Growing Vandas at Home

[dannym4243]

Hi,
Can some of you tell me honestly if you can grow a Vanda on a windowsill? Personally I don think I could give them enough light....Am I right or wrong?
Thanks
Danny

[WhiteRabbit]

I've read of people doing it, guess it depends how bright (and how big!) your windows may be - and maybe include some supplemental artificial light ?

I do have an Ascda that grows outside as much as possible, and in a south facing window in winter.

[Angurek]

If you put them in a south-facing windowsill and tried vase culture, you could conceivably grow them. However, they'd benefit from spending the summer outside, where the air could circulate around their leaves and roots.

Most Vandas are fairly large plants. However, some species like insignis, coerulescens, and lilacina (and hybrids thereof), are compact enough to adapt to such culture. You could also have a look at the Ascocenda hybrids, which also tend to be compact. Some of the other Vandaceous genera would also be worth looking at, such as Sedirea, Rhynchostylis, and Ascocentrum.

[RJSquirrel]

I think you are not going to be able to satisfy a vanda root systems hunger for moisture indoors. over-watering doesnt replace constant moisture in the air. you can create some but you cant stand there with a spray bottle mister for more than a few hours a day. I gave up trying and put em all outside for the summer to enjoy the heat and sun and occasional dust laden rain shower. if they blooming I bring em on the porch and look at em and then toss em back outside. of course theres always going to be 1 or 2 who claim there vandas do great indoors. be suspect of where they live when they claim this fact.

Ascocentrums are small and would do fine but still need the very high light. you arent going to get the large wow flowers I suspect you seek though from an Ascocentrum.

[cday2inflorida]

Originally Posted by dannym4243

Hi,
Can some of you tell me honestly if you can grow a Vanda on a windowsill? Personally I don think I could give them enough light....Am I right or wrong?
Thanks
Danny

Danny, Yes, you could grow them in on a windowsill in very bright light. Where you are going to get into trouble is moisture, size and air movement. The large flowering Vandas are very demanding in the amount of moisture they require. The average home is not going to have the volumes of humidity they need. There is a sticky in the Vanda forum about growing them in glass vases. I don't have any info on the culture but there are others here that do. They do get them to bloom!
Unless you concentrate on smaller types they will quickly outgrow your windowsill. Most of mine are over 5 feet tall and growing larger by the day in the Florida sun and humidity.
If you are able to get the humidity up to about 40 to 50 percent...they are going to need good air movement.

[Ray]

A speaker at a SEPOS meeting a couple years ago - sorry, I don't recall who - discussed the fact that vandas can actually adapt to lower light levels.

He said they are likely to skip at least one blooming season, and obviously won't bloom as well as they will with a lot of solar flux, but they will grow and bloom.

If you want vandaceous plants, but are growing on windowsills, you might consider some of the hybrids made with Neofinetia falcata, as they are small and less-demanding of light.

[fishmommy]

I think it depends on how North your location is and how good your window is. A south facing window (or even better a south facing bay window) in a southern area you might get away with it. Keep the window extremely clean to maximize light.
I'd recommend Ascda. and smaller species rather than straight Vanda - I have found Vanda proper to be much more of a light hog than the intergenerics.
You might only be able to grow one or two - a window tends to have a 'sweet spot' that is smaller than the window dimensions where light duration is maximized.

Doing research on vanda species I found that there are some that can grow and flower in moderate light, for example:
v. roeblingiana
v. brunnea
v. bicolor
v. alpina
v. subconcolor
Of course I don't have any experience flowering them as my v. brunnea is still a medium seedling, v. roeblingiana (seedling too) should be delivered today from Paramount Orchids and three others i didn't even see for sale anywhere.
I am having hard time finding original vanda species of blooming size here in Canada.

[fishmommy]

I have a V. Trevor rathbone that seems to like moderate light as well but is a real humidity hog so it may be tough to deal with

[Vanda lover]

I have mine in a hanging basket with sphag and charcoal, in a window. When ever posible I hang it out doors, but the rest of the time I put it in an east window in the morning, and south window later in the day.When I had a bay window, I didn't need to move it. Mine blooms fine 3 times a year. During the winter it is in a North west window, close to a lamp. I have also spot lighted it with a grow bulb at times. Some vandas don't grow as quickly as others. Mine Pachong blue is 10 years old and still fits in an average size window, in a 10 in. basket.
I am now trying vasco in vase culture.