My Vanda in wood slat basket

[eSRods]

Hi all,
I have acquired a small vanda off-shoot from a friend. Perfect for newly made wood basket I plant this in sphags. Pic attached
This vanda came with a long air root (one that sticks out in front is the air root) and very little ground roots. Only way to plant is to bury the part of air root in the sphags as you can see.
Should I chop the air root off or leave like this?
Cheers

[moneyface]

Leave the air root. More roots will grow from it even when it seems to have dried into a twig. Meanwhile, new roots will emerge from the base or side of the vanda. As long as there's enough humidity, vandas are truly, truly air plants. It never ceases to amaze me how vandas can thrive and grow on what seems like nothing.

[jerrymeola]

Even more so is that the roots you placed in the sphag can be more stressed than the ones in the air. Vanda do not like their roots covered.

However, with a young separation, I like to condition them with the sphag at the first mounting. As the sphag ages and falls out I would not replace it.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Never reduce the root mass of a Vanda, especially if it has very little in the way of roots to start with, as Vandas are not fast in replaceing roots, and you could wind up with a desicated plant. The moss at the base of the root is just fine, since if the moss causes the vellum to die, it will not kill the root, and the wiry center of the root will continue to function to take food and moisture from the exposed root to the plant. Be sure to mist and feed the expose root very often as this is how the plant will get what it needs until new roots are generated.