Vasco. Pine Rivers 'Fushia'

[Picotee]

Drooling on my keyboard!

[MandaneWiser]

All I can say is WOW...

[sthh]

Very Nice! Lots of flowers on that spike

[TOMMYMIAMI]

Originally Posted by tucker85

Vasco. Pine Rivers 'Fushia' blooms several times a year here in South Florida. This is the first bloom this year.

hi Tucker, I just ordered one from royal orchid club. I am living in Miami, my balcony has late afternoon direct sun from 3pm till sunset. can you give few tips for taking care of this baby? direct sun possible? late afternoon one, after 4pm? or filtered only? and than water and fertilizer like other vanda I assume? many thanks

[tucker85]

Originally Posted by TOMMYMIAMI

hi Tucker, I just ordered one from royal orchid club. I am living in Miami, my balcony has late afternoon direct sun from 3pm till sunset. can you give few tips for taking care of this baby? direct sun possible? late afternoon one, after 4pm? or filtered only? and than water and fertilizer like other vanda I assume? many thanks

All the Vasco. Pine Rivers I've seen, including my own, always look a little scraggly and unhealthy. They aren't strong growers but they bloom very well. Usually 3 or 4 times a year. Yes, they can take direct sun in the afternoon but when you first get the plant it probably won't be acclimated to strong light. So increase the amount of direct sun slowly over a period of a couple weeks. That way you won't burn it. I grow mine with the roots hanging in the open air so I try to water it every day if possible. Every other day would probably be OK. When I leave town for a few days without watering it, it seems to be fine. Last year I fertilized it once a week but this year I've been fertilizing twice a week. It doesn't have any media on the roots so it can't hold fertilizer like my other orchids. You can get a little hand spray bottle at Home Depot or the grocery store. Keep a mild fertilizer mix in the bottle and spray it on the roots a couple times a week. Good luck. I find that Vandas and Cattleyas grow very well in South Florida.

[TOMMYMIAMI]

Originally Posted by tucker85

All the Vasco. Pine Rivers I've seen, including my own, always look a little scraggly and unhealthy. They aren't strong growers but they bloom very well. Usually 3 or 4 times a year. Yes, they can take direct sun in the afternoon but when you first get the plant it probably won't be acclimated to strong light. So increase the amount of direct sun slowly over a period of a couple weeks. That way you won't burn it. I grow mine with the roots hanging in the open air so I try to water it every day if possible. Every other day would probably be OK. When I leave town for a few days without watering it, it seems to be fine. Last year I fertilized it once a week but this year I've been fertilizing twice a week. It doesn't have any media on the roots so it can't hold fertilizer like my other orchids. You can get a little hand spray bottle at Home Depot or the grocery store. Keep a mild fertilizer mix in the bottle and spray it on the roots a couple times a week. Good luck. I find that Vandas and Cattleyas grow very well in South Florida.

Thanks, I will try to slowly acclimatize it to semi direct afternoon sun, I will place it in between my dracena plant:-) I have close to 70 orchids at my balcony now, so I have probably 5 spray bottles, some for clear water, some for distilled water for Masdevallia, some with seaweed, some with fertilizer:-) All set on that front, plus I do work a lot from my home office, so I can water every day. I have only one vanda in my collection but I did order 3 more vanda species right now, one of them this Vasco, I love them but I was really disappointed for a years with mine, it did bloom only when I bought it, and than it was in shade side of my balcony, it was growing great, nice green leaves, but never bloomed again, so I did move it to direct sun after I read they need a lot of light, and burned it:-( Now, it is in filtered sun, under shade cloth, it did loose quite a few leaves from burn, but it seems to be doing much better and roots are stronger, so I hope this change did help and will bring it to bloom, and I decided to give Vanda another chance:-) I know my biggest problem was not enough light, plus not fertilizing as I should:-) Can't wait for this one to thrive and bloom, I hope:-)

---------- Post added at 04:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:53 PM ----------

Funny you mentioned it, Vanda's and Cattleya's grows well in Florida, both of them had always issues at my balcony:-) I did mention problems with light, for both of them, and for cattleyas I guess also watering, too much rain at the spot I had it, killed already like 3 in years:-((( So now I did get only mounted one, and change the spot again, and hope for my cattleya to bloom, cause I do love them, both Vanda and cattleya are my favorite orchids, but i seems I have great success with bulbophyllums, dendrobiums, and other more rare species than with these 2, which of course are growing and blooming like crazy for all my friends who had them free in the gardens at the trees:-)))

[tucker85]

Originally Posted by TOMMYMIAMI

Thanks, I will try to slowly acclimatize it to semi direct afternoon sun, I will place it in between my dracena plant:-) I have close to 70 orchids at my balcony now, so I have probably 5 spray bottles, some for clear water, some for distilled water for Masdevallia, some with seaweed, some with fertilizer:-) All set on that front, plus I do work a lot from my home office, so I can water every day. I have only one vanda in my collection but I did order 3 more vanda species right now, one of them this Vasco, I love them but I was really disappointed for a years with mine, it did bloom only when I bought it, and than it was in shade side of my balcony, it was growing great, nice green leaves, but never bloomed again, so I did move it to direct sun after I read they need a lot of light, and burned it:-( Now, it is in filtered sun, under shade cloth, it did loose quite a few leaves from burn, but it seems to be doing much better and roots are stronger, so I hope this change did help and will bring it to bloom, and I decided to give Vanda another chance:-) I know my biggest problem was not enough light, plus not fertilizing as I should:-) Can't wait for this one to thrive and bloom, I hope:-)

---------- Post added at 04:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:53 PM ----------

Funny you mentioned it, Vanda's and Cattleya's grows well in Florida, both of them had always issues at my balcony:-) I did mention problems with light, for both of them, and for cattleyas I guess also watering, too much rain at the spot I had it, killed already like 3 in years:-((( So now I did get only mounted one, and change the spot again, and hope for my cattleya to bloom, cause I do love them, both Vanda and cattleya are my favorite orchids, but i seems I have great success with bulbophyllums, dendrobiums, and other more rare species than with these 2, which of course are growing and blooming like crazy for all my friends who had them free in the gardens at the trees:-)))

I have two suggestions if your cattleyas are getting too much rain water. I like to grow them in an open wood basket (a 6" basket from Home Depot is good). I use large chunks of media that are 1" to 2" in size. I buy a cork slab and break large pieces of cork off to use. I also put large lava rock. I bought a bag of lava rock from Home Depot. I also use some large chunks of tree fern fiber. You can get that from orchid supply stores. It can rain all day and the roots will be fine if they're grown like that. Secondly, when there's lots of rain during the summer cattleyas often don't get enough calcium. That can mean fungus and rot problems. You should always use a fertilizer that has calcium and magnesium in it. If you don't mind the extra expense you can buy a calcium/magnesium supplement and use it once or twice a month.

[TOMMYMIAMI]

I spent probably over$1000 in last 35 days only for new orchids, baskets, mixes, tree ferms, so extra expense is really no issue. I am using fertilizer 15-5-15 recommended by kawamoto from Hawaii, and also dyngrow, plus seaweed. Thanks so much for the tip, I did write it down, I have supplier for all orchid things, so I have access to everything, except cork slab, I did look but didn't find it in store, is it also in Home Depot, or some specialty store:-) I wish I have saved all corks from wine bottles, they would maybe work as well:-)))) So many thanks for the tip, will definitely try. I did repot one cattleya that is doing good into the basket this spring, however your mix sounds much better, will get cork, lava rocks and tree ferm and make my own mix:-)