Please help with new vanda

[Vanda lover]

I would imagine that clear plastic pots would help to see weather the roots are dry or not, but vandas really do like to have a lot of air around the roots. I'm tempted to try vase culture sometime. Perhaps with my little Gastrochilus to start with.

[Mikeg]

Originally Posted by BobInBonita

Unless it was frozen, a few days in the dark and dry won't hurt it.

What you do now depends completely on your growing conditions - especially light and humidity, but also temperature.

Check the Vanda forum and the culture sheet for detailed info.

I do not use any medium at all with my Vanda alliance orchids, but grow in wooden slat baskets. They really don't like their roots damp at all. Mine like to get soaked by a mist and then dry thoroughly.

Other growers in drier climates grow them successfully in empty vases. It seems that the vase just acts a s a humidity chamber. Again check the Vanda section.

My impression of Washington State is that you have high humidity, but might have trouble with light.

That is exactly how it is! But when growing inside and with a wood stove my house is very dry right now.

[Vanda lover]

I used to have that problem, I had humidity trays everywhere! Then we got a large humidifier and that helped a lot. We got one that holds a lot of water because it was needing to be re filled too often when we had a small one. We now live on Vancouver Island, and it rains so much in the winter that it is seldom too dry. My Vanda survived the dryness in a basket with misting, but if it gets too dry it can kill a new flower spike.

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[Mikeg]

Originally Posted by Vanda lover

I used to have that problem, I had humidity trays everywhere! Then we got a large humidifier and that helped a lot. We got one that holds a lot of water because it was needing to be re filled too often when we had a small one. We now live on Vancouver Island, and it rains so much in the winter that it is seldom too dry. My Vanda survived the dryness in a basket with misting, but if it gets too dry it can kill a new flower spike.

Vancouver Island right across the straight of juan de fuca??

[Vanda lover]

Yes it is. It is a rain forest area and stays mostly above freezing during the winter, usually going only a few degrees below freezing now and then. The summers are warm and dry, though. I have to mist a lot then.

[Mikeg]

I live in Port angeles right across the water from Victoria!

[Vanda lover]

Oh yes! I just realised that you are in Washington! Your weather isn't all that different from ours, but a wood stove does dry things out. We don't have one any more.

[Mikeg]

I hate growing with it in the winter...I have to water and spray so much more! And then everything dries out so much faster. And I have a hard time with orchids in the winter since it is so dry.

[Vanda lover]

Even a cheap vaporizer would help. Some of them can go for several hours without filling. I have bought them at yard sales before.

[Mikeg]

Kinda like a vicks machine that gives off steam?