What's wrong with my vanda's flower spike?
 

Is it a goner or is there something I can do?

https://i.imgur.com/vgE98qL.jpg

looks pretty crispy to me. yup, its a goner.

Yes, it looks like the spike has died. From the folded leaves of your Vanda, it may not be getting enough water. Try increasing watering frequency and/or soaking time depending on how you water. Dehydration can cause plants to abort flowers/spikes.

Didn't know about the folded leaves, it was like that when I got it. I've been misting it heavily for a few minutes once a day. I'll try soaking it, I did that at the beginning but some roots didn't seem to like being handled so I stopped.

Where you live, I would expect that it is fairly humid, warm, and with quite a lot of rain. If it isn't outside, it should be. Drenching rain would be the best watering for it. When it doesn't rain, water with a hose.

What Roberta says ^^... and misting once a day isn't enough.

That’s correct but unfortunately I live in an apartment so it’s in the balcony. I’ll try soaking it instead of misting. It’s grown lots of roots so I thought it was doing ok.

Maybe try to rig something with a bucket the plants roots can hang into to soak to minimize disturbance. I’ve been soaking my Vandas this way overnight and then rehanging them in their windows in the morning.

Your leaves should be more firm and a darker colour.

When I saw your picture I thought of dried hay straight away.

So yeah what people have said, even let it soak in a bucket of water overnight.

The leaves are on the verge of dying and it had no chance of supporting a flower spike.

Look at the leaves closely and you will see what I am talking about, I can literally see wrinkles on your leaves where the dehydrated leaf veins are starting to show.

I am suspecting by the colour of your leaves that you do not adjust the ph of your water - this will cause nutrient lockouts and lower leaves will start to yellow. I would recommend you read up on how the ph can affect your plants - it's more important than feeding nutrients although I am suspecting your plant is looking for a good nutrient feed too.

Don't try to make any radical changes though, you risk doing more harm than good, just soak the plant well for now then look in to getting a ph meter to test your water and go from there.

Where do you live? Both generally and in what geographic type of region(coastal, mountain, valley, cloud forest, surface of the moon....)

And this balcony, does it have an open roof? Access to falling rain? Sun exposure?

I’ve noticed the wrinkles and I know the color is off, the other side which gets less sunshine is a bit greener. I do not check the ph of my water.

For the time being I’ll try to get a larger bucket to soak it and read about the effect of ph. Is it possible it requires more than one soak a day?

---------- Post added at 03:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:11 PM ----------

I live in the Dominican Republic in a coastal area, so warm and humid year round. The balcony is roofed but I just noticed I can hang it almost outside of the roof so it may get at least some rainwater. Regarding sun exposure, the balcony is south facing so it receives A few hours of direct sunlight but not all day.

I have not known Vandas to be particularly sensitive to the fine points of water chemistry. (Some other types of orchids are...) They mostly just want lots of water - a challenge since they also want to grow with roots in the air.

The way Vandas grow in nature, they get heavily rained on, then dry when the sun comes out. So you're probably fine with one good soak a day, especially in your humid climate. You can also put dilute fertilizer in that soaking water. (Use 1/4 of whatever it says on the label or less, especially if you do it often.)

If you're on FB Friend R&R Orchids. They have an amazing site w/lots of information on how to grow Vandas. If you soak in a bucket be careful not to break the roots. They are the most important part of the plant. Good luck on saving your plant. They are well worth the effort.

Already started soaking them (there's 2, the other one is growing a spike too, hopefully I can save it) with very diluted fertilizer. Is it possible it's too warm+sunny for them? They get direct sunlight and temperature during the day is usually over 85 F.

---------- Post added at 11:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 AM ----------

I checked them out. Their vandas look incredibly healthy compared to mine.

The temperature is fine. The ancestors of those big Vandas come from very warm lowland regions in the Philippines and southeast Asia. As far as direct sun, it depends. Feel the leaves when the sun hits them, if hot to the touch then you'll want to move them a little (or if you see sunburn) If there are trees (or buildings) that break up the direct blazing sun, that's ideal. It is also a matter of duration - half an hour of direct sun may be fine, 4 hours might be too much.