My first Vanda!

[jkt97401]

First of all, thank you all for your constructive feedback! But straight to the point.

Is it normal for a new vanda to have it's roots turn black? I normally have attributed this to over fertilizing but i gave it a few days to adjust and then i used Better gro orchid plus fertilizer at half the strength it suggests for orchids. It's a 20-14-13. I wonder if it has to do with my humidity level being lower than its previous environment? My other thought is that in transit it was somewhat cool so would this affect the roots? My kelp supplement will be here tomorrow and I'll give this bad boy a thorough soak but in the mean time does anyone have any tips? Should i be worried?

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[estación seca]

Roots start white with green or purplish tips. As they age they may turn light to very dark brown. When wet they should always have some green. Younger roots turn all green and older, brown roots have green patches. At all stages healthy roots are firm.

Yes, roots can be killed during shipping. Dead roots are light to dark brown. When wet they can be almost black. They are mushy, or hollow and collapse with light pressure.

Be sure your roots are dead before cutting them off. Often the far part of a root is dead but more proximal parts are alive. Cut off dead roots back into the good parts. This might be all the way back to the stem. Use something sterilized between cuts.

[jkt97401]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Roots start white with green or purplish tips. As they age they may turn light to very dark brown. When wet they should always have some green. Younger roots turn all green and older, brown roots have green patches. At all stages healthy roots are firm.

Yes, roots can be killed during shipping. Dead roots are light to dark brown. When wet they can be almost black. They are mushy, or hollow and collapse with light pressure.

Be sure your roots are dead before cutting them off. Often the far part of a root is dead but more proximal parts are alive. Cut off dead roots back into the good parts. This might be all the way back to the stem. Use something sterilized between cuts.

Thanks for the response. When it first arrived, the root tips were a deep green, below is a pic of what they look like now as well as the whole root system. Should i be worried?



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[estación seca]

The roots all look good. Some of that is mechanical damage, almost unavoidable with shipping. The distal portions of the broken roots may die or may survive. In either case, nothing to worry about; if you care for the plant properly, it will quickly grow the roots it needs.

As for the tips - Normally tips should all be bright green or purple, and growing. When humidity is low or watering has been inadequate, root tips stop growing and turn black like this. Yours has been in shipping for a few days, not getting watered every day as it was accustomed to, so the roots stopped growing. Unless they're damaged, they will resume growing from this black or brown tip with proper watering.

Your goal in watering is to keep the root tips green or purple and growing. If they turn like this, you aren't watering enough. I have to water mine morning and evening or the root tips stop growing, and prolonged soaking (overnight to 12 hours plus) every few days greatly helps too. I have forgotten to drain the water from a vase for 5 days and the plant had no damage whatsoever. The roots looked great. At first I left water at the bottoms of the vases with the tips in the water; this was not good after a week; the tips began rotting. So healthy roots that didn't grow into water on their own can handle at least 5 days of submersion but not much longer.

If your kelp has arrived, soak the roots in a kelp solution for 12 hours or so. This will not hurt them. Do this kelp soak every month but not more frequently. You might be surprised and find new root growth occurs during any soak, but especially the kelp soak. It may take a week or more of good watering, but these root tips should resume growth.

Then continue to experiment. Water your plant so the tips stay in active growth. If they stop growing, water or soak more often. If root tips look good, the leaves will not get dehydrated. It's your plant in your environment, so you have to do what your plant needs, not what people do with other growing conditions.

Also, the warmer the better. They really go into shock below 50 degrees F / 10C. My seedlings were not bothered by temperatures into the low 100s for days on end, but at that time I hadn't realized how much I had to water them.

The more light, the better for Vandas in northern climates. And fertilize to the point the pale new growth section at the base of the growing leaf is about a centimeter / 0.4" long.

The attached photo shows a small Vanda denisoniana seedling that arrived with one dead root and one live root. I cut off the dead root. The light brown root is what it had for a while. I was watering by spraying twice daily with a spray bottle. Not until I began soaking much more did it grow the new white roots. I had been afraid to soak so much for fear of rot, but my plants dry out quickly after each watering.

[jkt97401]

You are my vanda hero and you're in my orchid speed dial now haha. Thank you for giving me the peace of mind, i was pretty stressed that it was declining! I'll soak it over night this evening! Thank you for the tip. I sincerely appreciate your help!

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[estación seca]

I'm just stumbling through learning orchid growing, like you are, trying to observe my plants and think about what they might want.