Vanda Propagation

[flytrap7108]

I have had a Vanda for about 5 years now and I no for a fact that they are extremley hard to propagate with out killing the plant. It would be nice to have a few tips on how to do it succesfuly.

[WhiteRabbit]

I'm afraid I can't help - but bumping your post so hopefully someone who can help will see it
gl

[orchidsamore]

I assume you are not talking about seed or cloning reproduction, which needs to be done in a lab and is very safe.

I assume you want keiki growth.

The plant will produce side growth whenever it wants, but usually only as the plant gets older and very large.

You have probably heard people say they cut the top of the plant and hope for new growth from the old roots.

It can produce a new plant but usually does not and the roots are discarded. If the top had new roots before cutting, it will continue to grow despite the top cutting.

The best thing to do is to let the plant grow big with good care.

I prefer to leave keiki growth on Vanda for the big bushy look. Small Vanda are cheap enough that the money saved is not significant for the work involved and the long time necessary to flower a baby Vanda.

[Charmkp]

I have been propagating vandas for sometime now and find that what it does work. Actually it first happened accidentally when my neighbour's son broke my vanda with a football, and low and below the bottom section began sending out side shoots (kiki).
What I now do is cut off the top section of the plant below two or more top roots. I replant the top section and continue to care for the bottom portion as if it was the complete plant. In a few weeks it will send out new plants. Sometimes up to 3. You get better result during spring time though. As soon as these kiki have strong, long established roots cut off and plant. I do this whenever my vandas get too tall or lenky. When doing this it is important to cut below established roots or you could loose the entire plant.
I will take some pics and post as I am now in the process of re-potting some vandas.
This works better for the sun vandas, terets, mokaras, ascocendas.

[stefpix]

I just saw a bunch of Vandas at the BBG.org and most have keikis. But only the larger ones. Some look great and some very leggy. long stem not many leaves/ roots. But the best ones are a tangle of lush leaves and keikis. Maybe you could use some keiki paste - some people say it works. I just saw a Vanda keiki that was blooming with a terminal spike. The plant was attached to a way larger one. You can't see it well from the photo but that was a keiki attached to a huge one.

I think if you chop off plants they tend to grow new shoots. I did that with reed stem Epis. I planted some Lemongrass I got at a west indian market just for cooking and the one that sprouted was the one that i chopped the top off and planted just the bas, a couple of inches of the basal stem. I am sure if your Vanda is large enough it would send out new keikis if you chop the top off. I wonder if they can get keikis on the flower stems like Phasl - wich are in teh same tribe.
I think in nature probably Vandas are not an individual plant but a clump of keikis.