Vanda health query

[Surjasama Lahiri]

Hello all,
I recently acquired a couple of Vandas from a local shop that were selling it at throwaway prices. The conditions of these plants were not the best of quality. I however, went ahead with the deal and took care in potting them properly and setting their place up. After a week, both the plants started showing yellow leaves and in one particular, it was 5-6 leaves turning yellowish. I relocated it to a more shady location and have kept it there since. The other plant is doing ok, I guess.

Can anyone help me with the above?

Here are the conditions that are currently there:

1) Humidity is more than 50%
2) the temperature range varies from 28-17 degrees Celsius.
3) I water them once in the morning via the atomizer (spray) and a quick spray in the afternoon at about 1 PM. Sometimes they get a quick dunk in the morning, every few days.
4) Fertiliser is N-P-K (20-20-20) and is used every 3-4 days.

I'm attaching some photos. The more-yellow Vanda is in the ecosystem (to help in more humidity) and the other one gets a little more sun. They seem to be developing new roots despite their conditions. Is that a nice sign?

As much as help possible guys. Thanks!!

[Jade]

The first one looks dehydrated. With these temperatures you shoud water them more (like once per day) placing your orchid in a water bucket as long ad the roots turn green.

[Surjasama Lahiri]

They are receiving water everyday, in the morning like I've mentioned. Should I further raise the water quantities? They are developing new roots and these seem to be growing with each day.

[AussieVanda]

Dehydration.

The yellowing and dropping of the leaves (and i guess that some have dropped off by now) is the plants way of trying to conserve water.

Looking at your photos it seems evident that you have poor root growth. Without pseudo bulbs, a vanda's storage system is the roots. Without good roots you end up with plants like yours.

You neex to up the watering, fertilise regularly to encourage root growth.

To start though, prepare a bucket with say a seaweed mixture or similar and soak your plants for at least a couple of hours at a time. You can probably do that a couple of times a week. Not only do you want to rehydrate, but also stimulate root growth and balabce out any nutrition deficiency.

As an idea of how much water normally, you should see the roots go a greenish colour with lighter patches like leopard spots being evident. On unhappy roots this may not be so apparent though.

Good luck!

[RJSquirrel]

water hungry vandas are sneaky. got to dunk them things and water them like you mean it as one said. Stand there for a few minutes hosing them down vigorously . A quick spray doesnt do a whole lot as you can see. They need water and needed it yesterday.

[Surjasama Lahiri]

I've been doing some research over the net. Would it be a good idea to let them have a water dunk for about 5-10 minutes? Till their roots get greener anyway. Then it'd be easier to deal with them.

Lemme know!

[Orchid Whisperer]

I found that it was very easy to revive Vandas that had even minimal roots by switching to vase culture. Please have a look at this thread, especially my post from December 9: http://www.orchidboard.com/community...times-two.html

This is a very easy way to grow Vandas. The plants in the photos had only 2 or 3 roots when I first bought the plants. The new roots were produced without the aid of rooting hormones etc.

good luck

[Gage]

I'm guessing when you potted them up they were bare root? If so you may be rotting those roots by burying them in wet coconut husk. If they were in fact bare root they were uses to drying out between waterings. I would remove all media and water them daily after they have dried out.

[Surjasama Lahiri]

These have been over a month with me. I read over the net that shedding the yellowish leaves at the bottom are a GOOD sign that the orchid wants to grow further. I'm also going to inform everyone that the orchid is indeed growing new roots from the main stem. It's getting bigger and bigger everyday!

[Gage]

For a Vanda, shedding leaves is a response to stress; ie cold, dehydration, fungus, insect damage. Since it is growing new roots it will probably be fine.