passing of charles baker (aka culture sheets creator)

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today on the ogd probably some of you received this note mentioning the passing of charlie baker who created (with his late wife marg) the orchid species culture sheets that can be downloaded from the internet. I personally had never met him or his wife being on the opposite coast, but he was always very helpful when I asked about other species that there weren't sheets for. I actually can credit Charles and Marge with allowing me to have whatever species I have now, in good condition. I was probably below-average at growing many species, because I didn't know where they came from or what conditions they really needed. It took a tremendous amount of work and love for them to collect and put together all the information that went into their culture sheets and website (which Troy Meyers helped greatly with). I am thankful to them, and wish their family the best.

I thought someone else would have posted this by now. In case no one else felt this great disturbance in the Force I'll post it here. Its also on the AOS Home page.


"It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of my father,
Charles (aka Charlie) Baker, pronounced dead at 12:15 this afternoon
(Sunday, August 30, 2009). His final hours were peaceful, a blessing
to all concerned, and we are thankful his cancer ran its course
relatively quickly with a minimum of suffering.

It was his wish that there be no funeral nor even mention in the
obituaries. In typical Charlie fashion, he felt it was preferable to
honor people while they were still alive, useless to do it
afterwards. Nevertheless, a memorial for Charlie is being planned for
(as yet) some unspecified date in the future, such details will be
emailed as soon as we figure it out.

In the meantime, please take a moment to honor the passing of an
extraordinary man. He loved us all, and we loved him.

Goodbye, Charlie,"

Bruce



-----------
Here's what I wrote for my society's newsletter:


DVOS members may or may not know who Charlie Baker was. He and his wife Marg wrote 3-4 books on orchids and were best known for their culture sheets which utilized data from weather stations around the globe to give hobbyists an inkling about annual conditions in the regions where orchid species grow. To know annual fluctuations in temperatures, humidity and bloom times is essential in growing orchid species well and Charles and Marg gave our hobby information of inestimable value. Much of this data is housed in the Orchid Wiz program. Much of it is online at orchidculture.com. Marg passed away some years ago. They spoke at the DVOS 15 years ago giving us clear spoken, level headed and no nonsense cultural advice, unlike a lot of the mythology that surrounds orchid culture.

Their best known books include a guide to Dendrobiums as well as a guide to Phalaenopsis. There are few serious articles on orchid species culture that do not reference Charles and Marg Baker's culture and weather data.

I'll take a moment to honor his passing.



K Barrett

N Calif, USA

I often recommeded to people that they either buy the Baker's books or download species culture sheets from the internet (www.orchidculture.com), and even did a few presentations to some clubs about using species culture sheets to grow phalaenopsis species orchids (and other species indirectly). I still make this suggestion, and hope that the culture sheet website will be active for a long time to come.
thank you charlie and marge
 
Thanks for posting this, Charles. I saw it on the OGD this morning, but haven't had a chance to do anything with it.

Another giant in orchids gone.
 

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