Inherited Orchids

[katierkincaid]

That is great! I just came over to my moms to care for her new cymbidum that she got for christmas before the "snow storm" that everyone is raving over. Do you plan to keep these in your house? I don't know alot about Vandas but I think I might can find someone who can help you. So stay tuned to this thread for more information on care for these Vandas. Are these the only plants that you inherited from your father?

[CTB]

Looks like you have inherited a wonderful collection, I know you'll do your best with them, and we'll be here to help. Welcome to the Orchid Board

[mich4076]

Yeah, the storm should start anytime. I saw on the radar that it is just south of us. A day off work will be nice!! I brought home with me more than 20 of his plants. It really didn't even make a dent in the amount of plants he had. Only so many could fit in the house tho. I have several kinds of palms, bamboo, several Epi succulents, and quite a few that are still unidentified. I thought I got lucky and grabbed two miracle fruit plants but I think they are some kind of ficus bushes. We are hoping to go back at the end of this month and maybe we can find them. I have always gone great with the succulents so I know I can keep those alive.

[mich4076]

Thanks for all of the welcomes!!!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Okay, good start - Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Hot humid summers, perfect for your Vandaceous orchids.

Don't know about your winters.

Now, how bright are they being grown?

What are the day, night, and seasonal temperatures?

What is the humidity during the cooler months like this? Humidity during the warmer months?

Spraying the roots twice a day is not enough in your situation. They're in an airy wooden slat basket. They need to be occasionally hosed down properly.

Vandaceous orchids are mostly intermediate to warm growing (60 F to 95 F). Occasionally, there are intermediate growers that can tolerate lower end temperatures of 45 F to 60 F.

They also appreciate moderate to high humidity (60% - 80% is enough, higher is fine).

Most of them grow in moderate indirect light to indirect bright light.

Good air circulation helps a lot (doesn't have to be gusts of winds, just make the dangling roots wiggle a little).

Epiphytes are plants that grow on the surface of trees (tree growers). Your Vandaceous plants are all epiphytes.

They naturally grow very slow, only putting out 2 to 3 leaves a year.

Most epiphytical orchids have roots that are able to photosynthesize, which is why your orchids have roots that are green.

Orchids breathe from their roots.

The fertilizer of choice are the concentrated crystaline fertilizers that you dilute in water. Urea free is the one you need to look for. A N-P-K (Nitrogen - Phosphorous - K = the elemental symbol for Potassium) ratio of approximately 20-20-20, (remember it doesn't have to exactly be a 20-20-20 ratio). Use a bit less than the recommendation on the bottle. Fertilizing twice a month is fine.

These are just a few basics.

Got other questions, feel free to ask. If they seem like nitpicking questions, they might not be. These are unusual plants, there are no stupid questions.

[kavanaru]

Originally Posted by mich4076

Here are pictures of a few I have




For some reason the pics didn't attach correctly so here are the links


100MEDIA_IMAG0106 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
100MEDIA_IMAG0107 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
100MEDIA_IMAG0109 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

in order to correctly post photos from Flickr in OB, you need to copy the BBCode and not teh HTML code!

go to "Share this" (on top of your photo), then go to "Grab the HTML/BBCode" and then select the BBCode (you need to select this option, as it is normally HTML selected per default!)

the code should look something similar to this (a long link!):
url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/74409264@N00/5336400766/][img]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5086/5336400766_72fb7e0aeb.jpg[/img[/url][url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/74409264@N00/5336400766/]100MEDIA_IMAG0107[/url by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/74409264@N00/]angelicdiablo515/url], on Flickr

[katierkincaid]

Thats the person I was waiting for to chime in Stay warm neighbor

[mich4076]

Winters here have relatively low humidity. Right now it's at 25%. Does the chlorine in tap water negatively effect the orchids? I gave the big orchid a shower yesterday but mostly I have been using distilled water. They get about an hour of direct light in the late afternoon but mostly it is indirect bright light unless it's a cloudy day like today.

Summers here are hot and humid. Temperatures then average from mid 80's to mid 90's and lows in the 60's to 70's.

Winters here average highs in the 50's and lows in the 30's.

I plan on getting a humidifier to put underneath the orchids.

I read that fertilizing in the winter could damage plants. Does the same apply for orchids or is it safe to fertilize year round?

Thank you soo much for your help!!!

Thank you everyone for your help!

[trdyl]

Many, if not most of us fertilize year round. When you water more often then you fertilize more often. When you water less often then you fertilize less often. Several of us fertilize weekly during every watering and flush with plain water every now and then. There are so many different ways we grow our plants, you just have to find out what works for you.