Carrie Raven, owner of The orchidPhile will be speaking on Demystifying New Zealand moss. She will be bringing plants and has a preorder list below. Her bio is below as well.
With so many orchids being sold these days potted in New Zealand moss, many growers find it a major challenge to deal with specifically with watering and potting.
Through many years of visiting Taiwan and the Taiwan growers’ generous sharing of information, Carri has come to appreciate the amazing benefits of moss over bark or other mixes, something she would have never imagined many years ago when we all first started working with moss.
It's surprising at how well moss functions for almost all genera, from Phalaenopsis to those you wouldn’t suspect like Cattleya, Oncidinae, and Dendrobium. This presentation will cover the important basics of growing successfully in moss, from the quality of the moss to potting, watering, and fertilizing, and ending with a great instructional video made by a friend in Taiwan demonstrating potting and mounting your orchids properly using this medium.
The orchidPhile list - 10% preorder discount when PAID by September 5th.
Send your preorder to orchidphile@optimum.net with your order and phone number so Carri can contact you for your credit card info prior to the meeting. Preorder deadline is Monday, September 5th.
China Orchid list - no preorders, no discounts. Plants will be brought to the meeting for sale.
Please have your plants on the show table by 11 a.m.
Lunch is pot luck so please bring a dish to share.
Carri Raven Biography
While still pursuing her career as a model and actress in Manhattan, Carri’s involvement with orchids began over 40 years ago with her first Phalaenopsis orchid ~ a hobby that quickly got out of hand! Having served on the Board of Directors of the well-known Greater New York Orchid Society for over 20 years, she has also served on several American Orchid Society committees, among them being the Education Committee, Membership Committee & the Public Relations Committee.
In 1990 Carri was one of the original “gang of five” who founded and formed the 32-year old International Phalaenopsis Alliance, Inc. (IPA), serving first as Membership/Corresponding Secretary, then First Vice President, President, Regional Director for New England, New York & eastern Canada and currently as Director. In 2004 Carri was honored with the IPA Award of Distinction for her contributions to the world of Phalaenopsis Orchids.
Since becoming an Accredited American Orchid Society Judge in 1998, Carri has also had the privilege of judging both national and international orchid shows. Beginning in 2007, she has traveled to Taiwan each year to serve as an AOS Judge for their annual Taiwan International Orchid Show (TIOS), with the 2019 show being her 13th anniversary year of judging that amazing show. She also served as a permanent member of the AOS/TIOS Coordinating Committee in charge of organizing AOS judging for this annual international show.
In 2018 & 2019 the TIOS Show chose to focus exclusively on preparation of International Judging for the 2020 WOC in Taichung, Taiwan, for both Ribbon & Medal Judging, without the inclusion of AOS judging. She was privileged to be invited as a VIP, along with two other fellow AOS judges (Carlos Fighetti & Alan Koch), to serve as a Team Captain for those two shows & work with TOGA on all the details involved in judging the now rescheduled Taiwan WOC. But due to Covid the WOC was canceled twice so she was further involved with helping set up the new rules & procedures for the 2021 Virtual Judging of the Taiwan WOC in addition to serving as an invited Judge via the web.
As a “boutique” commercial grower for 37 years, Carri focuses her orchid business, the orchidPhile, on being able to offer her clients the newest in cutting-edge Phalaenopsis species and hybrids in addition to other orchid genera which grow happily under the same conditions as Phalaenopsis. Of increasing importance to her clients is vivid color, heavy substance flowers that will provide them with long-lasting displays, fragrance and multitudes of flowers with more compact growth and spike habits. In the last two years she has also seen Taiwan’s increased interest in breeding some new & more unique intergeneric hybrids utilizing Phalaenopsis as one parent.
She participates in orchid shows year ‘round, along the east coast, New England & eastern Canada, creating an exhibit at each and managing her sales tables. She also has traveled across the country & around the world as an international speaker to orchid societies & Symposiums on various topics involving the genus Phalaenopsis.
At last count her collection numbered in the thousands, ranging from very young plants to orchids in full bloom. So despite her BA from Northwestern University in pursuit of what her parents considered a necessary stepping stone to an “important career”, she maintains that we never really know where life is going to take us!
Please bring a dish, snack, or drink to share. Thank you!
