Help growing vandas outdoors

[MattWoelfsen]

Mascia thank you for updating your post on Vanda growing in Brasil. Out of curiosity, where do you live in Brasil?

[mascia]

Originally Posted by MattWoelfsen

Mascia thank you for updating your post on Vanda growing in Brasil. Out of curiosity, where do you live in Brasil?

Hi, I live in the state of São Paulo, in the coastal area. Here's one of the wettest regions of the country and, as I've learned, a great place to grow orchids outside.

[MattWoelfsen]

Sāo Paulo! I had an opportunity to work north of the city several years ago. I worked several months in Rio de Janeiro too. You live in a great country.

[voyager]

Sorry for not seeing your post earlier. I grow Vandas outdoors mounted on the trees in my yard. All of them that I am aware of right now, are hybrids. There are a few relatives such as Rhynchostylis that are species plants.
I am in Hawai'i @ about 20° N. The official rainfall is listed as about 150 to 160" [380 to 400 cm]/yr. But, we are also officially in a drought condition. In the winter we can get 7 weeks or more without any significant rainfall. But, we do have very high humidity going to 96 to 100% RH almost every night with moderate to heavy dew every morning.

Vandas do quite well in my yard. In fact there are even at least 2 types of hybrids [V. Trimerril and a V. luzonica based hybrid] that are reproducing on their own throughout my area. They are throughout my yard and other yards throughout the neighborhood.

Conditions are not perfect for them here. As young or newly mounted plants they do not look luxurious and appear to struggle a bit to survive. But, as they age and get larger with more new growths they hold their leaves better and begin to look pretty good. The deciding factor is probably their needing their root system to be well developed all over and up and down the entire length of their tree to insure access to moisture. I find a lot of my more established feral Vandas when I see orchid roots on a tree at eye level, then follow them up to a plant that's 30 to 50' [10 to 15 m] up in the tree. I do not consider myself to be very knowledgeable about Vandas. I just tie them to a tree, then step back and wait to see what happens. Very few do not survive and grow. Although most do not flourish. But, I think they'll do better as their root systems develop with age.

EDIT:
Search my Alias and Vanda. I have quite a few posts with photos of Vandas and other orchids from around my yard.

[mascia]

Originally Posted by MattWoelfsen

Sāo Paulo! I had an opportunity to work north of the city several years ago. I worked several months in Rio de Janeiro too. You live in a great country.

We do have our problems but I really enjoy living here! There are hundreds of big orchid growing companies around São Paulo. Did you get a chance do visit any?

---------- Post added at 01:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 PM ----------

Originally Posted by voyager

Sorry for not seeing your post earlier. I grow Vandas outdoors mounted on the trees in my yard. All of them that I am aware of right now, are hybrids. There are a few relatives such as Rhynchostylis that are species plants.
I am in Hawai'i @ about 20° N. The official rainfall is listed as about 150 to 160" [380 to 400 cm]/yr. But, we are also officially in a drought condition. In the winter we can get 7 weeks or more without any significant rainfall. But, we do have very high humidity going to 96 to 100% RH almost every night with moderate to heavy dew every morning.

Vandas do quite well in my yard. In fact there are even at least 2 types of hybrids [V. Trimerril and a V. luzonica based hybrid] that are reproducing on their own throughout my area. They are throughout my yard and other yards throughout the neighborhood.

Conditions are not perfect for them here. As young or newly mounted plants they do not look luxurious and appear to struggle a bit to survive. But, as they age and get larger with more new growths they hold their leaves better and begin to look pretty good. The deciding factor is probably their needing their root system to be well developed all over and up and down the entire length of their tree to insure access to moisture. I find a lot of my more established feral Vandas when I see orchid roots on a tree at eye level, then follow them up to a plant that's 30 to 50' [10 to 15 m] up in the tree. I do not consider myself to be very knowledgeable about Vandas. I just tie them to a tree, then step back and wait to see what happens. Very few do not survive and grow. Although most do not flourish. But, I think they'll do better as their root systems develop with age.

EDIT:
Search my Alias and Vanda. I have quite a few posts with photos of Vandas and other orchids from around my yard.

Hi, I searched for your posts and the place looks incredible! I get 250 to 300cm of rain but I can't remember ever experiencing 2 or more weeks of drought. It can happen occasionally during our "winter" when it doesn't rain as much.

I'm also south of 24ºS so I probably get a couple more months of cool temperatures than you do there. We are surrounded by what we call Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Forest), which looks very green year round and is also home to a lot of orchid species, including the true miltonias:



Regarding the vanda, it's interesting you mentioned the roots. All the new root growth so far had came from the original roots that the plant came with, but I was checking mine today and there's this thick root coming from the back of the plant that is growing towards the tree trunk and hopefully will get attached to it:

[estación seca]

The Miltonia is amazing!

Vandas I buy that have recently been imported from Thailand have very thin, threadlike roots. When they grow roots in my conditions they are very thick, like the ones you show. I have read Vanda roots in very wet and extremely humid regions are thin, and in lower humidity they become thicker. I don't know whether this is true, but none of my Vandas has ever produced roots as skinny as the ones some have on arrival.

[mascia]

Originally Posted by estación seca

The Miltonia is amazing!

Vandas I buy that have recently been imported from Thailand have very thin, threadlike roots. When they grow roots in my conditions they are very thick, like the ones you show. I have read Vanda roots in very wet and extremely humid regions are thin, and in lower humidity they become thicker. I don't know whether this is true, but none of my Vandas has ever produced roots as skinny as the ones some have on arrival.

I noticed this as well, even when I buy vandas that were grown here in Brazil. I think it's more related to the amount/frequency of water they get when grown in greenhouses rather than the humidity.

I think here is more humid than most of Thailand, and I still get thick roots every time. By the way, all the threadlike roots that my vanda came with died in the first months

[mascia]

Originally Posted by mascia

Hi everyone,
I thought it would be interesting to post an update.

I ended up buying a bigger vanda in december, which I mounted and it's been doing great, even better than the one I have indoors.

I did try to water it if it didn't rain for more than 4/5 days, but that hardly ever happened. We had a hot spell during summer and I was worried it would damage the plant, but it didn't seem to mind the heat at all.

It lost some of the roots it came with and it took forever for it to show new root growth, which only happened about a month ago, when temperatures started dropping.

Other than that it is looking great and is producing its 4th new leaf. No flowers yet, but I'm patient!

Wow, it’s been 3 years already! Here’s an update on the Vanda. It’s doubled in size and the roots have grown into the actual soil around the tree. It’s basically ignored - no water other than rain water - and it still blooms twice a year. Amazing plant!



And a new flower stalk!