What to medium to put in Vanda basket
 

I am new to Vandas so I know very little about what they like (except for all the great info I found on here!). Mine are basically seedlings and I have a couple of 4" baskets to put them in. I was wondering if PrimeAgra put in the basket instead of large pieces of bark or charcoal would be okay? It is supposed to allow air flow to the roots in s/h so wouldn't it be fine to use in the baskets too? I just wanted some input before I put them in. Plus I don't have any bigger pieces of bark or charcoal so I would have to get some and they are so little that I didn't want to plop them in all naked and stuff. :biggrin: Thanks!!!!

Sarah

Hi Sarah :)

Naked is fine for vandas ;) but some people do put "stuff" in their baskets. I don't think it's necessary. I've had aliflor in some of my smaller seedlings, didn't see any difference between them and the others that were naked ;)

The important thing for vandas is Water, Water, Water!
Being in Florida, mine gets misted at least once a day, every day...and more than that in summer.

Hey Sarah...another angle here for you. I grow indoors and do not have the opportunity to the outdoors that they thrive. I grow indoors, lighting is a bit different and only do a.m. watering daily, every now and than it gets a misting in the early evening. I had them naked:biggrin: and about 2 months ago decided to put sphag in the wooden basket to help keep the rooting system moist longer. They seem to be doing well at this point...no blooms yet, soon, NOT, to young but they are :D :D :D

Sue has a grown her vanda's much longer than I and bloom...oh yeah!!! gorgeous blooms, but not knowing your conditions, thought I would add my 2 cents worth...

Good move, Cheryl :) Thanks

So far so good...works for now until I can get the HOA to accept the likes of orchids hanging from the front door overhang ;)

Thank you both for your help! I mostly wanted to put something in the basket to help anchor them down and maybe to raise them up a bit. They are so tiny that I thought that maybe something in there with them might help. I'm going hang them in the window indoors for now. Next summer if they are bigger (let's hope!) I think I will put them outside. Hopefully they will get enough light inside until then. I would like to put them out now but I can just see it happening, one gust of wind and now they are in the neighbors yard 2 doors down or something like that! Thats my luck! :biggrin:

Thanks again!
Sarah

A small seedling has less storage capacity than does a larger plant, so it'll want to be watered more frequently.

If yours are so small they're dwarfed by a 4" basket, I would suggest against starting there, but go with a small clay pot containing something that "breathes" well.

If I put them in small clay pots could I use PrimeAgra in there or should I use some sort of bark mix? Sorry for all the questions, I just don't want to kill them! I'm not sure they will be completely dwarfed by the basket but I am thinking that they will be sitting a little too low for sure. Thanks Ray!

Sarah

If the roots on your plants are attached to the basket, I would not disturb them because vandas dislike being disturbed.

I agree with Cheryl about the spahg. Be sure not to pack it. Just lightly place some around the plant. This way it dries faster but yet supplies that little extra amount that your plants need.

A problem you might encounter with s/h is that it will be difficult to keep pieces from falling through the basket and has a tendency to float if you decide to soak your plants. You will not have this problem if you use sphag. As a matter of fact , almost anything you use except sphag will float.

If your talking anchoring in a basket, have one that is small and I used cable fiber wire but you can get 8-10 lb fishing line an support it to your wanted heigth, worked for me.