Vanda help
 

Hello,

My younger brother has had this vanda for about 1 year and it is not doing well. As you can see many leaves have died off, leaving only the base of the vanda. Im pretty sure it suffers from too little light, water, and fertilizer. What should I do to save it. Should I cut the excess base and try to repot it?? Obviously I intend to improve its conditions, however I’m just not sure how to go about repotting it. (It is currently in charcoal in a hanging basket)

Thank you for your time and help :biggrin:,

Nicolas Perez

First, don't cut anything. When a vanda gets VERY tall and has a bunch of roots under the leaves, one can "top" it and get two plants. This plant is struggling.
What is the potting medium? Vandas really like little or no medium, a challenge in the home or low-humidity environment. For this one, what do the roots look like? If you don't know, unpot it and look. If you need medium, coarse bark or an inorganic medium such as volcanic rock can give some moisture-holding. Also, what are your temperatures? Most Vandas like to grow on the warm side.

If the roots are bad, more water won't help - you need to deal with that problem first. If roots are good, then Vandas need both water and air - lots of air. And heat and light. They are heavy feeders, but if it's not taking up water, fertilizer isn't going to help.

It's not too bad, certainly salvageable.

Don't cut so no roots are left. Pieces with no roots almost always die, and the bottom is unlikely to make new growth.

In a basket with charcoal it needs daily watering. The roots should turn completely green. That may take more than one spraying.

If the leaves have fine longitudinal wrinkles it's dried out. It's safe to soak them in water for a few hours a day to rehydrate them if this is the case. Soaking is not a problem if they dry quickly afterward.

I like Kelpak/KelpMax. I would treat once a month with a several hour soak. That will stimulate root growth.

Fertilize once there are no fine wrinkles. Vandas are heavy feeders. Use any balanced fertilizer every 5th watering at 1 Tablespoon per gallon. This is far more than most other orchids use.

It's fine outside now in bright light. It might not tolerate direct sun. San Diego winter nights, and cloudy weather, are too cold for Vandas outdoors.

All of above... Get it out of that medium and let it "breathe" .... Let it dry and spray. And like that for quite some time.

Thank you all for your help. I have cut off the dead roots and soaked it in a probiotic solution. Hopefully this combined with new conditions will be enough to help it.