promoting new roots on a vanda.....
 

I am hoping that someone can help suggest ways to promote new root growth on a vanda. I live in Oregon where it rarely gets above 90 degrees I think on average it is 11 days per year with 90+ degree weather. Anyways I placed my vanda out on the balcony the day that I first moved into my new apartment and unfortunately neglected it during a 3 day period of 95+ degree weather. :( Needless to say it got burned and has lost alot of leaves. The roots that it has are way down the stem (about 8 inches) and don't appear to be in very good shape after the direct heat. I am really hoping that there is some way to promote the roots to grow before the whole plant decides to die.... I have moved the plant so it isn't getting all the direct sun for the just in case I neglect it again in the near future. I do water and mist every morning and have fertilizer in a spray bottle that I mist it with as well.....

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated....

Thank you

I've heard, don't know for sure, that tying some sphag around the stalk could entice Vandas to grow roots. Anyone else heard this?

this was addressed at the lecture I went to. the guy said he'd tried it, and it didn't work. now he just waits and eventually they put out roots on the bare area.

First off, move the damaged plant away from direct sunlight; make sure the area has good air flow and high humidity.
On healthy vandas, I use calcium nitrate (Scott's Calcium Plus) as part of the regular feeding regimen - it works directly on the roots, stimulating new growth and even repairing some damaged areas.

Hi Frazmo. I kind of have the same problem my father in-law cut off all the roots to my vanda that was at least 18 inches high and half the leaves drop off. What I did was cut the vanda to 3-4 inches below the last leaf (strip off dried up leaves) and used Rootone. Planted in live Spag. in a pot and kept the medium damp. It's been two weeks now and two roots have sprouted. Not saying it's a correct way but it worked for me. My Cattleya orchid had root rot did the same thing and now it is growing roots and 4 pseuodobulbs. Give it a try.

Oh I forgot to mention I keep the vanda in an east facing window with the window open.

Okay, here is my "root cocktail", and I have new roots everywhere, on any Vanda I've had for over a month. I take a 32oz. spray bottle, to keep on the porch, and a 2.5 gal. water jug (with the spout on the front) to keep inside for a re-fill station. That way, I only have to make new food once, every week or two. To the 2.5 gal of water, I add 1.5 scoops of "Jack's Classic" Blossom Booster 10-30-20 (about 1400ppm), 2.5ml of blackstrap molasses, 3ml K-L-N rooting concentrate (by Dyna-Gro), and 15ml of hydroguard (for a little biological re-enforcement). The key factors, for those who don't want to buy all of that, would be: the blossom booster and the K-L-N. But the molasses is really high in potassium, so it helps, too.

Jasen, the molasses idea is interesting...I'd never heard that one before!

Inside secret, I was fortunate enough to be taught.....sssshhhhhh.......don,t tell anyone. If you get it from the health food store, you can find up to 500mg of potassium per serving.Biiiiig blooms!

I wish I could get the chemicals you guys mentioned to make my insignis grow roots.

You can get the molasses at the health food store, and I would imagine you can get "Jack's Classic" fertilizers and K-L-N on line if you search them. K-L-N is made by Dyna-Gro, who also carries a high-nitrogen foliar spray that makes a really good additive to your "growth" fertilizer while in the vegetative cycle:
20-20-20 fertilizer + foliar spray = vegetative
10-30-20 blossom booster + molasses+ K-L-N = bloom/root growth. Let me know how it works for you.

Thanks for the information! I'll go around finding molasses then :P

my vandas leaves are turning yellowish green and wrinkling. i live in the philippines and its outside in my garden in the southwest portion. it has no new roots and the roots are not so long i thin k only three roots and its a bit brownish and stiff. I put it in the driftwood and almost all my vandas and ascocendas are there. How can i grow new roots? I gave it rooting hormones and soak it for 15 mins once and water it daily since the temp here is always hot from 29 to 30 degrees. Hope i can get some advice thanks.

Hey... my insignis sounds as bad as yours, though it has more than 3 roots that are long but still dry and dead-looking...

Dilute your rooting hormones into blooming fertilizer, and apply daily with a spray bottle. You should only need about 1/2 tsp. per gallon of the rooting hormone.

Ok, will try that soon, I found out that quite a lot of the dead roots were rotting, quickly cut them off and now it's just a miserable few living roots left.

root cocktail
 

Hello Jasen.



I am very excited in trying your root cocktail :lol: for my bare root orchids:angry: , I wanted to be sure if the measuments of 2.5ml of blackstrap molasses and 3ml of KLN are correct.:scratchhead:

Thanks.

Lupita.:cheer:

Yes. Living in Britain, the chemicals that get mentioned on here are double dutch to me. I use orchid focus for mine. The molasses idea is fascinating though, might try that.

I'm not sure if this will work on every plant, but I'll throw it out there anyway:


I've found that my vanda's roots grow better in darkness. I found this out by accident; I put it behind some of my other orchids, and in about two weeks, the roots had branched and they were growing very quickly. I'm gonna try covering its roots with something dark and see what happens. My Rhynchostylis puts out roots easily, but my vanda's a little more reserved. :hmm

Hello Angurek,
Thanks for the advice I will try it.
Lupita.:cheer:

cocktail
 

Hello Jasen.

Do you use the same cocktail on bare root cattleyas?.:scratchhead:
Thanks.
Lupita.:cheer:

Jasen,
How often do you spray the cocktail?

Susanne,
I sent you a PM.

This all sounds very intriguing. Perhaps we can come up with some sort of rooting cocktail mixture here in Canada. I KNOW that I can find molasses and bloom boosters! :crossfing:

Well in Dr Martin Motes book on Vandas he suggest to hang the plant upside down this causes the plant to put energy in to producing roots. He also suggest to make a mixture of sugar water and spay your plant down with. I do use a suger water mixture on my vandas every once in a while and it has good results.
Darwin

I am a vase grower. This summer has been extremly hot and dry.
I have been soaking my Vandas for 4-6 hours alternatively in water with/without fertilizer (125ppm N) everyday.
Surprisingly the roots are growing at a good steady rate.
Over four months the longest root measures 10cm (4inches) long. No flowers yet.

It's good for any plants, they need sugars the same way we do.

I've tried the 'upside down treatment' and it has worked with some success ... depends on the vitality (or what's what's left of it) of the plant to begin with.

Yes you are right it does depend on the vitality of the plant. I tried to save my favorite V javierae but I was to late. Yes the sugar water is good for the ones growing well but be careful with it as it can attract ants. It basically works the same as Super thrive which works great.... but can get to be expensive if you have lots of orchids but I use to treat all my stuggling plants with this and for the most part worked wonders.

I had received a vanda from an "infamous" ebay seller (humph!) with one viable root that was maybe three inches long, and about the width of a pencil.
I have been keeping some sprag moss around the main stalk and "root" and spraying with jacks and some molases and rooting hormone since November...and yay! Now I have some new roots! Thanks Jasen for the idea! :cheer:

hi im new to this cite but wanted to ask you a question . I prepared your root cocktail and when using the batches to refill my container i noticed a change in the mixture. It looked like mold . does this need to be refrigerated.Can this be used as a root enhancer for phals too

It will work for any plants, try keeping it in a dark place. Light promotes growth of mold and algae. If you don't have a dark place for it, try keeping it covered with something black. If you don't have a LOT of orchids, you may be better off mixing smaller portions, so it doesn't have to store as long. Oh, and to reply to Carolyn, your welcome....glad it helped!

I'm new to the OB, and just picked up on this thread, and find there to ba a lot of great suggestions that I may want to use. Thanks!
I have about 140 or so Vandaceous plants in my collection, and most do great with growing their roots; however I get one every once in a while from a friend as a rescue plant that needs extra attention...I believe I've stumbled onto solutions that might work for these needy chids.
To the person who made the post reguarding V. insignis - This species is notorious for growing tall with lots of its roots at the base of the plant, while holding a nice "head of leaves", so to speak, at teh top. I actually tried an experiment to get more roots to grow farther up it's bare stem, and ended up with a rosette of 4 kiekis about 9 inches up from the bottom of the plant instead of more roots. Oh well, I guess it's nothing to complain about. When they grow out, it will be a beautiful specimen plant. :Tup:
By tthe way, before the kiekis grew, I did bring it for judging at an AOS judging center and received my first certificate, an HCC. So, even with the long bare stem between the roots and the leaves, it was still worthy of an AOS cert. Boy was I excited! There's a photo of it in my gallery if you're interested in seeing the blooms. It's V. insignis 'Robert Bailey' HCC/AOS

Hi Dave, Congratulations on the HCC !! That must be exciting and rewarding.
140 Vandaceous 'chids, Boy I'll bet your place is paradise when they are in bloom!

Al

Wow....140! Amazing...I only have 5 blooming size and 5 seedlings. You must be doing great with them.

Just my two cents...I tried cutting the plant down (my particular vanda actually just toppled over one day right off it's shoot as it's roots had apparently not been taking up water for a long time). Before being in my care it looked like the vanda tried to send out two new roots, much higher up the stalk, but because they were never watered (how coudl someone miss new roots?) they stopped developing (or so I assume). So, one day I was watering and it just broke and fell over! I cut the stalk back until I saw life (or greenness) and treated the wound with cinnamon. I wrapped some spag around the base and removed the sheaths from the area that the spag would be around. I then used a little section of paper towel to hold the spag on, secured with 2 twist ties and left it alone. I put it in a more shaded spot then the other vandas and made sure the ball of spag was moist each morning. After about 2 weeks, I had new root growth. That was all I did. Here is a link to the post with pictures of my setup and new roots!:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...rooting-s.html

You can also see how bad the leaves look...all withered. They are still recovering, but at least I have roots now!

I have one question now that I read another post...what are everyone's thoughts on fertilizing an orchid that has just sprouted new roots? I mean, if those are the only roots, like the one I described above? Should you hold off fertilizer because it might burn the new tips? Or should you keep fertilizing since Vandas are heavier feeders then most? Any ideas?

Jenn,
I water and fertilize as usual, and have had no problems with buring the new root tips.
My fertilizer "backbone" is a no urea formula with low soluble salts; Dyna-Gro Liquid Grow 7-9-5. I add superthrive with each application and supplement a magnesium sulfate/potassium nitrate mix with it about every 6 weeks.
I look at new root production on stressed plants this way - plants are hungry (for water and food), they produce new roots, feed them! :drool:

Hello.
how do you use this two supplements magnesium sulfate and potassium nitrate ?
I have Epc. Rene Marques and has no roots, I already tried the moss in a bag, mist and still does not have any signs of new roots.
any ideas ?
Thanks.
Lupita.

Hi Lupita,
I use Epsom salts for the magnesium sulfate at a rate of 1 tablespoon per gallon, and the potassium nitrate I get from a local farm supply store (I get the greenhouse grade as it is a water soluble powder). I use this at 1 tablespoon per gallon as well.
I mix both together, so it's a concentration of 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt and 1 tablespoon of potassium nitrate per gallon. I apply it to the roots and foliage of all of my chids about once every 6 weeks or so, and do not run into the signs of deficiencies of these elements such as yellowing and reddening leaves (you'll notice the reddening in cooler weather). I hope this helps. :)
For your Epc. Rene Marque, you may need to try potting it securely so that the plant does not move in its medium, and just wait for new growth to appear, which is when the new roots often sprout out. I’ve run into this situation before, and have noticed that some catts will only produce new roots after they send up a new growth, and some only before a new growth shoots out. Securing the plant in its growing medium with a clip will ensure that the new roots won’t snip off when they begin to develop. They are very easily broken at this stage of their growth. Also, be careful not to overwater even though the plant has no roots…you could easily cause the stems to rot, and then the cause will be lost. :goodluck: