Vanda HELP

[Tommy]

Hello all, i have a vanda i have had it for several years it bloomed last year and it is spiking now.dosen't look as healthy as i wish it would. i water it daily and mist the leaves. the leaves are sort of a pale green.some times i will let it sit in a bucket of orchid food in a gallon of water for several hours. and it will look better for a while. do vandas, need a lot of food and water. it is in a open basket and it gets good light i have placed some bark in around the roots thinking maybe it will get more water that way. can they be planted in a biger basket with an Orchid mix. would this be better for it. would love some advice from you folks. Thanks Tommy

[Dave]

Generally Vandas do not like to have their roots in potting / bark mix. However some growers will use cork's from wine bottles to provide a little more moisture renetention. I would not mist the leaves daily as it could lead to disease. Only mist the roots daily. Misting the leaves is OK but should only be done to get rid of dust and dirt say once a week or two.

What State or Climate do you live in? Also how often do you fertilize? A picture would be helpful or can you describe the color on the leaves?

[NancyG]

You are not supposed to water the leaves? I did not know that. I have about 5 vandas and a grower told me to just take the hose up to the plant and soak the whole plant. So your advice would be to soak only the roots on a daily basis?
NancyG

[Joaniep]

Thought it was okay to mist leaves frequently if done early enough in the day so leaves can dry before night, thus avoiding rot diseases.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I generally mist all my orchids in my greenhouse early in the day. It is debatable if it is important, but it is impracticle to mist only roots when you have 700+ orchids and you want to boost the humidity and help out those that have arial roots or are mounted. Misting early does not cause desease if you have good air movement so that the leaves will dry before the temp starts to fall. I think the biggest problem for spotting of leaves is wet leaves with low temps, but even more so growing plants in an evironment that is too far from their natural habitat. Growing Vandas, Phals, and other warmth lovers too cold, or cool growing plants too warm. If I have a plant that is showing signs of stress, I review the culture for the plant, and it usually gets either hung higher or hung lower in the GH.

Vandas will grow just fine in pots, my usual method:
http://www.pbase.com/schnitz/potted_vandas
Cynthia

[jerrymeola]

Vandas need a lot of water and fertilizer.

They can be grown in pots with bark to increase water retention but when the plants get bigger it is difficult. If yours is in a basket with some in the bark and part outside the basket, it will not be doing anything to help the roots.

I recommend soaking vandas 4-5 hours a week in addition to daily watering.
It is good to but about a teaspoon per gallon of fertilizer in the bucket as well.

Just this weekend I came upon a distributor of "Worm Tea" a live organic solution made from worm casings, that is showing excellent results with Vandas. I will be describing it in the next couple of days in the Newbie section so look for it.

I will be using it myself for the next year and keep everyone posted on the results.