Rhy. Gigantea potting/setup help

[farley101]

I recently added a Rhy. Gigantea to my collection, my second vanda! The first one limped along in my dry winter conditions, but has really done well the last few weeks outdoors when it has been hot and humid so I figured I would try another.

The plant I received is very nice and large for the price. My concern is that it is growing basically bare root which I am struggling to keep up with. I soak it every evening but the roots don't seem to be doing much of anything.







Pics are from this evening before bringing inside to soak overnight.

I've heard that these don't like to have roots disturbed, especially since there isn't any active growth. I was thinking of finding a bigger basket or something similar to put the smaller one in that I can add some medium to keep moisture around a little longer. It can get very humid here but generally bounces between the 40's during the day and 80+ at night.

I have been giving this one full sun, which I've found in research is not ideal for this particular vanda. I'd guess that isn't helping with causing the roots to dry out very fast.

Any suggestions on changes I can make would be appreciated. Thanks!

[SouthPark]

farley ----- as long as it's humid enough for it to grab moisture from the air, then that will be good.

The orchid doesn't have emotion or thinking ability as such. So it can't do something such as like or dislike ----- although if it doesn't appear to be growing well, or declining in health, then I can understand the pinning of high level animal behaviour (ie. like or dislike) to a plant.

Anyway, if the plant has a lot of roots already, which it does ----- and as long as they remain nice and healthy like that, then that's absolutely fine. When those roots are maintained in that good condition, and provided the plant gets the nice growing temperatures and lighting levels, then it's definitely going to grow more new roots.

Roots of plants like this can take a while to grow. Orchids are often relatively slow growers, when compared to some incredibly fast growing plants - like banana plants, certain kinds of trees and bamboo etc.

[Dollythehun]

I've killed a couple of these. I was told to grow them like succulents. In our climate, that's wrong. I now have mine in a moss mix and it's perked up. However, yours looks pretty stuck to that basket. Can you put it in dappled shade outside? Mine seemed to like that and then I hit it with the hose daily. One if our members pm'd me with detailed instructions, I'll try to forward them to you. If you go to Hauserman's, you'll see tables of huge ones in pure moss...

[Mr.Fakename]

As SouthPark pointed out, maybe give the plant some time to adapt and see how it reacts. If the roots don't desiccate, you're doing it right.

I grow my Vandaceous in a mix of big bark and charcoal, and water every day/every two days depending on how hot it is. Their aerial roots and leaves are sprayed every morning.
I just make sure the substrate is dry before it gets any water, as those orchids seem to be prone to fungi attacks.

[Keysguy]

I've got 3 different colors in my collection because I love the colors and the fragrance but I'm in a location where they want to be so I grow them in bare baskets just like yours is. I think the key for you in MN is going to be humidity and not just water, especially over the winter.

Farley-- how far are you from Plymouth? You need to do a field trip to Orchids Ltd. some day to see how they grow their plants.

One key thing to know about Rhyncho's......they are very, very, very slooooooooow growers so don't expect to see sudden signs of happiness like green root tips, new growth, etc. They don't give you much insight into what they're doing.

[DirtyCoconuts]

i think that if you can the root zone humid you will win. how you do that is a question of preference and resources

i suggest a few options to get you thinking about what you want to do.

can you get Spanish moss? it is a great companion plant for vandas as it can be placed all over the root area and it will increase humidity and provide a bit of shade as well. it lives in generally the same conditions so it should live

do you have a shower you don't use or room in the bathroom where you DO shower? i have seen some cool setup that use the tub as a basin/catch and some people who let their shower steam do a lot of the work

a larger basket with shredded mulch in the space between the two and perlite. I don't like sphag so i find alternatives that work for me so there are other options as well.

subrosa does really cool things with FWC and that would work here since the plant is relatively small

[Carebear2]

Having had a rhynchostylis about the same size with the same looking roots when I first got it for roughly a year now I hope I can shed some help on the matter for you farley.
I am still a novice with rhynchostylis and I live in the Uk where it is cold all year and wet and cloudy.
But I am doing ok, found a few moss mites on it this week but they are easy to get rid of, I think some of the original roots are starting to decompose now but I have plenty of new ones growing.

So first things first, yes humidity is 80% all the time but you need more than this (or at least it has been highly beneficial for mine) - I have mine in a glass vase to increase humidity beyond 80% although I have never measured the humidity in the vase, around it is 80% so like a jungle with 80F during the day and 70F at night.
You can support the basket with plant support sticks or wire to sit on the rim of the vase

I then found that my plant still wanted more so I added pumice and clay pebbles into the basket, something big and very airy like charcoal should be good too that does not hold too much moisture as like I said in a years time some of those roots will invariably rot away - you do not want to progress this too much. Just something added to help retain a little bit more moisture.

Finally and this is completely optional but has helped with my watering is to have a cotton wick or a microfiber cloth run from the bottom of the vase into the top of the substrate - the wick sucks water from the bottom of the vase into the substrate and keeps it slightly wet so you can fill the bottom of the vase and the plant will stay watered for a week instead of twice daily spraying which would be the alternative.
You can obviously do this while the roots are mainly contained in the basket but as they grow they will grow into the water in the vase which is no good but by then the roots should be in a good enough condition to adapt to your preferred growing method however you want to keep the plant after that.

Avoid the bright lights.

Tell us how often and how much you are feeding it. It is a little bit deficient (probably from excessive light) so maybe all is fine and that is obviously the shop condition it is in but it could be a little greener and has quite a few spots that are probably a micronutrient deficiency.

[james j]

I bought one a few years ago in the same set up as yours. I dropped it, basket and all, into a larger wood basket and filled in around it with large pieces of bark.

The roots seem to stay close to the plant, unlike the way a Vanda sends out a lot of aerial roots, so I was thinking it might do okay in a pot.

I agree that they are painfully slow growers. I think that since they do grow so slow they don't need as much water as a Vanda?

[Carebear2]

not sure james, they seem to survive fine with that little water but mine is growing faster the more water it gets, it is arguably my second fastest grower behind my dendrobium anosmum in first place.

[farley101]

I appreciate all of the replies! Seems this type is a little different than your standard vanda.

Farley-- how far are you from Plymouth? You need to do a field trip to Orchids Ltd. some day to see how they grow their plants.

I'm actually pretty close and have visited the greenhouse once. Got word recently that they are not planning on having it open to the public anymore, but I can still order stuff and pick it up there to save on shipping. It seemed like they had in-pot watering nozzles on a lot of the vandas, though there are tons of plants in that GH so it got a little overwhelming to look at!

Doing a little more looking around, I noticed that Orchids Ltd grows these in a pot with very chunky bark, perlite, and maybe a little sphag. It has been very tropical outside again lately so I'm not worried about it for now, looking ahead to winter when the conditions will be a bit different.

I'm thinking I'm going to find a similar sized terracotta pot that the current pot will fit in and add it to that. Add some airy medium to help retain some moisture but still allow it to dry fairly quickly. For now, I'll keep up the soaking routine until I get it into the new setup.