January 8 Meeting
Make Your Own Hybrid: A Demo of Flasking, Deflasking, and Compots
Join us on Thursday, January 8, 2026 (note: NOT January 1!) at 7:30pm for a talk and demonstration from husband-and-wife team Keith and Dina Emig, hobby growers and hybridizers of AOS renown. If you have ever thought about making your own hybrid, this is your chance to learn how it all works! Keith and Dina will discuss flasking, deflasking, and growing out compots.
Keith’s orchid journey started with a trip to the dentist where, on the receptionist’s desk, there was a small plant with three leaves and an inflorescence with twenty blooms suspended above in a beautifully presented fashion. When asked, the receptionist replied that the dentist grew this orchid, and he was an orchid hobbyist. This multifloral Phalaenopsis captured Keith’s attention, and the infectious orchid fever began. He obtained all the information and practice plants he could and began the endless experimentation to better grow and flower these plants. It was a driving, uncontrollable force!
As the passion grew, joining the Blue Ridge Orchid Society and the American Orchid Society opened the orchid world’s secrets. There was no substitute for the company of other infected souls with whom to share this fever. Soon the passion of combining the attributes of two beautiful plants, by cross pollinating, stimulated the imagination. The flasking case was built and has been a fixture in the kitchen for almost 20 years. More than 1,000 seed pods have been flasked, and each season brings a new cross that has more exciting possibilities than anything before.
Keith and Dina have now registered plants in the Oncidium, Cattleya, Phalaenopsis, Vanda, and Dendrobium alliances, and have created their own genera (Emigara). In recent years they’ve enjoyed going to judging, seeing everyone’s beautiful plants, and bringing their own. They have received more than 70 flower quality awards, including nine awards on their original crosses. In August 2024 Keith became a student AOS judge.
Keith considers it a great pleasure to have served on the board of directors of the Blue Ridge Orchid Society for more than a decade, including at least seven terms as President. The highlights for him are the fellowship of the membership and sharing the passion of orchids with the orchid community.
Be sure to check out Keith’s article, titled “Luck of the Draw,” in the March 2017 Orchids magazine (page 208). He and Dina can be found on social media at fb.com/whorchids and IG.com/wh_orchids.
The meeting begins at 7:30pm at First Christian Church, 1601 Sunset Boulevard, Houston.
If you haven’t already ordered your official Houston Orchid Society name badge, you can now order yours online.