Vanda in a Vase growers--reassurance needed

[pedidiva]

Hi all~~~

I apologize as I am not able to post pics. I soak for at least 1/2 hour as I am in a very arid climate & the house humidity rarely is above 20%. Outside humidity is in teens at the highest. I soak until everything is green, then empty. Usually daily, however some of the smaller vandas maintain their green for 48 hours, so I soak then every other day (~ 3 times/week).

I am need of reassurance. First off, I have a few seedlings that are doing swimmingly well. New leaves, new roots. Pacharas, a vandiera Jasmine Newburg, & a vanda luzonica.

I thought I'd branch out, so I ordered a Vanda Sansai Raspberry--the plant loooks good. The roots look a little woody, bit will take on a geenish hue when soaking--much like a young sapling looks. New leaves. Some new roots. I assume that woody looking roots are older?

I bought a Thailand Beauty Vanda--it looked a bit dry--I soaked for quite some time over many waterings, some of the roots greened up. Here's my question--compared to the other vandas, these roots feel softer & appear to have a velvety look to them. They do green up at the ends, however the rest of the root stays brown. Would you sacrifice these roots? I have sprayed wiith fungicide & allowed the roots to dry out between waterings. It is growing new leaves.

Thanks. I apologize for the long post.

Pedi

I wouldn't cut the roots if they are green at the end. I also noticed that even bad looking brown roots on few of my vandas would eventually poke out green growing points from the sides, probably because the inner root string is still alive and growing.
That being said, if you care about look and have plenty of fresh green root mass, the brown ones can be safely trimmed off.
I soak my vandas in vases once a day, they are inside of the house with heat starting to work and humidity now is around 60%, but will go down probably to 40ish% when heater will work permanently.

Just wanted to add, Vanda luzonica is at the top of my wish list. You are so lucky you found it!
I can't locate one here in Canada.

[pedidiva]

Thanks, orchideya. I feel better. I needed the cyberhug & cyber reassurance.

Mine are in a sunny window.

[pedidiva]

I bought the luzonica from EBay

[Bud]

I have vandas in a vase without holes(with or without media)...glass vases with holes(I learned how to drill glass)...
It is living happily
just put it near a humidifier and heater this winter
I also have vandas in S/H method

I never cut any healthy roots of any of my vandas...it took me years to grow them long and thick...Id just buy a larger vase to curl them in...in fact I would rather break a glass vase than cut a root of any of my vandas

I also have couple vanda seedlings that are in the 4-inch vanda baskets with a handful of coconut husk chips around the roots. Baskets sit atop of square plastic pots and are convenient to handle and fit my windowsill. Those seedlings were just too small to put in a vase. They seem to be happy and roots really grab onto coco chips, they are watered every second or third day. It might be a good solution for seedlings in arid zone with low humidity.

[Bud]

Orchideya is right. For young seedlings: you can also pot it on bark or coco chips with charcoal, hydroton and lava rock(like you pot a phal or a cattleya)...to help it develop its roots...these are its formative years; drying it up as a young plant will make it very weak as an adult...

[pedidiva]

[COLOR="Navy"] I tried the pot with the hydroton with Vanda sansai S/H for about a month--the plant did not do well with it, root die-off.. It seems to like the daily waterings in its vase. It's just that the older bigger roots have that woody appearance & green up like a young sapling.

The Thailand Beauty greens up with its daily watering. It's just that some of the roots look weird as compared to everyone else.

Everybody seems to enjoy their soak. I don't want to cut off any roots unless its absolutely necessary for the plant's survival.[COLOR]

[Bud]

for vandas on S/H...make sure not to let the roots touch water and never to make the roots feel the cold...a heated mat will help ...and also make sure the wick is functional or else you will still need to pritz the top with water...once a week fertilizer and every other week flush the pot with running water for algae and fungi infestations...its easier than watering everyday