MEETING OF THE ECA – THURSDAY June 13th, 2019 at 7 PM at the Seattle Police Athletic Association Office (SPAA) site; 11030 East Marginal Way South, Tukwila. We are in the small classroom on the right as you come down the driveway. June is a particularly busy month in growing mums so hope you can attend the meeting and bring your questions!
The following supplies will be available at the June meeting to support your final potting on. Call Ronnie right away if you need soils
Pre-Orders from Speciality Soils
– M&R Mix 1 cu ft. bag
– Pumice (coarse) 1 cu ft.
– Farmyard Manure 1 cu ft.
Other Club supplies available
– Mid Season Fertilizer, 20-9-20+ You’ll need this once you have potted on to the final pot-9″ or 8″
– Early Season fertilizer, 12-45-10
– Marathon 1% Systemic Insecticide (For control of black aphids)
-Twistems of various lengths
-Plant tags
Minutes from the May Meeting are below:
EVERGREEN CHRYSANTHEMUM ASSOCIATION
THURSDAY, April 11, 2019 7:00 pm – 9 pm
MEETING MINUTES
Seattle Police Athletic Association
In attendance: Ron Elliott, Lizzie Whetstone, Mark Ross, Erika Harris, Jill Aldrich, Rich Aldrich, Alva Nishimura, Satoshi Nakayama, Madeline West, Sydney Ogilvie, Susan Joyner, Gerald Quintua, Heidi Garman
Cultural Presentation by Heidi Garman
Growing Chrysanthemum Organically
Soil Amendments:
1) Extra Perlite-for good drainage
2) Black Gold regular potting soil or M&R mix
3) Compost sterilized from Cedar Grove or Rabbit Compost
4) Peat Moss
5) Dolomite Lime- just a small amount to add calcium and magnesium
6) Langbeinite- naturally occurring marine deposit that is high in Potassium , Magnesium, Sulfur, and Oxygen. It’s a slow release fertilizer that does not burn plants, change the soil PH, or increase soluble salts in the soil
7) Greensand- is Fossil Rich Marine Sediments that are high in Iron, Potassium, Silicate and charged particles to facilitate CEC or Cation Exchange Properties. The Silica in the Greensand has many benefits to plants including increased immunity and helps with Nitrogen uptake. The Potassium in the Greensand causes the green color
8) Azomite- Comes from Ancient Volcanic Rocks and is high in Minerals and Rare Earth Elements. Doesn’t raise or lower PH.
Fertilizers
Dr.Earth Bud and Bloom with Mycorrhizae
Osmocote-slow release DON’T OVER_DO IT!
Alaska Fish Food, Small amounts of Club fertilizer
Any liquid Fertilizer with trace minerals like Foxfarm, DynaGrow, MaxSea, Dr. Earth liquid Rose Food Fungicides approved for Organic Gardening OMRI listed (Mix with non-chlorinated filtered or distilled water)
DefGaurd Biofungicide- controls powdery mildew, botrytis, anthracnose, black mold, fruit rot leaf spot etc.
Serenade- Bayer Science OMRI approved naturally occurring soil bacterium that controls bacterial spot, powdery mildew, rust, gray mold, leaf blight scab etc. It’s easy to find at Ace Hardware, Walmart, Amazon etc.
Actinovate – uses Streptomyces Lydicus to kill fungus on the plants and in the roots. Must be mixed with filtered water or distilled water to use. Chlorine will kill the Streptomyces in it. Also make sure the product is not out of date
Neem Oil- antifungal anti-bug I use Einstein Oil and buy it on Amazon
Pesticides
Neem Oil
Azadiractin like AzaGaurd, Azera Gardening – order on Amazon
Business Meeting
1) Welcome our New members – Gerald Quintua, Bruce Fischer, Benjamin Bentler
2) Approved March meeting minutes
3) Treasurers report presented by Sydney Ogilvie
May Balance $8444.81
4) Old Business
a) April Plant Sale meeting recap
1) ECA members only
2) need a larger meeting space for plant sale meetings
3) consider changing meeting format for plant sale meeting nights
a) Utilize Plant sale chairperson to organizes plants by classification and variety for plant sale meeting nights and assign seasoned grower to assist new growers in selecting plants
b) Public plant sale Recap – April 13, 2019 10 am to 2 pm
Positives
1) Price is right $3
2) Good public turnout
3) Good FB presence
People mentioned that they learned about the plant sale on FB
$50 spent advertising plant sale on FB 6381 people reached via FB
4) Good location
5) small boxes and bags for customers to carry plants were a good addition
Challenges
1) February weather
a) Negatively impacted plant starts and plant sale planning
b) Fewer garden varietals than normal – due to lost plants
2) Plant varietals and quantities vary from year to year –
we don’t really know what we have until the day of the plant sale
Improvements
1) Accept credit cards – $3.25 per plant?
2) Set up two checkouts – 2 people each
3) Create a plant selection list to be used at checkout
4) “WorkerBee” coupons reimbursable for plants
5) ECA club business cards on hand with contact information
6) change plant sale times 9 am -1 pm
7) put membership sign up and how to grow instructions away from checkout area – stream line checkout
8) Erika found some small boxes on Amazon that we can purchase for 10 cents per box for next years’ plant sale
9) Plant sale chairperson –
c) Missing Trophies – Best Bloom Non-Member, Best vase of 3 incurves, Garden Variety Challenge
Steve Joyner to research
d) Relating trophies – Heidi Garman to research
New Business
a) New member coaching assignments – coaching contact information distributed to new members
b) Interest in ECA shirts – Steve Joyner researching this
