Announcements, At the nursery, Events Motes Orchids Announcements, At the nursery, Events Motes Orchids

Hurricane advice and Sale Postponed to Sept 7, 2019

Friends,

Hurricane Dorian is a dangerous and unpredictable storm. Although we initially believed that the track had us in the clear, the most recent advisories have moved its track southward. So, while our thoughts remain mostly with our friends up the coast, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties cannot rule out a direct hit. Therefore we are postponing our sale this Saturday until the next Saturday, September 7, 2019. And, we are reproducing our hurricane preparation advice.

When a hurricane is looming one should run all the orchids as dry as possible to reduce the threat of fungus and bacteria. But contra-intuitively, just before the storm strikes one should saturate the orchids to the max. You should do this five to twelve hours before landfall, depending on your schedule.


First, because we want the plants to be as heavy as possible to help prevent them being blown away or about. Second, because if one's water source is a well, electricity for the pump may be off for days or even weeks. Thoroughly watered plants will be much happier should this occur. Even if you are able to bring all your collection inside, water them thoroughly with two to three applications spaced a few minutes apart. They will be perfectly happy for a day or two without water and we will all have enough mess to deal with without watering orchids in the house.

Remember, wind velocity increases exponentially as height increases. Get your plants as close to the ground as possible but off the ground as flooding may saturate them with fungus and bacteria. Usually it is not wise to attempt to cover them with a tarp or shade cloth as the whipping of the cloth by the wind likely will cause more harm than the wind itself.

If you are growing under shade cloth, the cloth should be furled tightly to protect it. Bright burning sun is typical in the wake of a hurricane and shade will be invaluable If you are growing under trees be prepared for the possibility that the protective canopy will be destroyed. Have a plan to protect your plants from sun burn.

Good luck and please feel free to share this information with whomever may benefit from it.

Your Friends at Motes Orchids

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At the nursery, Announcements, Events Motes Orchids At the nursery, Announcements, Events Motes Orchids

One Day Sale August 31, 2019

We’re rarely open to the public, but whenever we are, it’s an incredible opportunity to get great plants at amazing prices. Plus, get plants that would be super expensive to ship for really really cheap!!

If that wasn’t good enough, you can enjoy our relaxing country nursery and get educated with Dr. Motes’s free lecture at 11am on growing orchids.

All the action is at Motes Orchids from 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday August 31, 2019. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to add some amazing flowering plants to your collection.

Motes Orchids
25000 S.W. 162 Ave
Homestead, FL 33031

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Announcements, At the nursery, Events Motes Orchids Announcements, At the nursery, Events Motes Orchids

Vanda Motes Purple Rain Raffle to Benefit Alexis and Jim Solly

This Sunday we will be drawing a raffle to benefit Alexis and Jim Solly. 100% of the proceeds will go to Alexis and Jim Solly. 

Click here to enter the raffle.

We are donating the plant and shipping and handling to any destination in the continental United States.

You can buy raffle entries for $10. Your odds are at worst 1/100 because we will draw another raffle name for every 100 entries. 

Alexis and Jim are stalwarts of the Florida orchid growing community. Jim is battling cancer. Here’s Jim and Alexis’s statement from their GoFundMe page:

In December, 2013, my young, vibrant husband and best friend, Jim, was diagnosed with colon cancer. There hasn’t been a moment gone by since that horrible day that cancer hasn’t lived in our home. For a short time, we thought the cancer had been beaten into remission, but it quickly came back. When it did, it was much more aggressive. It had metastasized to his liver, his abdomen, both lungs, and his lymph system. 

We have battled this disease, and the financial burdens it brings with it, for nearly 5 years. Luckily, our health insurance has paid most of the medical bills; but the rising premiums, and out of pocket expenses have been more than we ever dreamed. All through these long years, full of debilitating chemo, radiation, and 16 surgeries, Jim has kept our landscape business afloat. 

But Jim’s significantly diminished ability to keep our business producing at capacity over the past few years has tapped out every resource we once had. Our safety net has been spent keeping a roof over our head while income dwindled and expenses rose. Now Jim’s leg is swelling at an alarming rate, as the result of tumors in his groin lymph nodes. Walking is becoming uncomfortable; and soon, Jim will no longer be able to complete his physically-exhausting responsibilities to our customers. We are in the process of selling our business while it is still viable, but that will take many months or longer.

We don’t know what the next year holds for us, but we are not giving up our fight to beat this! Next week, because of the generosity of friends, Jim and I are able to travel to MD Anderson in Houston for a second opinion.

It is not easy for either of us to swallow our pride and ask for help, but that’s the position we find ourselves in now. If we could find the financial support to ease our burden and stress about paying the mortgage and health insurance, we could dedicate our energy to finding a way to heal Jim.

We would be grateful beyond words.

If you would like to make a donation directly to the GoFundMe, click here.

 

How Does This Work?

 

You buy raffle tickets. Each raffle ticket gets you an entry. We will print the names of every entrant and print them and put them in a hat. If you buy multiple tickets, you will get multiple entries. You must be located within the continental United States or have the plant shipped to someone in the continental United States. No international shipping or shipping to Hawaii. Sorry.

What are my odds?

That’s a good question and we’ve got good news. Your odds are at least as good as 1/100. If we get more than 100 raffle entries, we will draw two names and ship two plants. And so on, i.e., if we get 420 entries, we will draw five names and ship five plants.

What will I get?

You will get a large seedling/near blooming size Vanda Motes Purple Rain, the most desired vanda on the planet. Every time we have offered these plants they have sold out in under 18 hours. These plants are priced at $160 and that’s not a made up list price, that’s the price that we get for them. Every week we get emails from people begging us to sell them. We simply don’t have enough to sell. But we are reaching into our private stash this one time only to give you a chance to get this exotic, beautiful, unique plant for only $10.

When does the raffle end?

We will stop selling raffle tickets at midnight Pacific time on Saturday August 11, 2018.

When will the drawing happen?

The drawing will take place at our nursery at 12:30pm on Sunday, August 12, 2018. We will be having an open house on Sunday from 10am to 5pm, and we will ask a customer who is not a raffle entrant to draw the name or names of the raffle. The winner or winners will be immediately announced on our Facebook page. If you are not a member of the Facebook page, you can join or view it by clicking here.

The winner or winners will subsequently be emailed. Plant or plants will be shipped next week.

We will present a check to Alexis or a designated surrogate on Sunday August 12, 2018 for the entire value of the raffle entries. We will absorb the transaction fees. If Alexis cannot make it or send a surrogate, we mail Alexis and Jim a check on Monday.

Click here to enter the raffle.

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