Question about Vanda (rhynchorides) soaking method
 

Hello, I've received my first bangkok sunset couple days ago and my watering method is by soaking it for couple of hours.
I have seen people utilizing this method to hydrate a vanda enough to last it through several days.
But my question is, how can one tell if their vanda is in need of hydration for the next soak? Their roots always look silvery white after 5 minutes later.
In the pictures have taken of my vanda the day after the soak, I have noticed that the roots still have some hint of green, is this an indication that it is already hydrated?
I grow mine outdoor by the way.
Southern california zone 10b.

If you grow it bare root you will need to get the roots wet every day. Even in south Florida, with very high humidity, they must water bare-root Vandas at least once a day. Soaking every few days does not work.

I grow mostly the cooler growing Vandas, that will grow outside in coastal southern California. They get watered every day. The totally-bare-root ones that I acquire, I have sometimes put in a basket with large bark, to add a bit more moisture. (If established in those little plastic baskets, I just drop the whole thing into the larger basket with the large bark.) But over time, I have found that they pretty much escape from the medium. So maybe useful as a transitional step, but over the long haul, they need to have the roots free, with daily (or in hot dry weather 2 or 3 times daily) watering. No shortcut...Humans can't thrive gorging on a huge meal every three days and nothing in between and Vandas can't thrive getting watered that way. Both people and Vandas need to get their sustenance daily.

thank you both of you two again, that cleared up my doubt. Well I signed up for this, I will try to take care of this baby to the fullest.

Here in NJ mine hang under growlights or in a bright window, roots are very long. They get watered in the shower almost every day. Vandas need daily water and fert. weekly. When NJ temps get warmer, they hang outside in bright but dappled light and it's much easier to spray them.

My vanda amd Aerides are very small and came to me in a small baskets with bark and bit of Spanish moss on top. I've been watering 3 times a week and they seem to be growing well.
Given their small size and they way they are potted, only two to three pairs of leaves on each plant should I also water these daily?
We are heading into Winter down here.

Are you growing these indoors or outside?

Outdoors under a verandah.
Shelving backs up to the house, can get setting sunshine on shelves, I have drop down blinds for the summer.
Winter temps can be anything from 9 to 15 C (48 to 59f) daytime and nighttime can get down to 7C (44f)

Maybe reduce water a bit when it gets cold. A dry plant will tolerate a lot more cold than a wet one. Watering in the morning so that it is pretty dry by evening helps there too. My outdoor Vandas get colder than yours. I don't cut back on the water much, reduce frequency from daily to every other day... automatic sprinklers so everybody gets the same. But watering in the morning, especially the mounted ones and those in open baskets are pretty dry by evening.

I can't reach IOSPE right now to look up species. It's been down for over a day. Bangkok Sunset has three ancestors. Rhynchostylis coelestis can handle much cooler nights than many Vandas. I don't know about Aerides houlettiana nor Vanda flabellata.

Most standard Vandas would die quickly with the winter temperatures Diane mentions. Many start dropping leaves as soon as it hits 50 F/10C. They will probably survive if the next day is a lot warmer, but winter highs of 9 to 15 C (48 to 59f) are not conducive to standard Vanda growing.

Blue Vandas have V. coerulea ancestry; its range runs from warm to hot lowlands to high cool zones in Burma, and blue Vanda hybrids tolerate more cold than red or yellow ones. But I still wouldn't grow them with a maximum winter temperature of 59 F / 15C. Win Winmaw spoke to our society about V. coerulea, native in the country where he was born. He grows it outside close to the coast in southern California. There is almost never any frost there. He leaves it outside for early winter so it gets some chill, but brings it inside his greenhouse during the coldest part of the winter.

Neither would I try Bangkok Sunset that cool unless I knew from somebody else's experience it could handle it, or unless its ancestors were fine with those low temperatures.

Roberta, it might be a lot warmer where your Vandas are situated at night than it is out in the open where the temperatures are measured.