New Vanda & Cattleya need help!

[TinTinGirl]

Hi all,

I'm new here and pretty new to orchid growing so I’m hoping you all could help me. I kept a few phals in the past, but couldn't get them to rebloom, mostly due to the lack of light and too much water. Later I had to let them go.

Two weekends ago I found my local farmers market carries a few Vandas, totally unexpected. I was so excited and couldn't resist taking one home. The tag says V. Pure's Wax "Violet Blue". I water and hang it under my covered porch before I leave for work and move it inside at night as the seller suggested (except I mist it and then hang it inside the bathroom, hoping doing this would help with the humidity).

Then last weekend I stopped at the same orchid shop again and this time I saw a few Catts and just love how lovely they smell. The seller said it's easier than the Vanda so again one went home with me The name on the tag is BLC Goldenzelle Lemon Chiffon. The seller said keep it inside and water once a week. Currently, I put it on the window sill (north-facing).

Since I’ve failed in the past, I want to try my best to do it right this time. I started reading and found this site. I saw the posts about keeping vanda in a vase and I want to try this method since it is getting cold outside and I will need to keep my vanda inside full time. I think my main problem is lighting as my only south-facing window is under the cover (as you can see from the pics, hope the links work ).

DSC09231 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSC09237 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSC09242 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Originally, I wanted to put a shelf by this window and put both of them there but I read that vandas need a lot of light so I’m afraid that my vanda wouldn’t get enough light. If I add some supplement lighting here, it wouldn’t look very good from the outside (this is the front of the house). Another option I’m thinking is to put the shelf by another wall (no windows) but I need to find a good lighting solution that will provide enough light for both orchids and also make the whole set-up presentable, after all it is our living room

So, my questions are…

1. Would the vanda get enough light if I put the shelf by the window? To be able to close the drapes, the shelf needs to be another 6” in. More distance = weaker light.

2. If I go with the 2nd option, I need lighting suggestions. I saw posts about growing light (105-watt CFLs?). Do they require special housing/socket? Can I use them with some regular desk/floor lamp? And how many bulbs do I need? I don’t like the look of T5 in the living room. Ideally, I would like to get something that is energy efficient, are there any other choices out there?

3. I would love to keep my new collection in the same place, can one of those options accommodate both the vanda and the catt?

4. I think I should still put my vanda outside in the summer, I’m also wondering how low the temp it can handle? This week it has been in the 50s, is this too low?

5. I would like to get another catt to put in my office at work, would it be happy under a desk lamp (I believe it has 13W tube CFL) and the usual office ceiling CFLs? Or I need to change my desk lamp?

6. I saw somewhere about putting a stick to check the moisture in the pot (for the catt), how do I know when to water it? Currently I just let the water run through it for a few mins (no dunking), is this enough? Is once a week enough?

Sorry for such a long post and so many questions. I just really wanted to do it right this time

Thank you all in advance!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Hi, welcome to the OB.

First thing's first...

The city in CA you post on your profile is a place I'm not particularly familiar with. Are you in northern CA, central CA, or southern CA?

Can you describe what your seasonal climates are like?

From what I see of your Vanda, it has V. coerulea as part of its heritage. Euanthe (Vanda) sanderiana may be in there as well.

While I'm not particularly savvy about your specific Vanda hybrid, I'm guessing that this particular plant might be able to handle cooler temperatures somewhere in the mid 40's F, due to the V. coerulea heritage. Don't hold me to it, as, like I said, I'm not 100% certain. The reason why is that the Euanthe sanderiana traits may be able to negate the plant's ability to tolerate cooler temperatures.

The amount of light you have on the porch is sufficient for your Vanda. Any less than that is too little light.

Your specific intergeneric Cattleya hybrid is also something I'm not terribly familiar with. However, it should be given standard Cattleya hybrid culture.

Which is:

Intermediate to warm temperatures (55 F to 95 F)

Bright indirect light

Moderate humidity (50% - 70% is good enough)

Moderate to good air circulation.


In regards to lighting. I suggest going into the lighting forum here on the OB.

This is just too complicated and long of a discussion.

Things to look for are:

1. Light intensity.
2. Wattage.
3. Kelvin rating (aka color temperature) - I recommend either 6500K or 7200K

FYI - Kelvin is the SI unit of the temperature of plasma.

Physics reminder: Light behaves as both a wave and a particle.

Light can be measured using the following units of measurement:

1. lux
2. lumens
3. footcandles

Light has different spectra. The one you should be more concerned about are UV and the color spectrum.

There are 3 types of UV:

1. UVA
2. UVB
3. UVC

Different colors of the color spectrum have different wavelengths.

(See how the basic physics principle of light behaving like a wave and a particle start to come into play?)

There are different tools for measuring a certain aspect of light. I highly recommend knowing what they are.

I'll give you one...

The refractometer.

There are others.

Wikipedia, encyclopedias, physics text books, and dictionaries are your friends.

[TinTinGirl]

Hi Philip,

Thank you for the warm welcome I'm in the northern CA, Milpitas is near San Jose. I just changed my profile, hopefully San Jose is more recognizable I think our weather here is similar to where you live, except a little cooler at night.

The lighting is indeed a very complicated topic. I guess I really need to do some more reading (only wish that I have enough time as the temp is dropping). I looked at a few light meters on Amaz** and they are very expensive. They seem to be the type for photographers. Would something like this work? I also looked up the refractometer but I saw the ones for measuring sugar??

Thanks again!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

This may sound like an odd lead, but, you may want to check out some current books dealing with the saltwater reef hobby. Check the copyright dates.

You don't have to buy the book as you're not interested in growing a miniature coral reef, but the lighting principles in there should get you started.

A refractometer that measures for sugar? That's odd...

The refractometer should work similar in principle to the prism held under a light. There's more to it than this though.

The lighting meters for photographers are not the ones you're looking for.

There are other meters, I just don't know what they're technically called.

[TinTinGirl]

Philip, the saltwater tank reference is not odd at all, I used to keep one myself many years ago and remembered reading about those lighting requirements. Since then I have moved, had kids and no time to keep up with the cleaning and water changing so I gave up. I still have the equipments somewhere in the garage. In the meantime, I'm thinking I might try using those fish tank lights until I find something good for my set up. Not sure if the lights are still OK, they are old but I guess it's still better than nothing. Thanks for reminding me about it.

BTW, I found some Lux meters that can measure in Lux and foot candle. Still need to research some more but these are not too expensive, if they are OK I might get one.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The lux meter, I think, would be more appropriate for your current needs.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

FYI:

There are actually cool growing Vandas.

A couple are:

V. coerulea
V. coerulescens

V. coerulescens being the most tolerant of cooler temperatures.

I think you might even do well with some of the intermediate growing ones too.

Warmer growers need more specialized care under your conditions.

If you're more into the hybrids, try Ascocendas. A classic is Ascda Princess Mikasa 'Sapphire'.

[TinTinGirl]

Hi Philip,

Thank you so much! I'm going to order the lux meter and maybe a weather station for checking indoor/outdoor temp and humidity (I had them in my shopping list yesterday).

Do you mean the cool Vandas you recommended can be left outside on my porch year round? I'd love to try that but I still don't know how to take care of the humidity issue since I can only water it in the morning and it can get very dry here. I'm getting worried about my current Vanda, I haven't put it in a vase yet. I'm hoping the vase will help but might not be suitable for outside.

Still need to look for the light fixture...

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You can try out a Vanda coerulea seedling outdoors all year round and see how it goes. They're $6 at Oak Hill Gardens.

Oak Hill Gardens

I have V. coerulea outdoors all year round down here. No problems yet. Had it for maybe 3 or more years.

[TinTinGirl]

Maybe I will give it a try but would be sad if I kill the little plants. How often do you water them? Do you have some kind of special setup like greenhouse to keep them in? I have nothing just the porch.