineapple is domestic (5% exported) In the 1990's large profits were made from growing pineapple so many more people went into growing it. The Agriculture Ministry is now working on a comprehensive plan that may include technical and marketing assistance as well as debt renegotiation for the pineapple growers. The government is also stepping up its attack on contraband Thai pineapple which some Mexican canners are illegally labeling as Mexican since it is cheaper then canning Mexican fruit. The Agriculture Undersecretary said that they need to give the farmers knowledge about what the market wants in terms of size of the fruit and when to deliver it since they already know how to produce it.

We now have a new book in the Library- Tillandsia I, beginning with Tillandsias by Antonin and Ond_ej Lukscheiterovi. ISBN 80-86351-03-3 Ration Publisher Voanova 209, 250 82 _valy , Czech Republic. Available from Tropiflora. 145 Pages. It is written in Czech and English. Unlike many bilingual books, the first part is written in Czech and the second identical page in English. 80 Color plates with many botanical drawings. It is a very nice book to start out with Tillandsias. Steve really likes the pictures of the outdoor racks of Tillandsias. It should provide many ideas on the growing of these species. It will be available from the library at the October meeting.

Birthday wishes this month go to Wally Fox 10/4, Bob Craig 10/12, Ginger Smith 10/23, Joyce Fox 10/27, Trish Fadroski 10/27 and Susan Dabagia 10/31.

More award winners from our August Show: (Webmaster note: pictures not available)

 

Ed Littman won the Member’s Choice Award with his Pitcairnia archiei.

 

(Ed, we found the picture at the show so we don’t have to use the other picture! Martha found it on the second roll.)

 

On the Right, is Barbara Temchuk’s Deuterochonia brevifolia which won the Best of Division II Silver Multiples.

Wally Fox won the Best of Division V Artistic Award with a Tillandsia bulbosa. The Cryptanthus Muriel Loose received the Cryptanthus Society Award for Best Hybrid. It was raised by Martha Goode. Martha received the plant from John Anderson and his wife Nelwyn.

 

Membership Contest for 2001

The BSI announces the initiation of a regional membership contest to begin on September 1, 2001. The following procedures will be in effect:

  1. Eligibility: First-time BSI members or lapsed renewal members (identified as past members with a lapsed membership of 12 months or more).
  2. Application process: Online sign-up, telephone, fax or postal membership applications submitted to membership secretary.
  3. Period: September 1, 2001 through February 28, 2002.
  4. Prizes for winning region:
    1. Directors of region. Would be recognized and announced at WBC 2002.
    2. New members: Two new members will be selected from a drawing from those joining from that region. The first drawn would win the first prize, Ulrich Baesch's beautiful book which is now out of print. The second prize will be Victoria Padilla's landmark publication, also out of print. The winners will be announced at WBC 2002, but need not be present to win.
  5. Determination of winning region: Determination will be made based upon the percentage of increase over numbers in each region as of September 1, 2001.

(From the July-August 2001 Journal of the Bromeliad Society.) $30/year/single and $35/year/dual Send application to: Carolyn Schoenau, P.O. Box 12981, Gainesville, FL 32604-0981 (Hey Carolyn-Use the FULL nine digit zip code. The mail will be faster and the BSI will save money!)

Happy Halloween!

Location of Lamb’s Farm. It is on the south side of Route 176. There is an exit on Northbound I-94 onto route 176. When you take this exit, you can see Lamb’s Farm. Their phone number is (847) 362-4636.

Jamaican Gardens is on the south side of route 176 on the other side of I-94. Their phone number is (847) 367-5570.

Do come and join us for lunch.