I wouldn't rush. When plants (or anything else) are priced ridiculously
low, there's usually a reason.

In this case, it sounds like the plants may have been in decline for some
time -- except for the very top one or two that may be in active growth, the
leaves should be at least as long as the ones immediately below. Also, it
should not be flowering from the very top; usually, it's near the 5th mature
leaf down. It sounds like the plant has been pushed to flower so often
that it's outrun itself.

Good growing,
--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids
http://www.jborchids.com

"Niek Hanckmann" wrote in message
. ..
Hello readers,

I just went shopping and (again) couldn't resist to enter the local green
discounter. There were two giant vandaceous orchids (almost 1 meter in
length) for only €16,50 each ($20,-). They were full in leave from bottom
to top and had been flowering many times according to the cut stalks in
the leaf axils. The were in flower at the moment too, but there was
something that puzzled me.

The present flower stalk was at the top of the stem. The stem ended in a
few smaller leaves and the stalk came out of the top leave, just like you
see with reed-epidendrums. I had never seen a vandaceous flower that way.

The flowers were a mauve purple with a tiny bit of reddish spotting. The
sepals and petals were rather small and a bit inwards curved. So I think
it was a bi- or multigeneric cross with in any case vanda and arachnis as
parents. I fond a picture of Aranda Norah Alsagof / Noorah Alsakoff that
resembles it very much (I will post that on abpo).

Can anyone tell me if it is normal for these kind of plants to flower from
the top? And if not so, is it still a healthy plant? Should I run back to
the store and buy it, before someone else does? Please help me!

Grtz. Niek