Water culture Vanda

[Irisha99]

Hi guys.
Anybody had any success growing Vanda in full water culture? My husband bought me Vanda last August that I posted about on this forum last year. I was following care instructions but the plant wasn’t doing much of anything and its roots were getting drier and drier. It grew one leaf but it was growing very slowly. So, I put it in a vase and filled it to cover about 1/4 of its roots. And to my surprise it is growing another leaf and two roots (extensions of an old one). Should I cut off the old roots that are rotting in water? How often to fertilize?( I was fertilizing it every 3 days before setting up in water culture). Any other suggestions to make it one happy Vanda ? Thank you

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Irisha99

Hi guys.
Anybody had any success growing Vanda in full water culture? My husband bought me Vanda last August that I posted about on this forum last year. I was following care instructions but the plant wasn’t doing much of anything and its roots were getting drier and drier. It grew one leaf but it was growing very slowly. So, I put it in a vase and filled it to cover about 1/4 of its roots. And to my surprise it is growing another leaf and two roots (extensions of an old one). Should I cut off the old roots that are rotting in water? How often to fertilize?( I was fertilizing it every 3 days before setting up in water culture). Any other suggestions to make it one happy Vanda ? Thank you

Rather than cutting roots, I recommend vase culture, which is similar, but you drain the vase between watering. Maybe leave 1/2 cm or less water in the bottom of the vase.

[Irisha99]

Water it every 3 days again or daily? And then pour water out leaving only a drop of water on the bottom? What about fertilizing? Roots get too dry between waterings, my humidity here is on the low side now, in the lower 30’s. Roots dry out and I am afraid those green new roots won’t make it 😶

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Irisha99

Water it every 3 days again or daily? And then pour water out leaving only a drop of water on the bottom? What about fertilizing? Roots get too dry between waterings, my humidity here is on the low side now, in the lower 30’s. Roots dry out and I am afraid those green new roots won’t make it 😶

You can water daily if you like. More if you care to, as long as you drain and get air to the roots.

[Irisha99]

Thanks. I thought those new “water” roots emerging now on my Vanda were happy in that water. You don’t think they will do well in the long run?

[fooferdoggie]

without the water roots you can't leave any water in the bottom. I found I dump the vase out then let it sit for a bit and dump it again to get most of the water out. the bottom can't stay wet for days or the roots will suffer. I would love for them to grow in water. I have a couple phals that are doing that.

[Irisha99]

Yes but it actually did grow roots in water as you can see from the picture I posted. Two new root tips branched out from a root that looked dead and dry. Water actually promoted root growth

[Irisha99]

See, those two root tips? They grew in full water culture

[estación seca]

I don't ever cut off Vanda roots. I have seen roots I was certain were dead sprout new growth.

Some people do fine with water always in the vase. Other people say when temperatures rise, the water roots die. I have never been able to keep Vanda roots constantly wet in water. They die within about 2 weeks. Perhaps your growing conditions are cooler than mine. I have been able to let them sit in water for 4-5 days while out of town, but longer is riskier at my house.

I do grow Vandas in vases, but the vases are empty most of the time. I fill the vases and soak the roots overnight every 1-3 days in summer, and about once a week in winter. If my growing area were always warm, I think they would like to be soaked overnight every day or every other day.

Commercial Vanda growers water their bare-root plants 1-2 times every day of the year: In the early morning, and again in early afternoon on hot days. They recommend fertilizing every 5th watering.

I have heard two commercial growers say they fertilize with a 20-20-20 fertilizer at 1,500 parts per million nitrogen (2 Tablespoons per gallon / 8ml per liter.) This is vastly more fertilizer than is recommended for almost any other orchid.

I'm not sure how this translates to water culture. I try to do the soak with fertilizer solution every 5th soak. I use a fertilizer concentration with about 750 parts per million nitrogen (a little less than 1 Tablespoon per gallon) because I get some root damage at higher concentrations.

[Irisha99]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I don't ever cut off Vanda roots. I have seen roots I was certain were dead sprout new growth.

Some people do fine with water always in the vase. Other people say when temperatures rise, the water roots die. I have never been able to keep Vanda roots constantly wet in water. They die within about 2 weeks. Perhaps your growing conditions are cooler than mine. I have been able to let them sit in water for 4-5 days while out of town, but longer is riskier at my house.

I do grow Vandas in vases, but the vases are empty most of the time. I fill the vases and soak the roots overnight every 1-3 days in summer, and about once a week in winter. If my growing area were always warm, I think they would like to be soaked overnight every day or every other day.

Commercial Vanda growers water their bare-root plants 1-2 times every day of the year: In the early morning, and again in early afternoon on hot days. They recommend fertilizing every 5th watering.

I have heard two commercial growers say they fertilize with a 20-20-20 fertilizer at 1,500 parts per million nitrogen (2 Tablespoons per gallon / 8ml per liter.) This is vastly more fertilizer than is recommended for almost any other orchid.

I'm not sure how this translates to water culture. I try to do the soak with fertilizer solution every 5th soak. I use a fertilizer concentration with about 750 parts per million nitrogen (a little less than 1 Tablespoon per gallon) because I get some root damage at higher concentrations.

Thanks for a detailed answer. This plant has not been doing much of anything for the last 6 months, like I said. I watered it every 3 days, and fertilized each time with 20-10-20 fertilizer (Grow More urea free fertilizer) each time. And was just sitting there, doing nothing. Then I started researching about water culture and decided to give it a try and see. Filled the vase with water to cover 1/4-1/3 of roots and let it stay there for a week. At the end of the first week, I noticed one new root emerging. I washed roots in sink with warm water and put it right back into its vase and filled it back up and after another week, a second root appeared. And a new leaf, too ) So, I clean the vase every 6-7days. In NYC it's been pretty cool during this winter. In the room where I keep it, it was about 68F and 30-34% humidity. What should I do as humidity rises and it gets warmer?
Do I have to be very precise with how many parts nitrogen I use for fertilizer?
Thank you