Monster vanda broken crown, and Keiki overload

[Florida Realtor Paul]

Hi Everyone.

My first real post! I am fairly new to the vanda game. I picked up a beauty at Redlands 3 years ago. She did well hanging from a south gutter that was shaded for most of day by palms. Got sun and dappled sun until about 11am. (I'm in SW FL) One day, I found about a 3 inch section of the crown on the ground. Looked chewed off. No much to be done about it. I tried to get the crown piece to root. Rotted away. Again, not much to be done about it. I kept her there, and kept at maintenance. She continued to root, and put a keiki out. She is a hot mess. And then I had to move.

For a year, she was in THE WORST possible place. A north hanging spot on a balcony 3 stories up, no access to water. No sun of any kind. SO, for a year, she kinda was neglected a bit. She was taken inside and watered in shower 3-4 times a week. Fertilized when I could. She put out another keiki. I didn't expect a bloom. I wasn't disappointed ..LOL

In April this year, I finally bought a home. She is now hanging in the east side of my screened in lanai. She is enjoying dappled light, then sun, then dappled sun until about noon, when the sun moves around the home. She is growing the keikis at a fast clip. THEY are rooting well, with the lower keikis doing better, but the upper two have not rooted yet. the family is watered 2-3 times a day, and fertilized 2x a week. SO, here are my questions.

Mother plant. Leaves are leathery and saggy. Keikis are bright and upright. Do I entertain separating the lower heavier rooted keikis? Or just leave and let nature do her thing?

The lowest roots are very thin and woody, but DO turn a slight bit green when wet. Her total length is about 5 feet from root to tip. Should I trim off some of the more woody roots? they are almost tendril like.

There is tremendous root growth. I am assuming I am doing well by her. As the blistering Florida sun wanes this time of year, should I expose her to more sun. My ultimate goal is to get her into a tree. Tring to load pics. Site is telling me my security token is missing. Will post when I can, the pics

Feedback is very welcome![

---------- Post added at 05:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:37 PM ----------

Will not let me add pics

[Roberta]

Typically you have to post 5 times to add photos... so you are very close.

I think that you have one terrific Vanda.... I would suggest letting nature so what she will with regard to the keikis - she seems to be doing a very good job. The keikis get energy from the mother plant. Much better to have one strong, multi-growth plant than a bunch of small, weak ones. If those old, stringy, woody roots are getting in the way you can safely trim them - it sounds like you have plenty of good, newer ones and those old ones aren't doing much any more. I look forward to your photos. Once you get it a bit more light, flowers are very likely. IF you increase sun, do it gradually. Shading from trees, to get more dappled sun, is ideal (if the trees lose leaves in winter, increasing the light, also ideal) Heat is not a problem as long as it isn't from a burst of direct sun (that can burn leaves) As the sun angle gets lower, that's less of a danger. (I have toasted more leaves in March than any other time, when the sun suddenly clears buildings and such. October can also be dicey if there is a sudden hot spell, since again the sun shift may put it suddenly in a place where it wasn't, have toasted leaves then too)

[Florida Realtor Paul]

[Florida Realtor Paul]

[Roberta]

Plant looks great! Once it gets happy enough to bloom, should be spectacular. Leave it big!

[Florida Realtor Paul]

Thanks! I am going to do just that. My partner and I are designing a lath house. I need more space. LOL

I will trim off some of the stringy woody roots at bottom. Just a few.

[Florida Realtor Paul]

I FOUND the tag...now I have no idea what vanda it is. I was cleaning up the interior of the plant, and found a piece of plastic tag grown over in the basket. I managed to work it out. It started to fall apart, but I got:

V. tessellata x lawr

I going to assume the missing part is Lawrencea.

Thoughts?

[Roberta]

I did an Orchidwiz search... there is a hybrid V. tessellata x Aerides lawrenceae = Aerdv. Frank Johnston. Good guess... There's no V. lawr... so probably the Aerides is it.

[Florida Realtor Paul]

So...the mother plant is sending off some signals. She's looking peaked. I am creating another post with new pics. I'm concerned. More to come.