How to get your Vanda orchid to flower
Vandas are my all-time favorite orchids — I just love them! They hail from tropical Asia and love heat, light, and water. Many people are tempted by the utter glamour of these beauties and they take them home and display them proudly but once the flowers have gone like les neiges d’antan many people might be at a loss for how to care for this tropical siren and ensure a second flowering the following year.
Now if we look at a Vanda we can observe that the plant has leaves and roots and that's all. It might sound very obvious since all plants have leaves and roots. It's the minimum requirement for being a plant, but what do many other orchids also have… pseudobulbs! Think of Cymbidiums, Cattleyas, Dendrobium, etc they all have pseudobulbs to store water and nutrients for when times are tough.
Pseudobulbs are not true bulbs like daffodils or hyacinths but rather modified structures for storing moisture and nutrients during, drought, cold, and any other unfavorable circumstances your orchid might encounter in the wild. Now Vandas do not have these pseudobulbs so we know that they are not accustomed to tough times and unfavorable conditions in their natural habitat. All of their needs are met all of the time.
This might sound trivial but it gives us one of the biggest insights into Vanda orchid care. If you want your Vanda to flower and grow well you need to reduce stress on your plant.
There are two main sources of stress that a Vanda orchid can experience, one is drought stress and the other is cold stress. Vanda orchids love water and they can take up a lot of water but they need a fast wet and dry cycle now what is a wet and dry cycle I hear you asking. What it means is that as fast as your Vanda orchid is saturated with water it needs to dry out just as fast if not faster and then you can water again. Why this is important, is in the wild where your Vanda would be attached to a tree with its roots anchoring it in place and heading down the trunk they are essentially growing in the air, with nothing covering them no media just the tree trunk. So when the monsoons roll in and drench your plant a few hours later the rains might stop and a breeze might come through and dry the roots and then later it will rain again and so the cycle continues… that is what I mean by a quick wet-dry cycle.
The general rule of thumb is that when the roots of your Vanda are a silver-grey color it needs a drink! There are three main ways how to water your Vanda depending on how you grow it.
If you grow it the old-fashioned method with the plant just hanging down a wire and the roots in the air (which I still think is the worst method if you are a home grower or live in a dry climate like me) then you might want to dunk your Vanda in a basin, bucket or bathtub.
When dunking your Vanda you can leave it in there for a few hours until the roots are an overall green color. How often you have to dunk your plant depends on your growing conditions. If your interior is warm and dry your plant will need dunking more often. Some people mist the roots, but honestly, I doubt if you are properly hydrating the roots of your orchid that way.
If you grow your Vanda in the glass vase method which is one of the ways I grow mine you fill up the vase with water when you want to water your Vanda and pour the water out afterward. Some growers recommend leaving a tiny amount of water in the bottom of the container so that if a few of the roots are touching the plant is constantly hydrating.
The glass has the added benefit that it keeps the humidity high around the roots so that they don’t dry out as fast as they would otherwise do if they are bare-rooted. The extra humidity will help keep the roots constantly growing which is important for the growth and flower production of your orchid.
The third way you can grow your Vanda is to pot it up like any other orchid. The important thing to note is that because Vandas need such a quick wet-dry cycle you are going to want to use a very very coarse mixture. One thing I will add here is that if possible avoid bark it breaks down and can kill off your roots as it compacts. If possible an inorganic substrate would be ideal. So perhaps large pebbles, charcoal, and wine corks can also work well.
I dunk my pots also, and because there is a little bit of moisture in between some of the individual parts of the substrate it will help carry your plant over to the next watering.
Vandas are high-light orchids they crave lots of light and even direct sunlight in order to bloom properly. This makes them ideal for a windowsill. My Vandas love the morning sun, protect your Vanda from the hot midday sun as it can scorch the leaves of your plant. The ideal placement for your Vanda is behind a sheer curtain which will flood your plant with light but take away the burn factor of the sun.
I mentioned temperatures earlier, the ideal temperature range for Vandas is between fifteen and twenty-five degrees Celsius. Cold weather can damage your plant's root tips and stall them which can set your plant's growth back. Generally, you want to protect your orchid from temperatures below ten degrees celsius. When growing Vandas in your home the temperature issue should not have an impact on your plant.
Vandas are classed as heavy feeders and they require regular fertilizers in order to grow and bloom well. I feed my Vandas every other watering using the one in between to flush out salts from around the roots of my plant. Just something to note when fertilizing your Vanda always mix it up at half the recommended dosage suggested by the suppliers. Some growers suggest that you should use a high-phosphor fertilizer to encourage blooming. These fertilizers are sometimes referred to as bloom-boosting fertilizers. However, some renowned Vanda growers like Dr. Motes from Motes Orchids in South Florida have suggested that the higher phosphor fertilizers can in fact be hampering your Vanda’s blooming potential. He suggested that the ideal fertilizer ratio is the Michigan State fertilizer ratio. When looking for a fertilizer to use on your Vandas look for one with a low middle number, fertilizers have N: P: K on them which represents the ratio between Nitrogen (N), Phosphor (P), and Potassium (K). So you are looking for a low P number!
I’ve always found my Vandas pretty resistant to any kind of pests, I think that pests are more prevalent on plants that were perhaps grown in diminished light and have grown too lush and their growth is not hardened off properly. Lush growth is manna from heaven for insects because it usually means the plant is weakened due to the diminished light and that the cell walls are not as hard as they ought to be and thus a lot easier to get a hold on to. If you do notice pests on your Vanda a soap spray (4 tablespoons to 1 gallon of water) should do the trick alternatively a systemic insecticide can be applied.
I hope that you have enjoyed this blog post below I have included some of my Vanda care videos.
