terete top cut

[jen]

Hi all, just got a half dozen tops cut from Terete Vandas, they all have roots growing from the sides, but obviously not from the bottoms....do I need to do anything with these other than put them in baskets and water them?
Thanks for any help,
Jen

[michael_exler]

sounds like you have it under control. thats exactly what you do.

[Charles]

Lots of water and be careful of too much hot/dry until they can properly handle it.

[nancy]

Hi Jen -
I got a bundle of these a few years ago, and was strongly cautioned against potting or container-izing them. For several reasons - they get really tall, and the roots don't grow from the bottom, but rather from all over the place.
What I ended up using, and it has worked pretty well, though it definitely ain't pretty, is a small tube/cylinder of 1/2" mesh. I made a 2' long tube, about 3" in diameter, and wired the plants all around the outside. At first, I thought I'd fill it with moss or something, but several Singapore residents (where they apparently grow this plant into hedges, and shape them with a weed-whacker, for gawd's sake!) to just let them hang out in the air. So that's what I did.
Now (5-6 years later), they are all 4-5' tall/long, there are roots everywhere, but they do bloom as soon as the weather turns hot, and keep going until winter. I have them hung on a metal shepherd's hook out in the yard; moved it around until I found the most 'full sun, all day' area in the yard. This plant, by nature, is not particularly elegant or lovely, but it has real charm, and the flowers are very nice, especially when you have a dozen clusters at a time.
You don't say where you are or how you grow, so this may not be appropriate for you!
Have fun with them - Nancy

[jen]

Hi Nancy, Thank you for you're input, sounds cool what you did! I have wired them to open baskets for now - there are six of them, and yiu are right, there are roots growing everywhere and lots of new growth in only a couple of weeks! I live in South Florida, so these guys can be outside year-round. Like you, I keep moving them around the yard to find the most full-sun spot I have. The shepherd's hook is great idea. I have hung several chains throughout the yard, between trees, for various plants with sunlight requirements as well and that has worked out pretty well but then I have to move them when the lawn guys come. No biggie though, that's when I take them down and dunk them in fertilizer and vitamin water. You didn't say how long it took for your top cuts to bloom, I'd love to know....
Thanks - Jen

[nancy]

Hi Jen - Lucky you, to be able to leave them out all the time! I'm thinking that I got a couple of blooms each of the first two years, but they began to bloom with enthusiasm in the third summer.
Another FL resident said he attached his to those wire garden fence things (the kind you get in bundles, they are about 2' tall, white wire, hook together?) in a flower bed behind shorter things - not in full sun, but he gets flowers regularly, and just re-tops the plants as they get too tall; just adds the cuts to the others (I would think that as the roots get crazier, you have less need to tie or clip the new plants to the old).
Somebody in my orchid society attached these to the outside of PVC pipe with a bunch of holes drilled in it; then just floods the pipe with water to wet the plants (the roots grew through the holes, too). Another un-lovely but workable idea.
Regards - Nancy