My First Vanda Bloom Princess Mikasa Blue

[Ocelaris]

I wanted to share my tank, I know small, and especially so for Vandas/Ascocendas, but I'm very proud of the growth right now. They all seem to be doing well, blooming only 3 months after I got them in bloom. But the Princess Mikasa Blue seems to have smaller flowers than I was expecting. I'm fertilizing them with Ray's Semi Hydro nutrient mix with RO water, at the 200-300ppm nitrogen whatever his reccomendation. I submerge the roots in the weak fertilizer solution every day at around 7pm for half hour or hour, and lights go out at 9:30pm. Humidity is around 60-70% during the day, and down to about 50% at night. Temps are around 70-75.

The root growth is phenomenal, almost as big as my pinky finger around, and they're growing very fast... All of the roots look very healthy, except one which I have taken two pictures of, it looks like it kinda is folding in on it's self? Both on the top and bottom, and I have no idea what it is? Help? Enjoy!

The two larger vandas are Princess Mikasa Blue and Pink respectively, the smaller ones are ascocendas, a minitarum, and I forget exactly the other a yellow hybrid. The little one's were almost dying when I had them in Semi-hydro for a month, but saw the "vandas in a vase" thread, and got the idea to mount them in the plastic pots, and they are coming back very strong. Lighting used to be too strong, but I brought the levels down, and they're opening up again and no signs of spots on the minitarum anymore.

I am about to embark on building a larger orchid tank soley for vandas, 4x4x2 foot (120x120x60cm) with metal halide lighting, automated watering... wish me luck! I just love Vandas, and it's always a discouragement that most people who grow them have either a greenhouse, or live somewhere tropical. Well, I'm in my 20s, married, no kids, but we can't afford a house yet, and we live in New York City, (brooklyn really), so electricity and space are both very expensive... Someday I'll have a huge greenhouse, but for now I'm satisfied with smaller things and saving for a rainy day

[Grandma M]

They are beautiful and your setup looks great. What is the deep blue one in the smaller picture?

I am trying to grow 4 vandas. I have them in wooden baskets with some lava rock to hold them in place. I think they were not getting enough light, even though 2 of them are in bud. I have had them sitting in a tray under lights. Today I decided to rig up something so I could hang them.

I think I gave two young men at Lowes a good laugh for the day. I said I wanted to build a plant rack to hang baskets on. I asked for help selecting the materials. I was told to have the person I was having build it for me to come in with the measurements. When I showed them the drawing I had made, and told them I was doing it myself, they looked at each other, and then at me, as if I was crazy. I asked about using PVC pipe but was told it would not hold much weight. Black plumbers pipe would work, and not be too costly, but I would need to paint it if it would get much moisture. I ended up getting galvanized pipe with the necessary fittings.

I bet when I left they went into a back room after I left and said, "now we have seen everything. We just sold an OLD lady, who walks with a cane, some pipe and she thinks she is going to build a plant stand.......by herself."

When it is finished I may take a picture in to show them what a 75 year old lady can still do. They underestimate my will power and determination. Age has nothing to do with it.

Wish me luck so I don't mess up.........like I'm sure they think I am going to do.

[snow]

way to go grandma you show them yuong wippersnappers
us seniors weren,t born yesterday
from another senior

[Grandma M]

Thanks for your nicely worded reply. Just because I walk with a cane doesn't mean I'm helpless. I can hear, see, think clearly, and I can put together a bunch of pipes as well as a 30 year old. I'm only as helpless as I allow myself to be.

[Tindomul]

Grandma M. Your participation on an online forum at the age of 75 is an indication, heck a big yellow flag, of how able you are. I have no doubt you will complete your project better than I could (seeing as how I have no building experience). Let us know how it turns out.

Ocelaris,
I cannot believe you are growing Vandas in NYC. I live in Queens, NYC and had long ago given up the idea of growing Vandas. The orchid I own closest to a Vanda is Dykia hendersonianum. Its doing sort of ok. Not sure. I see that some of your vandas are in semi hydro and some are bareroot? Is that true?

You both are an inspiration to me!!!

Singed,

--Very curious about your Vanda culture

[Ocelaris]

There is only one plant in bloom right now, it is princess Mikasa 'blue'... I have 4 vandas all bare root, in semi-hydro I have 1 encyclia, 2 phals, 1 mini cats, one BLC, and 2 paphs. It's a struggle, but the vandas seem to be doing the best of any... they could use a little bit more room, but for a 2x2x2 square box they're doing superb. I've been meaning to find out about the local orchid societies, we just moved here 6 months. I've been meaning to go to the Brooklyn Botanical gardens and the one north of the Bronx on metro north... but wasn't sure if they had displays in the winter.

That's great that you built a plant stand Grandma M, I can relate to having home depot/lowes employees chauffe at my goals... I used to go in looking for help, but I've since given up... and forget about talking to any other guys my age about growing orchids... I think we all feel isolated in some way, others not believing in us has a terrible effect. It's invigorating when you succeed, but a constant downward pressure on you is never a good thing for your psyche. I actually find solace in working out things like plant stands and lighting on my own; partially because I don't need anybody else's help.

That's not to say I don't enjoy sharing with people who care and appreciate similar things, that's why I share on the forums. I think the sense of Do-It-Yourself transcends generations; the older I get, the more I realize people never change, after about 16, 18... people's personalities have settled, they may gain more prestige, more experience, but they treat all these subjects with the same personality they developed when they were young. It bothers me when people say "when you're my age, you'll understand". Because it seems to me a cop out because they can't find any other reason than age which means so little to me. I find people of every age intelligible and interesting, also docile and imibilcilic. Age is the last decider in my book on how to judge someone, followed shortly by sex... Yes there are stereotypes of every age/sex/race/shoe size, that hold true to in some regards, but a person of uncommon determination, compassion, and humility has no shape, color or creed.


In that regard, I would say we have more in common than not If I could only trade a little youth for knowledge, it'd be a poor trade on your behalf!

[Grandma M]

Today I started to assemble my project. I was set up for failure before I started. My pipe is all 1/2 inch. Some of the fittings which they sold me were to connect 1/2 inch to 3/8 inch pipe. Needless to say, today I head back to Lowes. I will personally pick out my pipe fittings myself.

[cneos]

Hi Ocelaris ...
Congratulations on blooming your Ascocenda Princess Mikasa. First blooms are never what you expect but it looks like you are on your way to some pretty spectacular displays!

Ascocenda Princess Mikasa is one of the easiest plants in the vanda alliance to grow. It blooms on relatively small plants (3 or 4 sets of leaves) and because of this, Princess Mikasa is one of the most widely mericloned plants in the alliance.

Ascocenda Princess Mikasa, a hybrid of Ascda. Royal Sapphire x V. coerulea, is vividly colored, from the 'blue' to 'pink' or fuchsia. Flower size on ascocendas like Princess Mikasa will generally be smaller than the vanda parent averaging 9 cm ns ... on mature plants, each inflorescence can have an average of 10 flowers.

Ascda. Princess Mikasa is considered to be a 'compact' plant but it has a tendency to produce lots of keikis resulting in a big plant. On the AOS awarded 'Indigo' ... a CCE 90 points ... there are 132 flowers, 32 buds on 14 inflorescences on a plant that has 11 keikis.

Seeing your photos, looks like you could be on your way to beating that!

BTW, roots that look like they're folding back on themselves are 'bifurcated' ... I'm told this is a sign of a healthy, happy plant in the vandaceous alliance.

Great growing!

[Ocelaris]

Thanks, It's good to know they're a compact plant, and if they're happy and flowering, I'm at least ready to take on a little more challenging vanda when I've got the space.

When you say bifurcated, do you mean this crack in the root? I'm not quite sure what that is? I'll post it in the problem section too to see if it's a problem.

[cneos]

The root that you'ved circled is bifurcated. Eventually the root will split and there will be two root tips - like a snake's forked tongue. The root is fine as long as its root tips keep growing.