Vanda- yellow leaves- old roots fell off.

[Orchid Davantage]

I got this Vanda in April this year, it had long roots and was difficult to water. I lost a lot of roots along the way till it went outside in May. It seemed fine during the summer, not great, but alright, now new leaves that I could see, the new root was growing, even though it looked cracked in some places. Towards the end of the Summer, in September, after a storm, I noticed the Vanda was bent below the new root but above the olds roots, it turns out the old root system had rotten and was falling off. Two leaves had the base of the stem had yellowed out and I removed them. The next two leaves up from that also became yellow and fell off. I took the plant inside 2 weeks ago. October was wet and I should probably have taken it inside earlier. The yellowing continues. I have 2 more leaves that are yellow. Other than the new root the plant has grown, there are no other roots. The plant is hanging from one of my plumerias, by a window. I also have a light right next to it. If the yellowing continues at this rhythm, the plant will be dead by Christmas. I mist the roots several times a day, and by that I mean very thoroughly till the water drips off the root. I have sprayed the root with orchid food twice so far.

[nikkik]

I think you could be seeing the yellow leaves for two reasons: 1) the supporting root system has been lost and now there's only one root for the entire plant and 2) shock from being brought inside.

A few of my vandas pout when bought indoors for the winter. They get a ton of sun and enough water, but I do still have some that drop the bottom two leaves everytime they are brought in for the winter. Their middle finger to me for taking then from their perfect summer spots to an indoor environment!

If it was my plant, I would remove the moss in the basket, for now, to monitor what is going on inside of the basket. The moss probably helped contribute to the rotting of the root system. Let it go bare root, for now. It may require some more effort on your part, but I think it would be worth it to monitor what's going on with the plant. Plus, we want to make sure not to rot that good root.

---------- Post added at 04:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:02 PM ----------

I almost forgot, welcome to the orchidboard!!!

[Orchid Davantage]

Thank you, and thank you again for welcoming me. I will remove the moss and check how things are going there. I was really just using it so that the plant would not go too deep down the basket and break that only root I have left. I put not moss in the basket only a couple weeks ago, it was bare all summer.
You are right, the plant has been under a lot of stress growing that new root. The leaves started turning yellow when the plant was outside so I hope the plant won't be too mad at me and lose even more leaves now that it is inside, but it already has tree more going into that direction.
I have two under smaller vandas I have had for 2 years and, so far, knock on wood, they show no sign of distress.

[Bud]

it is dehydrated.... you see new roots growing so the plant is trying to survive....soak it overnight in a pail of water and remove the moss around the crown that might be rotting it....warmth ....bright light and air circulation....invest in a humidifier with oscillating fan

[Orchid Davantage]

Thank you. Should I put orchid food in the water? Or just regular water?

[Leafmite]

I agree with Bud. With proper care, you can definitely save it.

---------- Post added at 05:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:35 PM ----------

I would wait until the roots are a few inches to fertilize.

[Orchid Davantage]

I will do my best. While it is on the mend, should I soak it twice a week for a shorter time? I mist my two other ones every day and dip them once a week. What should I do about this one? The new root is coming on the side, it makes it difficult to soak for an extended amount of time. It is in a bucket of water now, after that it is going to join all the other orchids in a sun room. It has lights and humidifiers.

[nikkik]

We got four NOID vandas off of the raffle table at my orchid society; they literally had no root systems, the good ones had a half rotted root. They were infested with scale, so naturally they stayed outside, so we could take care of the scale first (they couldn't come indoors for the winter and ruin my valuable plants). The scale was gone, so now we turned our attention to getting a root system back. My husband has decided to make this his project. Even though we normally hang all of our vandas overhead, these are currently the exception. He has decided to use vase culture to establish a root system. It is working very well. He leaves water in the bottles (oberweis milk bottle and zip sauce bottle) and keeps the stem of the vanda above the water, so it doesn't rot. We are seeing new root growth and no leaf loss. If you have the space this may be a good option for you until you get a good root system.

If you need more detailed information on exactly what we're doing with our four let me know. There are also a ton of threads about vase culture and vandas on the OB.

I agree the plant is dehydrated and can be saved. And the good news is vandas can grow roots all year long.

[AussieVanda]

Just watch for fungus or other infection, its immune system is liklely to be weakened.

I've got a NOID vanda as well, given to me in very poor condition. It now gets heavy water every day and a soak in 5in1 twice a week. I'm also trying an old wives tale of hanging it upside down to encourage root growth (it's a NOID freebie so nothing to loose ). At the moment the leaves have improved out of sight and the plant is trying to bend itself back up the right way, I'm hoping that new roots will pop out near the bend in the stem. If it doesn't work who cares, it cost me nothing.

[CR7cristiano]

Your live spanish moss if anything is a positive in this equation. Bud said moss at the crown, but thats the base of the plant.
And to Nikkik, your plants lose their leaves when you bring them in because of shock and because I'm guessing you also have central air? That makes it very dry and makes the plant lose moisture quickly if you don't have humidity.

Ok now back to the main issue. Your plant is suffering from some shock. You can either do as Bud said and give it a nice soaking daily with a fertilizer at a reduced strength and eventually it will settle. It is only losing leaves because it is frantically trying to reduce its surface area by way of total foliage. The more leaves it has the more surfaces it can lose moisture from, especially with such a newly reduced root system. If that is live spanish moss, I would keep it at the base of the plant, but less tightly packed and water by running under a pipe. If you don't have a humidifier and your home is centrally air conditioned/heated then this moss will create some humidity at the base of the plant and therefore help out the new roots retaining moisture. I would make sure that its packed loosely in the plastic basket to allow air flow while holding in some moisture.
Just follow that routine every morning and it will settle and come back around; and with even better roots.