New unknown orchid with self cracking roots & blackening tips...Pics attached.

[josian]

Hi everyone, I am a beginner orchid owner. I bought this plant recently & it has beautiful flowers but I am told it is Aranda & I believe it is not. Can anyone help me out? Here are some pictures. Also I have some problems with it. Can someone help me identify & tell me how to take better care of the orchid as it's kinda hard to take care not knowing what type it is...I suspect it's a Vanda Hybrid but I could be wrong. Environment is my room, facing the East with full sun,using distilled water, temp is 27 to 35 degrees Celsius. Watered once a day in the morning, no feed yet. It has 2 flower buds already. Soil is dead bark or something. Thinking of repotting as the roots are all over the place but since it's flowering been advised not to...well..I'm confused.Also the roots sorta started cracking today since yesterday. Attached are the pics of my plant which I really want to take great care of. Thanks to any kind soul who can provide assistance.

[magicatt]

Well, it looks like a vanda hybrid to me too. From what I know about vandas, they like to be in baskets with no medium, high light and a good soaking a few times a week. Don't know if that helps any, maybe someone else will chime in.

[magicatt]

Just looked on orchid wiz and an aranda is a vanda. For cultivation coarse medium was recomended. I would say very coarse because vanda's like lots of air around their roots. can't say what the blackening is though. Hope this helped a little.

[josian]

Hi Magicatt, thanks for the input. Hopefully I get more detailed input soon. One of the roots seems to be cracked almost to the point of falling off already...& need repotting advice too. Blackened tips not improving, could it be sun burn? I thought Vandas like full sun ....anyway it's been raining these couple of days with not much sun so hopefully it gets better. The new flower spikes seem to be maturing soon so hopefully they will flower & I can stalk them already. Attached is a pic of the spike. Can anyone tell me if they're healthy? Feeding advice anyone? Thanks.

[Kona's Gold]

Originally Posted by josian

Hi everyone, I am a beginner orchid owner. I bought this plant recently & it has beautiful flowers but I am told it is Aranda & I believe it is not. Can anyone help me out? Here are some pictures. Also I have some problems with it. Can someone help me identify & tell me how to take better care of the orchid as it's kinda hard to take care not knowing what type it is...I suspect it's a Vanda Hybrid but I could be wrong. Environment is my room, facing the East with full sun,using distilled water, temp is 27 to 35 degrees Celsius. Watered once a day in the morning, no feed yet. It has 2 flower buds already. Soil is dead bark or something. Thinking of repotting as the roots are all over the place but since it's flowering been advised not to...well..I'm confused.Also the roots sorta started cracking today since yesterday. Attached are the pics of my plant which I really want to take great care of. Thanks to any kind soul who can provide assistance.

Hello Josian,
I belive your plant is a Aranda Annie Khoo X Vanda Kasem's Delight I have three of them in 1 pot (see ) Some of my roots look the same. Hope it helps.
Roland

[bonsai1504]

Like the root tips are drying out and turning black? If that's the case it could be not enough water and/or humidity.

[josian]

Thanks Kona Gold. Your Orchids looks fantastic.How did you make them so happy?Teach me, Master.... How long do the buds take to flower? It's been a few days now & I've read horror stories of Bud Blasts just before they flower so how do i prevent that? Should I start feeding it Gaviota 67 now? I haven't fed it yet as I'm afraid of oversalting as the plant guy told me the fertiliser they used is good for 2 to 3 weeks still. Also, I give it full sun no shade for the whole day in my room which is facing east. Is that fine for the plant? Or do I need to adjust in the afternoon? In Singapore, it's supposed to be easier to grow them cause our country is humid but the afternoon sun is very hot...

Thank you also Bonsai1504. I mist it 2 to 3 times a day with distilled water then I fan dry it as I fear for their crown & fungal rot, after about 5 minutes then when the roots are dry, I mist them again. So far, the roots are relatively green now so hopefully it will heal. I also discovered a spider living near the roots & some black insect which I crushed. What should I do?

[Psyched]

Hi josian!

I also had the same problem with my vanda. I think the problem is the chid is stressed from sudden change of environment. I water my Vanda roots regularly and after a while there is sudden burst of roots growth. Don't worry too much on that.

In time, your chid will get accustomed to your growing place and new roots will grow on the roots whose tips got blasted.

Btw, I grow both my Vanda and Arachnis outdoor with no media and bright lights. They seem to like it so much especially in this rainy season (Indonesian tropical climate) proven with lots of roots growth everywhere.

[Kona's Gold]

Josian,
I would try to find a Balanced urea free water soluble fertilizer and use that. But if you cant find any feed it with the Gaviota now. As far as the buds go it can take weeks before they open up. here is how I feed my plants, (week 1) I use a 1/2 strength fertilizer & water & rooting hormone at 1/2 strength, (week 2) water only, (week 3) 1/2 strength fertilizer & water, (week 4) Flush with water heavily to wash the salts that have built-up.
If you can get the vanda in a place that has full sun most of the day.

Roland

Originally Posted by josian

Thanks Kona Gold. Your Orchids looks fantastic.How did you make them so happy?Teach me, Master.... How long do the buds take to flower? It's been a few days now & I've read horror stories of Bud Blasts just before they flower so how do i prevent that? Should I start feeding it Gaviota 67 now? I haven't fed it yet as I'm afraid of oversalting as the plant guy told me the fertilizer they used is good for 2 to 3 weeks still. Also, I give it full sun no shade for the whole day in my room which is facing east. Is that fine for the plant? Or do I need to adjust in the afternoon? In Singapore, it's supposed to be easier to grow them cause our country is humid but the afternoon sun is very hot...

Thank you also Bonsai1504. I mist it 2 to 3 times a day with distilled water then I fan dry it as I fear for their crown & fungal rot, after about 5 minutes then when the roots are dry, I mist them again. So far, the roots are relatively green now so hopefully it will heal. I also discovered a spider living near the roots & some black insect which I crushed. What should I do?

[JennS]

It does appear to be some sort of vanda. I am not familiar with the Arandas as much, but they are very similar. It appears that your plant has lots of healthy and viable roots, so I wouldn't worry too much about the few cracking roots. It seems like occasionally the older roots just get that way. I have some that way too, but they start putting out new roots, so don't worry. As for the blackened root tips, I have seen this before, but since there is still fresh root tip growth after it, I wouldnt' worry. I think it is due to a fertilizer build up, but I could be wrong. To prevent this in the future (if that is even what it is) you can fertilize early in the day, then come back later in the day (a couple hours later) and water again with regular water. This will rinse the salts off the roots.

I agree that you don't want to worry about repotting until after it is finished flowering unless you want to lose the flowers. The plant looks plenty healthy and all those aerial roots are healthy too. I would suggest some sort of basket with a very coarse medium when you do repot either coarse bark or something similar. The goal is to keep as much air circulation around the roots as possible. Good luck!