V. lamellata var. boxalli in spike

[dgenovese1]

New photos added on page 2!

Because of another post I've been reading, I first discovered a few spikes on my V. lamellata var. boxalli, and when photographing the plant for the other post, I noticed a couple more.

Here are a couple of photos of the whole plant along with two that show a close up of the main growth with its 6 spikes and one of the basal keikis with its one spike...at lesat that's what I can see now.

The cool thing about this guy is that the main growth has its spikes all going in different directions, which will be very cool when they all open up.

Enjoy for now....more photos to follow when the flowers show up next month.

[pheli]

Your V. lamellata is really well grown, David.
I keep two plants of this species. But the winter where I live is still too cold for them so that they usually cast the bottom leaves and hence become ugly plants while the cold front hits. I also like the happy and healthy vandas behind.

[edwardwang]

Wow! yours is really amazing.
How did you grow it? I like the roots they have.

[whygreenberg]

David...are you sure those are spikes and not asparagus growing out of your vanda? Kidding of course. That is one amazing plant! Crazy all over. Can't wait to see your bloom pics! Nice growing!

[dgenovese1]

Originally Posted by whygreenberg

David...are you sure those are spikes and not asparagus growing out of your vanda? Kidding of course. That is one amazing plant! Crazy all over. Can't wait to see your bloom pics! Nice growing!

Yvan,

Thanks for your comments...and Peli's and Edward's too.

At the rate this crazy thing is growing spikes, I suppose it could double as aerial asparagus....I love asparagus! ...but I don't think I love it enough to snip and sauté these guys.

[dgenovese1]

Originally Posted by edwardwang

Wow! yours is really amazing.
How did you grow it? I like the roots they have.

Edward,

I grow this guy along with my other Vandas. It is in 50% shade (some are in 35% shade, like the ones in the background of the second photo); they get watered daily; fertilized weekly with Dyna-Gro liguid 7-9-5 and superthrive. Once about every 6 to 8 weeks I use magnesium sulfate and potassium nitrate (at 1 tablespoon per gallon) along with bloom booster and superthrive. That's pretty much it.

Oh, and I protect them from cold temps that drop below 50 degrees F, which happens occasionally here in the winter.

[JennS]

Wow David! That plant is just amazing. I can't wait to see the how it puts on for you.

On a side note, what do you do when the keikis start to get large? I have one with 4 or 5 basal keikis and it is in a tiny little black plastic hanging pot, maybe a 4". I am just wondering because mine look like will get suffocated because of the pot if I don't do something...but then if I do something I could harm momma! Any thoughts?

[dgenovese1]

Originally Posted by JennS

Wow David! That plant is just amazing. I can't wait to see the how it puts on for you.

On a side note, what do you do when the keikis start to get large? I have one with 4 or 5 basal keikis and it is in a tiny little black plastic hanging pot, maybe a 4". I am just wondering because mine look like will get suffocated because of the pot if I don't do something...but then if I do something I could harm momma! Any thoughts?

Hi Jenn,

On most of mine, I just leave the keikis in place, although a couple of times I have thinned them out so they don't get too crowded...but not on this plant. The only bad thing...if you want to call it that...is that sometimes the plant gets to where it looks like it is kind of wild. I wouldn't worry about the small basket...the plant will grow itself around it, and there is a new trend I've heard of, to just grow Vandas on a hook, without any basket at all. I don't know how well this works as I haven't tried it yet myself.

There have been a couple of times when I have actually divided the whole thing up once the keikis get big enough. My rule of thumb is to make sure each one has at least three 4-5 inch roots before I remove it from the mother plant. This is a nice way to share a plant that you don't want to grow into a large specimen.

I have also topped plants a couple of times, so long as the top portion has at least 3 roots on it. I did this to one of my V. tessellata plants last year. The bottom portion grew 3 side plants, and two bloomed this past fall. The top portion also bloomed 3 times; at least that's what the friend I gave it to told me.

I hope this helps.

[JennS]

I plan on keeping the keikis intact to the mother plant, I just wanted to be sure they weren't going to get crowded out. I am guessing they will be fine. I have one that has about 4 or 5 keikis and another that has one keiki.

As for the hook method of growing, I have two that came that way and I don't prefer it because it is too wobbly in my opinion. If the hook moves the plant slides down or up and I am too nervous that it might accidentally sever the one that has one keiki (it came grown on the hook). The plant in question also has a serious growth of roots off to one side and barely any on the other, contributing to it being lopsided on the hanger, whereas with a pot I could have evened it out on my own. (Sigh) too late now... So, I don't recommend it. I will try to get some pics for you to see this weekend.

[Swamper]

Man!!!!! I love these big vandas with all these spikes? YIKES!!!! awesome!!!