Perreiraara Sunshine Padriew Not Blooming

[estación seca]

Is it getting any magnesium?

[Shadeflower]

mop, there are different consensuses on how much to feed.

I feed my Vanda's weaker than you are at the moment.

Others might be feeding more. Don't just change your techniques overnight based on a theory.

Ok lets put it like this, ask who here thinks you need to feed more than the 1 tablespoon per gallon you are currently feeding. Once you have 3 opinions then make up your mind.

Burning roots is a real issue with Vanda's and once a root is damaged the damage is irreversible and will stay with the plant for the next 5 years. So it's easy to make a mistake and regret it. If you feed too little it might develop a little bit of a deficiency which can easily be fixed.
If you feed too much it cannot be fixed. It might be able to handle more, just be careful and only do it if you have confirmation from other Vanda growers that you definetely need more.

The roots are good but also not very plentiful. If you were to weigh the leaf mass on top and way the root mass below I woud estimate currently it is 3 to 1 weight wise.

I would estimate the root mass should be at least 2/3 of the weight of the leaves above.

So once the Vase is filled with some more roots.

This will take a year. But it does look in good shape. It might even be able to flower this year but if I had to guess I'd say it would be ready by next year.

I'd use that time to monitor if it needs more fertilizer or not. Based on the good root growth I'd say this one is doing great.

Feed it more and you might cause browning.

As long as the leaves are showing no deficiency (I cannot detect any) then fertilizing more will not promote flowering in any way. The act of flowering will be initiated from other triggers and the fertilizer might play a role in how many flowers will be produced which will give you a refernce point to judge with.

If you just go full strenth fertilzer now you will not be able to monitor any results, unless it happens to be the perfect conditions it needs...

I would have said it can actually handle more light... That is something I would be trying in your shoes right now. Leaves will always redden a bit after moving and adjusting to a new light but that reddenning has already faded imo. Reddening is a good thing to have on the leaves to get it to flower. Initially leaves can turn red from stress too, I've even had some develop red leaves from thrip damage (stress response). I think this one can get more light. If the leaves turn too red you can always back it off again. There is no harm finding the right light level based on the reddening of the leaves. MAke sure it wasn't just stress cauing them to turn red but definetely the upper limiit of light that it can handle.

[mopwr]

Thanks for the replies. I do know that the roots are not nearly as big as I've seen on some plants, but it's just what I got from Motes - figuring it was enough to support blooming since it was sold as "blooming size", but that may not be a fair assumption. Regarding the reddening, I'm sure it's in response to light - where two leaves would overlap, the one on the bottom had a "tan line" basically, where there was no red.

As far as the Calcium and Magnesium, this vanda is on k-lite - like all of my orchids at this point. I had started out with Max-Sea balanced fertilizer and liked it well enough, but at higher dosages (like I'd do for vandas and catasetums) that was a recipe for slimy green algae all over everything it touched, plants grew fine, but they grow the same on k-lite without nearly as much algae and salt build-up... Anectodal evidence IMO to support that plants don't use all of those higher P and K values, but algae does and what it doesn't use just sits in the pot unused, but that's a whole other topic.

Regarding the not blooming, based on what I'm reading here and an honest look back at the plant, I do agree it probably just needs more time to develop a more full root system. Luckily, it looks like it's working hard on that as we speak and it's pushing a new monster root, almost the thickness of my pinky, straight from the main stem.

[Shadeflower]

I'd be very happy if I had bought that one.
Blooming size rarely means it will bloom straight away. It's certainly a decent sized healthy vanda.

I see your theory on removing K and I will counter it by saying maybe the algae is not growing because all plants need K to grow. Algae needs K, potatoes need K, orchids need K. Leave out the K and no more algae grows... Right?...