Rescued a vanda from Rona, now what?

[Squishy21]

Hello everyone!

So after many years of watching my mom passionately grow orchids in their little east facing condo I decided to get into the hobby myself when I found a very sad looking vanda (no ID) hanging in the greenhouse at Rona. Brought her home and placed it in my aquarium (planted tank setup) to rehydrate it. Over the course of 3 days spending 2-3 hours in the aquarium it rehydrated and was looking rather happy.

Fast forward a few weeks, and my wife and I built an indoor green house in the basement for our many tropical plants. Namely 4 plumeria trees from Maui, lemon tree, Madagascar jasmine along with succulents and other random tropicals that required high light and humidity in the 60's, and I figured the vanda would do well in here as well.

So it's been 2 weeks in the greenhouse and I haven't seen much change other then the new leaves getting a little purple. Grown free root, watered daily 2 in rain water which it kept at 25C which is also the day time greenhouse temp which drops to 17C over night and as I said 60-70% humidity.

So my question is... what am I doing wrong or are they slower growing plants? Or do they haven a dormancy period like many other plants?

Thanks for your help and expertise!

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Orchids are almost all quite slow growing plants. A smaller, happy Vanda growing in a home might make 4-5 leaves per year. Vandas do not have a dormancy, and continue growing all year, when conditions are correct. This means warm, bright and well-watered.

Vandas need much more water than most other orchids. People who grow them bare-root water completely wet the roots every day, sometimes twice. People who grow them in medium in pots water them every 5-10 days. High humidity helps keep them hydrated, but they grow and bloom at 40%.

Your temperatures are probably fine. Most people try to keep most of them over 10-15C at night in the winter. In the summer they like much warmer temperatures so long as air circulation is good, to keep leaves from burning.

Vandas can develop purplish coloring in cooler weather if they are magnesium deficient. Many growers water them with 5-10 grams per 4 liters Epsom salts each week. It can take months to replenish magnesium stores.

Commercial Vanda growers recommend much more nitrogen fertilizer than other orchids can use. My experience has been they grow faster when well-fertilized.

Motes Orchids in Homestead, Florida, USA has a lot of information on growing Vandas on their Web site. They are posting video talks as well.

The plants you mentioned - plumeria, lemon, Madagascar jasmine (Stephanotis?) - grow just fine with low humidity all year. They do appreciate warmth and light. So long as you can keep them warm and bright, you can put other tender plants in your high-humidity area.

Plumerias go dormant in the winter in habitat, and drop their leaves. Many people in cold-winter climates unpot them, place them in a warmish spot with some light, and leave them like that all winter. However, they will stay in leaf, and grow all year if conditions are warm and bright, and they are well-watered.

[Squishy21]

Thank you so much for your prompt response!

Sorry you mention keeping them at 40% humidity to get them to bloom... that said then am I keeping my green house humidity to high as its in the 60-70% range?

Also daytime temp of 25C is that to high? Everything I have read so far suggests that most orchids prefer a 5-8C difference between daytime high and night time low.

Also I water the vanda twice a day for 5 min each, sit it in a bucket of rain water held at 25C with the aid of a fish tank heater.

And yes a stephanotis! The condo my wife and I have used over the last few trips to Maui has this beautiful vine growing around the pool, so when I saw it at our local nursery I just had to get it. It has grown over 8 feet in as many months and continues to grow vigorously in the greenhouse, no indication of blooms yet but from what I have read they bloom in the spring through summer usually.

So how often should fertilize my vanda since I'm going it bare root?

Thanks again for your reply!

Akos

[Squishy21]

Here are a couple of pictures

[estación seca]

Humidity - I meant that is sufficient for blooming, not required. In general Vandas prefer high humidity, but they tolerate less. They will enjoy 60%-70%. The other plants you mentioned don't need 60%. They grow fine even with much lower humidity.

Vandas are fine up to at least 38C / 100 F with good air circulation. The warmer they are in the day the faster they grow. 25C is fine. Several growers I read mentioned Vandas grow better with warm days and somewhat cooler nights.

Martin Motes writes a properly-fertilized Vanda will have a 1cm wide band of paler green tissue at the bases of emerging leaves. He advises increasing fertilization if the band is narrower, and decreasing if wider.

Motes and Bob Fuchs of RF Orchids both have warm, sunny weather almost all year, with high humidity most of the time. They bare-root most Vandas. They water Vandas once per day, twice on hot days. They fertilize at every 5th watering, year round. They use 15-30 ml (1-2 Tablespoons) of 20-20-20 fertilizer powder with micronutrients per gallon / 3.78 liters of water. People in less ideal conditions will not need to fertilize as much, because their plants won't grow as fast.

Other growers here do things differently. You can use Search tp find their threads.

Stephanotis blooms during warm weather. You should have quiite a show next year. It blooms best with plenty of nitrogen fertilizer.

Plumeria growers use high-nitrogen fertilizer spring through midsummer, then switch to low-nitrogen, high-phosphorus.

Citrus are heavy feeders. When happy many lemons bloom on and off all year, with a heavy flowering in late winter. They are prone to iron and magnesium deficiency, especially with alkaline water. This manifests as yellowing leaves.

The purplish area on your plant might be from sudden increase in light, rather than magnesium deficiency, which would affect the whole plant. Vandas in general need as much sun or light as possible, short of burning. If yours was kept in a dark store for a while it became sensitive.

[Squishy21]

Oh this is great info, thank you soo much! I have managed to get my plumeria to bloom this past summer for the first time and it was a real treat! One is white with a yellow center and the other is a pale rainbow!

I had to build a new frame for the jasmine once it began growing since I have seen a mature specimen I know it was going to get much bigger sooner or later, but I never expected the aggressive growth it did all summer long.
You mentioned using nitrogen to get the stephanotis to bloom but doesn't nitrogen encourage vegetative growth?

Well if the Vanda can tolerate 38C then it will love our summers here, I'll just have to make sure I water it twice a day for sure! The summers in the okanagan are hot sunny and dry! (we pay a sunshine tax for a reason)

Thanks again, I think impatience will be my worst enemy, but I'm in it for the long hall! And thankfully I have some fast growing plants that keep me busy and prevent me from fussying with the more sensitive ones too much!

[estación seca]

I didn't see your question. Different plants respond to fertilizer in different ways.

Some Jasmine bloom once per year. Others bloom throughout warm weather. In general, the more nitrogen fertilizer they get during their warm-weather blooming season, the more they flower.

Plumeria people recommend high-nitrogen fertilizer until mid-summer, when growth is fast, and then they recommend switching to very low nitrogen and high phosphorus. Many non-plant people in southern California grow them in native soil, which is extremely nutrient-poor, and they bloom just fine.

[Squishy21]

Quick update!

So the vanda is doing exceptionally well as far as I can tell. Nice and steady leaf growth and some very vigorous root growth.

The daily process has remained the same more or less, a few 5min dips in a bucket of rain water (melted snow as we have over a foot and half on the level) and a small amount of balanced fertilizer along with some magnesium.

The new leaf seen in these photos is actually the start of the 3rd leaf since I purchased it.

[No-Pro-mwa]

That's a nice looking Vanda.

[Squishy21]

Well I had a huge surprise today, my vanda has started to grow a flower spike!!