Haul from Motes: Biting Off More Than I Can Chew

[alecStewart1]

Hey gang, my haul from Motes (almost all) came in, and my my I think this a sign that I should chill out on collecting plants.

I got

• Vanda Karina Motes
• Vanda Motes Interstellar
• Papilionanda James Craig Adamson x Vanda insignis
• Vanda Nancy Bloomfield

I have Vanda Motes Miami Heat still coming in as well.

Now, I know mature Vandas are pretty big plants. For whatever reason, though, when I saw the deal on the MotesOrchid website, that didn't register with me for some reason. My silly lizard brain said "ooh, purple!" I did not think through how big these plants would be, for whatever reason.

Vanda Karina Motes' roots are ridiculous, but impressive. Vanda Motes Interstellar's roots are funny in that it, as my fiance said, looks like it's doing the splits.

The flower stuck around somewhat, so there are some pictures. We hung up Karina Motes and Motes Interstellar with some cotton string, since their roots are sprawling too much to be managed in a pot.

I had some bark mix and leca left, so Vanda Nancy Bloomfield is, urm, mostly potted until I get more leca in tomorrow.

Papilionanda James Craig Adamson x Vanda insignis I'll need a bigger pot.

I pot the other two because I don't really have good places to hang them, and it'll be easier to manage whenever I have to overwinter them inside.

Karina Motes and Motes Interstellar get their roots misted with the hose, and a little spray bottom I have.

Really great looking plants, but I think this is a sign I should pull back on collecting.

[smweaver]

They are all great-looking plants. I do like the quality of Motes's plants. I just wish that I had the ability to practically contend with all of the insane roots that plants of this alliance produce. Some of the plants I see online look like the roots must make something around 75% of the actual plant mass or weight. And, unfortunately, tending to such sprawling (and marvelous) chaos during the winter isn't an option.

What is the name of the flowers in the fourth picture (right after what looks like a V. coerulea hybrid)? Are they fragrant? They look like they might have a lot of V. tessellata in them, which would imply a nice fragrance.

Congratulations on your new acquisitions. They should provide a lot of enjoyment, I would think.

[alecStewart1]

Originally Posted by smweaver

What is the name of the flowers in the fourth picture (right after what looks like a V. coerulea hybrid)? Are they fragrant? They look like they might have a lot of V. tessellata in them, which would imply a nice fragrance.

It's Karina Motes.

It's mostly Vanda tessellata and Vanda coerulea.

It's not as dark as some of the pictures on OrchidRoots, which is a shame. I think the flowers didn't take well to the heat when shipping, but I haven't tried to get a whiff of them. Everything kind of smelled like warm packing peanuts when I opened the box.