Dry / dehydrated vanda roots

[Orchidguy88]

Hello,
I have recently purchased a vanda (V. DR ANEK x SIMIRANE LEK (M) .. that's what it says on the tag, from a local show. Of course excitement took over and didn't completely inspect before purchase, I'm hoping my new addition will get through.
I feel it's extremely dehydrated, the roots have cracked places previous to me and they are all green, but not really a good green.. I don't think. really only the roots I'm concerned about, I have gone through with tweezers and cut away anything dead. I have been soaking it in a bucket 2x a day for 30mins - 1hr for about 7 days.

Here are some pictures, I'm going to continue to soak it hopefully I see new roots.
I hang it in a south patio window, sun in the morning
I don't monitor humidity really.. sorry :-/

Any opinions helpful tips appreciated
I have been on the look out for a big enough vase (not sure yet)
The roots on this thing are externally long, they look really healthy at the bottom. Kinda white when need to be watered and a nice green when watered. But up close to the base of the plant looks brittle some are thin, I have I would say maybe 2 good thick roots at the base out of 4, but they have pretty evident cracks in them.. big roots branch to small, small turn healthy at the bottom.. I don't want to cut the good..

So many thoughts,
Thank you

[Selmo]

I am not a vanda expert living in the midwest. But let the roots turn back to white with in a few hours of being watered. As long as they turn back to green when you water, they are still alive and active. The roots look good, but they need to go though wet then dry cycle. Those who live further south and grow these more than I can tell you more on growing these, but I think you are keeping them too wet if their roots are green all the time.

[Orchidguy88]

Thank you selmo,
It's really strange the roots are almost stained green, I'm wondering if it was a fertilizer they were using before I bought it, or maybe it was in a stagnent corner of a greenhouse. Between my watering I notice the healthier roots at the end of the root system get that nice white. The roots closer to the base of the plant mostly stay that green colour. I tried to rub it off gently, a little came off but looks like the root absorbed some kind of green food colouring water.
I really wonder what that green stuff is, :-/

Thanks

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Don't cut any more roots. Even ones that look dead to you might not be. When they're good and dead they shrink down from thick things to really skinny, black things. I don't cut roots, even when I think they're dead, unless they turn black, skinny and mushy when wet. I arrived at this point by cutting obviously dead roots and seeing they had a bright green core - I was mistaken.

Long, flexible roots break when moved. It's hard to take them from one place to another without this happening to some extent. Cracked roots still function just fine. The crack is in the spongy outer layer of velamen, which is not alive. The inner layer is a thin living structure that sucks water out of the spongy velamen.

Vandas need lots of water, especially when humidity is lower than ideal. The leaves should have no trace of linear wrinkling. If they do, they will usually plump up when proper watering resumes.

Watering twice a day is probably fine. I try to wet my seedlings at least once a day during warm weather, sometimes twice. I soak their roots in water overnight every 2-3 days during warm weather - or the leaves begin to shrivel.

Commercial Vanda growers say they need a huge amount of fertilizer. I have heard or read two Florida commercial growers say they water their Vandas every day, and they replace every 5th watering with fertilizer solution, using 2 tablespoons per gallon of 20-20-20 with micronutrients. This is enormously more fertilizer than most people use for other orchids.

The green stuff on the roots is algae. It's fine. It means the plant grew in a very humid atmosphere. They are fine with this.

People who soak Vanda roots a lot also see green or black algae grow on the velamen. It's not a problem.

[Orchidguy88]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome to the Orchid Board!



The green stuff on the roots is algae. It's fine. It means the plant grew in a very humid atmosphere. They are fine with this.

People who soak Vanda roots a lot also see green or black algae grow on the velamen. It's not a problem.

AWESOME new thank you! I was pretty worried about the green! I was starting to think they sold me a read dud.

The roots are really long and pretty awkward to water, IV been spraying them so they are softer before I gingerly put them in a bucket of water.
Can't wait for some new healthy roots!

[estación seca]

Hang it in the shower. Spray it once thoroughly. Go do something for a few minutes. Come back and spray it thoroughly again. It usually takes 2 goes to completely soak the roots. This way you won't have to fold the roots into the bucket.

[Dollythehun]

And, welcome!

[HighSeas]

I agree. Don't cut off any more roots! Vanda roots can be tricky. Actually, the green looks like moss to me. It's okay though. I have a few like that and they are happy and blooming.

[Orchidguy88]

Hello,
I figure I should post an update it's been a while!

My Vanda is doing GREAT!! I'm so happy with it right now. I was really scared of all the dry looking roots, a lot of them were all dead and fell off naturally, some of the bigger ones plumped back up and now have started producing new roots!! YAY!
This plant has taken a lot of my time, I have been watering it religiously 2 times a day morning before work, and night time before bed, so far this has been working well for myself and the kind of climate I live in. There was a week that I went on vacation and didn't leave my bands in the care of other hands, she defiantly didn't like that! She was flowing at the time, most flowers dried up by the time I got back and her roots were crying for water I could hear them ;$ lol (my mistake, and now I know better)
I have also added some Spanish moss around the bigggers stronger roots to keep some moisture through the day, she seems to like that a lot.

I'm going to attach a couple a pictures of the new roots! These have developed since the end of march when I bought the plant.

Thanks for the great advice everyone has given

[Dollythehun]

Whoever thought we'd get excited about roots? 😁