How do you feed vanda? Spray or soak?

[caroline]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me which way is the best to feed? Spray or soak?

[mnh3281]

I usually soak mine really well twice a month and spray inbetween, just to keep the roots moist. Hope this helps!

[justatypn]

Ditto Mnh and mine is doing well, considering I'm an indoor hobbist. I do give it a treat every now and than to share with the neighbors and hang'r in the oaks.

[Wendy]

All my plants get the same treatment. They get hosed well to flush the pots when i water and i fertilize by using a hand pump to foliar feed. So far it works well.

[caroline]

Thanks for the tips and I'll work on it.

[mnh3281]

The other thing I have noticed is (if you are able to do this, depending on where you live), I put my outdoors in the summer and the rain water does wonders for mine. All of my orchids, actually, love the summer and I usually don't fertilize them then. I think the being outdoors and getting "real" water is more of a benefit compared to any fertilizer I could use. Hope this helps!

[caroline]

too bad that I can't do the same way that you do to your orchids. I live in south part of Sweden and rain in summer can be cold and will kill em all. I wished I could skip fertilising them since it takes a lot of my time. Fortunate for you guys who can have the orchids outdoor.

[Sandra Billeter]

For our vandaceous and mounted plants we use a fine spray watering can for both watering and fertilizing in the winter in our GH. We have about 10 so it doesn't take too long to do those. In the summer, we use a hose with 'shower' nozzle for all watering and fertilize with the watering can. Soaking is good too but don't you have to use fresh water/fertilizer for each plant? It all depends on which system works best for you in your conditions.

Sandra in South Carolina

[wallyworld]

As I grow my vandas outside under shade cloth, I spray the plants down every morning. I do not soak my vandas because of the possibility of passing pathogens to the other plants. Sometimes when I get a new plant and it has been without water for some time, I will soak that plant for a few hrs or even overnight to make sure that the roots take up water again. Always water vandas until the roots turn dark green. If they are still white, then they are not going to uptake water or nutrients.

[cb977]

Mine get sprayed. I have a 2-gal pump container with regular rainwater for everyday misting along with a motorized sprayer with fertilized rainwater for the mounts and hanging 'chids.

I have 1 rainbarrel and not much rain here, so water is a scarce commodity for me. It would waste too much to soak each plant because of the need to use fresh water for each 'chid.

Once the sunroom is complete, I may come up with something new but that's what I do for now

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials