Growing Vandas on a wire

[susiep]

Hello fellow vanda lovers! I wanted to share my new way of growing vandas. I grow outside and water them with a hose so this works for me. I can fit more plants with their crazy roots into a smaller space. They don't really need the basket any way (that was just my attempt to control the roots). Now I just let the roots go every where and we are all happy. Cheap too. I just bought the straight wire (35 cents) from Broward Orchid Supply. Then bend a tight u shape hook at the bottom, then fold it out 90 degrees. Trim the stalk of the vanda to a healthy length ( I leave at least 5 good roots). Let the bottom root rest on the hook platform, then attach the stalk to the wire with ties in a few places and bend the wire over at the top to make a hook. They are much easier to move around now. Cleaner too, no medium to deal with. As they grow out you can just trim off the bottom and slide them back down the wire. Tom from Broward Orchid Supply showed me how to do this and I love it! The first pictures are a renanthera and the second plant is a vanda from Bonnett House Museum in Ft Lauderdale. It is off of a plant that is around 75 years old. It was grown by the owner of the house and is named for her. Vanda 'Cindy Banks'. That plant came on a wire as described above. It was shaped like a horseshoe when I got it but the wire is slowly straightening it as it grows.