can I grow vandas in Michigan
 

Hi :waving

I am thinking of getting a vanda but I have read that thay like humidity at 70% 85% and in the winter the humidity is about 40% 50%. Will the vanda be able to take the humidity that low?

Thanks for your help :)

From my experience - yes, but maybe not bare rooted. My humidity is around 40% in winter and I have been growing and blooming vandas. Mine are potted into clay now, but I also had success with glass vases.
Bright light is a very important requirement for vandas, can you provide that?

Hannah, invest in a humidifier with an oscillating fan in winter and let the Vanda go outdoors in the warmer months where temperatures 65F at night and 80 to 90F in the day (May to mid September) where the humidity is high ....
Orchideya is right about bright shaded sun....preferrably in a southfacing window ....
I water Vandas in the morning and let it dry all day....but in the dry months I water my Vandas in the day and spray the roots in the late afternoon

* anyone can grow Vandas indoors no matter what grow zone they are in....as long as the culture regimen is met religiously and with constancy....

I grow two aerides and two strap-leaf vandas (plus my falcatas) in plastic vanda baskets and red lava rock, south-facing window, outside in the summer. They don't seem to mind that this year the air is really, really dry.

I'd like to grow vandas too but have shied away from them. I especially like Vanda coerulea. Do they do well in caly or plastic pots? Or wooden baskets with bark or sphag?

should I pot the vanda in a pot or a basket? Also if I put it in a basket should I put some coconut husk chips in the basket

I grow Vandas in the middle of NH but it takes these things for bareroot plants to bloom for me:
*humidity 40% or better. I recommend a greenhouse or enclosed space with a humidifier and fan - I use a closet but you could use plastic sheeting to wall in an area in a room near a window
*daily soaking of the roots in a bucket of water - misting alone will not cut it in my experience. Watch for clenched leaves to determine if you are watering enough.
*supplemental lighting - I use HPS and it works great. You may be able to get away with good placement near a window and some high output fluorescents or LEDs but it may not be enough for some vandas.

---------- Post added at 04:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 PM ----------

My experience has been that bareroot plants do the best. Vandas root rot easily, have high water demand, and bloom best when their root mass is as big as the leaf mass.

If you don't want to go bareroot, you could use an empty plastic bucket as a pot with no media at all. Some people use vases. So bareroot or at least no media.

Clay works well for vandas in my experience, with a couple caveats. Again, with no media in the pot. Allow the roots to grow over the pot and hang freely. Overpot if needed but don't rip the roots away from the pot.

Couple caveats about clay...I killed a vandaceous once that had a large clay mount. I suspect it got too cold for the plant. I also had a vandaceous in clay that crown rotted, so perhaps there are some things about clay to beware of. Keep the clay pot small in comparison to the plant is what seems to work best for vandaceous.

The only vanda alliance member I grow potted and grow out in my living room near my east window with no humidifier or fan is my neofinetia. It blooms and does just fine. All my other vandaceous I grow under very bright lights in a humidified closet.

when you say soaking the roots in a bucket of water you mean to put the roots in a bucket of water for say about 15 min.

if you dont have time to immerse the roots in a bucket of water for 15 min....what I do is bring my large vandas(luzonica and sanderiana) to the shower with me in the morning .... they just love the warm steam....