December 2005 Newsletter

You may also choose to download the December 2005 Newsletter By Right Clicking HERE and selecting "SAVE TARGET AS"

 

Upcoming Meeting - December 1 st , 2005,

Doors Open 7:30 p.m., Meeting starts at 8:00 p.m.

Directions to the Town of Islip Recreation Center, Ronkonkoma Beach Pavilion at Lake Ronkonkoma off Rosevale Ave. (631) 467-3308

From the LIE: Exit 59, Ocean Ave North to Rosevale Ave. bear left to 1 st traffic light, turn right at light into park, left into parking lot, building is at the end on your right.

From Sunrise Highway: Exit 49 Lakeland (Sayville) continue north crossing Veterans Highway, merge w/Ocean Ave, continue north under LIE & follow the directions above.

Annual Holiday Party

 

And now few words from the President (or chief bottle nut notes)

Well, it is time for the club's annual Christmas Party! So bring your best holiday cheer on Thursday December 1 st and we will all have a grand time. I know I am looking forward to it! I will bring a poinsettia for the raffle and perhaps a cyclamen too. Will have to see what is in bloom then. We need someone to bring the music, some refreshments (we should still have coffee left upstairs) and everyone would bring a favorite desert or appetizer we are sure to have a good time. I think Laura shall see what kind of decorations she can cook up this year.

I would like to thank John Feldmann very much for his program on bitters. John treated us to some incredible bottles, and with his knowledge of bitters bottles, he held the attention of all. Thank you John!

Now this brings me to perhaps one of the saddest moments I have had in all my years of collecting. I am very sorry but this will be my final newsletter, I truly dislike saying this, as I have enjoyed doing it for the club for the last two years, but the growing demands on my time are leaving me with few options. I want all of you to know that it has been a great pleasure to write the newsletter for the club. It has given me so much fun, and by giving my mind something to do on some nights, has allowed me to get to sleep that much faster. I do hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

I also would like very much to thank all the members who so willingly and unselfishly gave of their time and knowledge to present programs at our meetings when I asked them to. I am very proud to tell all that no one ever declined, and that I learned something at each and every program given, why, I even learned something at the program that I presented! It can not get any better than that. The joy that knowing this brings to me can not be measured. If any one wishes to give doing the newsletter a try, Laura and I will be happy to help as much as we can.

This brings me to another subject, the clubs meeting site. Do we want to continue to use this site for our meetings? I think we can all agree that we do not draw many people, I think we are averaging 7 or 8 per meeting. Do we want to meet at perhaps two or three different sites? Or in homes? If we could get the meetings into the papers, perhaps we could attract some new faces?

It is true that we have not done well attracting any new members in years, and as such our membership base is slowly giving out. Between all of us getting older each year, and members moving or changing collecting interests, we are down to about 20 paid members. While I have over the years received a number of inquires from people who have used the clubs book in their local library regarding the club, I have not been able to get any as members, or to even attract them to attend a meeting. Could this be a function of the night we meet on? Would a weekend night, perhaps Saturday night, be better for attracting new faces? Perhaps the pressure of getting home from work, and then having to run back out the door for a meeting discourages attendance by new collectors or potential members? What do you think, does any one have any other ideas? We can not continue very much longer the way we are, if we want to survive...

Holiday Plant Care

Oh, come to think of it, seems every year, I am always asked how to care for the holiday plants. Poinsettias and cyclamen, so here are some care instructions.

For poinsettias, keep in bright light, some sun is helpful, but do not place on a heat-generating device (radiator, TV). Typical room temperatures are fine. Water when dry, this will be about twice a week, and dump out any water still on the plate after 10 minutes. Standing in water will drown the roots, which need air just like us! I urge you, if you wish to keep the decorative plastic foil pot cover on at home, to use a hole punch and punch a hole in it so water will drain out onto a plate or saucer. I hate these things, as they are waterproof, and it is SO easy to over water and kill the plant. If the plant should wilt (hang as we call it), and the soil is wet, DO NOT WATER! A wilting plant with wet soil is telling us it is too wet, and needs to dry out. If it is dry and wilting, by all means, give it a drink right away. Your poinsettia will look good for you for some time, into March or April with proper care. At this time, feed it with a general-purpose plant food, something like 15-16-17, with roughly equal numbers, as the label instructs you to do. You can feed your poinsettia twice a month. You can cut off the faded flower bracts at this time, and repot into a larger pot. After Mother's Day, you can place it outside for the summer. Either bury the pot up to the rim in the ground, or water very frequently! Continue feeding. To get the poinsettia to bloom: This is so easy! Want it in bloom for Labor Day? Simple. Give the plant darkness from 5pm to 7am, every single day, beginning about the 4 th of July. With the plant outside, just place a large garbage can over it each evening, and remove each morning. One note here: It is very, very important not to skip a day doing this until you begin to see color. After about 30 days, you will begin to see color showing on the tips where the plant grows. Once you can see the yellow flowers in the centers of the colored bracts, stop feeding. Once you have color, it will bloom, no matter how much light it gets! The plant flowers in response to a hormone. The hormone is destroyed by light, even faint light, such as a night-light, or TV can mess up the plants blooming cycle. That is why you need the darkness, to allow the hormone to build up, and make the plant bloom! Here is a tip from a pro: We use timers to turn lights on about midnight in the greenhouses, to keep the plants growing for cutting production. We do not want flowers on the propagation material. This is why it can be so hard to get your poinsettia to re-bloom in the home, as we humans tend to turn lights on, and the plant "thinks" it is not time to flower because of this. Poinsettias naturally bloom in early to mid December, setting the flowers in late September to mid October. We start to see color in the greenhouse about Oct. 20-30 th .

As for cyclamen, give your cyclamen a nice bright window, some sunlight is ideal. Again, be sure there is drainage, or it can very easily drown, just like the poinsettia. Your cyclamen can take cool temperatures, down to the low 30's with no harm, as they are native to the mountains of central and southern Europe. Try to water your cyclamen when it is dry, but, before it wilts/hangs. At typical room temperatures, this would be about twice a week. Cyclamen are the same, as poinsettias, if it is wilting and wet, do not water! If it is dry and wilting, water right away. Feed your cyclamen a balanced food, just like the poinsettia, about once a month. Unlike many plants, a cyclamen will store food in its corm, and if you feed it too much, it will just like you and me after we eat too much, get a bellyache! The cyclamen will benefit from shade from about March to October, and will do nicely outdoors in the summer, pot buried up to the rim, in a shaded location. You can repot your cyclamen into a slightly larger pot in the spring, before you place it outside. Be sure to use a pasteurized or sterilized soil mix and a new pot, as cyclamen can catch problems from other plants. For the best results, feed your cyclamen every 3 weeks from April to October, and once a month from October to April. To remove spent flowers, grasp the stem and pull sharply, it should come right off, neat and clean. Try to avoid leaving stumps behind, as they can cause trouble.

Both plants, in their native environments are long lived; the poinsettia forms a shrub or bush, and the cyclamen a rounded mound. Cyclamen can live and flower for many, many years with proper care, as can your poinsettia.

Happy Holidays from our house to yours

Mark, Laura and Anna

Along with go-withs and bottles from the surrounding towns.

Plus of course Whiskey Flasks from NYC, Brooklyn and Long Island.

The Smith's, 10 Homes Court, Sayville, NY 11782-2408 libottle@optonline.net