I sat in on a talk about Cypripediums, a talk about exotic pests and diseases, and a talk from a company that creates worm castings by feeding worms compost and horse manure and then selling the material left behind after they are done eating it all. I really thought the worm castings talk was very interesting. Though the speaker (and one of the owners) was clearly not used to speaking, was very quiet and not too sure of himself, he got through it and did a great job. I learned a lot. Ralph Heiden talked about exotic pests, but just skimmed the surface and really didn't have enough time to get into anything that much. I took away a couple bits of info that I thought were interesting, such as why we have elm trees here that always seem to die when they get between 1 to 2 feet in diameter (the beetle larva that carries Dutch Elm Disease can't feed completely through the bark until the trees are more mature) and learned how Southeast Michigan was ground zero for Emerald Ash Borer and it spread to my area by firewood being brought by campers visiting the Michigan International Speedway nearby. The talk about Cypripediums (lady slippers) showed lots of pretty pictures but didn't really help teach us how to grow them, so of the classes I went to, this one really wasn't that great. The speaker asked how many people grew lady slippers, then asked how many people have killed them, and when all of the same people kept their hands up he said "Yup, that's about right." What I did take away from this is that Cypripediums have adapted to very specific growing conditions by species, and not so much as a genus, so not all are created equal. Hostas are like that too, but are more forgiving, so we don't worry about it so much, but with lady slippers, one might be native to an alkaline fen while another is native to an acidic bog and they simply won't grow well outside their natural conditions. I figured this out on my own, though, after searching for more information on my computer after the class was over.
My other two periods I talked to groups about Hosta Virus X and hopefully people were able to get some good information from my talk
Any other reports from Hosta College? Mary, Paul, Lynn, Ed, Ann (did I miss anyone else)? Let us know how it went
Chris
Mockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
How did everyone like the dinner? I enjoyed the salad, but unfortunately did not get to stay for the rest of it due to a medical emergency. I guess you can't even take the nurse out of me when I am away from it. 