Can Vandas be potted?
 

How do people in your area grow vandas? Here in Florida we grow them in baskets with the roots hanging free and we usually water them once a day. I have read about growing vandas in a vase or a pot but I've never tried it. I would ask people at your orchid society meetings. Good luck.

You can pot vandas but make sure they have many holes for the roots to breathe...I use treefern cubes....some of my vandas in a vase have a mix of hydroton, coco chips, lava rocks and charcoal...I also have one vanda on S/H.
But I am in Manhattan and we dont have your humid atmosphere in California...if you dont have frost...just leave it alone on the basket...Florida, California and southern Texas can grow vandas bareroot or in a basket...I cant , we have bitter winters...so I learned to drill glass and some of them are in large glass vases

I grow mine in baskets with live Spanish Moss draped over the top. The moss helps the roots retain moisture and it looks nice:D

I had one for about 18 months potted in large bark in a big pot. It seemed to work well but I had to be very careful to just dribble a small amount of water in every couple of days, rather than ever completely wetting the bark.

However I should point out that it died and I don't fully know why. I have a feeling it was tool cold and dark over a winter period when it was also flowering. However I can't rule out that it was growing it in bark that just wan't a long term solution. I really don't know. I intend to use a vase growing technique when I get another one.

It died because of the cold and darkness...vandas like bright light but not direct sun and warmth (below 50 is too cold for them for a long period unless theyre the Coerulea specie)a heater would have helped even if the bright sun was lessened. Vandas love lots of water and feed then often...they do not have a winter hybernation...so dont stop what youre doing...soak the bark every other day in winter and if its too hot and humid in summer only once a day soaking...bark would have been fine Rosie...the water will not stay stagnant and rot the roots.
Next time you own any vandacious orchids...do it on S/H method...
and warmth, lots of warmth

Bud are you saying that Vandas take well to S/H? That would be the answer to my original question "what to pot vandas in.
Thanks
Danny Medina

I would be interested to know if S/H works for vandas as well.

I would have thought it would make it get even colder though in the winter. The evaporation from the lecca cools the root-zone and I have a problem with that in winter on my phals, I would expect a similar/worse problem for Vandas.

I know a few people in Europe successfully using the vase technique so I plan to try that next.

I have Vanda tricolor (small, bought a seedling a year ago) potted in a netpot with long coconut fiber (strings) dries really fast yet lets some humidity be around the roots in dry winter days (central heating). I insert the net pot in a similar sized pot to retain more humidity yet allow some air circulation. it is the setup that works best for me

Danny, they can be potted, but you do have to adjust your care for them compared to how they're traditionally grown (in empty wooden baskets). I have three species vandas in pots: V. merrillii, V. luzonica and V. coerulea. Of the three, V. merrillii seems to like being in the pot the most (or is, perhaps, more tolerant of it); I have two full-size adults and a couple of juvenile V. merrilliis, along with a few seedlings, and they're all doing fine potted. V. luzonica is doing well in a pot, but I had to play around with the mix before I found out what it liked (straight large-grade aliflor). Whatever you choose, a friendly word of advice is to keep the mix open--large-grade nuggets or chunks are more likely to satisfy the plant's mutual need for lots of water and lots of air around the roots. Good luck with your experiment!

Steve