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#1
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
I recently acquired 3 decent sized used Vandas. 2 were in the
standard slatted wooden boxes. they have air roots about a foot long. draped with the roots is a mass of Spanish moss. is this a good Idea, or a bad idea. the third orchid was laying on a mass of std potting debris. I removed it, put it in a box identical to the other two, and stuffed some sphagnum moss around the in the box part. the roots are hanging down naked. should I get some Spanish moss for those roots? should I get Spanish moss to put in the box around the standard roots? |
#2
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
On May 4, 7:05 am, gerald wrote:
I recently acquired 3 decent sized used Vandas. 2 were in the standard slatted wooden boxes. they have air roots about a foot long. draped with the roots is a mass of Spanish moss. is this a good Idea, or a bad idea. the third orchid was laying on a mass of std potting debris. I removed it, put it in a box identical to the other two, and stuffed some sphagnum moss around the in the box part. the roots are hanging down naked. should I get some Spanish moss for those roots? should I get Spanish moss to put in the box around the standard roots? Live and growing drapes of Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) get along very well with the live and growing drapes of vandaceous orchid roots in my greenhouse. They both like lots of moving air and moisture. The living moss may help keep vanda roots healthy in a less than perfect environment. It would be difficult to keep either very happy in a low humid environment like a house. In my greenhouse, I let the spanish moss grow with the roots of one Asctm curvifolium basket and the plant is now massive with a huge drape of roots and moss tangle topped by a giant plant. This plant looks far happier then the baskets without moss growing among the roots. (I do believe Spanish moss is a weed and it is possible for it to begin actually competing with the plants. I don't know if it would be wise to pack it into the basket as a 'potting media'. Use it drapped from the basket to help hold humidity around hanging roots but be prepared to rip most of it out if/when it starts to compete with the vandas. I think using sphagnum as a potting media in a vanda basket would cause problems for me the way I grow them. They do not respond well to being planted. I have seen indoor growers be successful with vandas planted "on" clay pots filled with very large chunks of charcole or course gravel or even large bits of broken clay pottery are the "potting media" In my opinion it is going to be a struggle if you want to grow a vanda in an open basket in a house. On the other hand, in a greenhouse, you don't need any potting media at all; you could hang them on hooks... you just need to douse the roots and spainish moss with water/ fertilizer every day and provide lots of light and warmth. |
#3
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
On May 4, 7:05 am, gerald wrote:
I recently acquired 3 decent sized used Vandas... Used? "Tell you what, folks, this plant's got just a few miles on it. It bloomed only on Sundays..." J. Del Col |
#4
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
On May 4, 7:05 am, gerald wrote:
I recently acquired 3 decent sized used Vandas. 2 were in the standard slatted wooden boxes. they have air roots about a foot long. draped with the roots is a mass of Spanish moss. I've visited several vanda growers in Florida who don't use -any- growing medium with their vandaceous plants. I use diatomite with some, but let others grow bare-rooted--literally. They seem to do fine. J. Del Col |
#5
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
Some of ours have Spanish moss around the roots, others not. Personally, I
think the biggest benefit of the moss is that it enhances the overall look of the plant. I don't see any difference in growth. Like Al, I have a huge curvifolium covered at the base with the stuff. It looks great. We use no media at all for our Vandas. Diana "jadel" wrote in message ups.com... On May 4, 7:05 am, gerald wrote: I recently acquired 3 decent sized used Vandas. 2 were in the standard slatted wooden boxes. they have air roots about a foot long. draped with the roots is a mass of Spanish moss. I've visited several vanda growers in Florida who don't use -any- growing medium with their vandaceous plants. I use diatomite with some, but let others grow bare-rooted--literally. They seem to do fine. J. Del Col |
#6
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
The Spanish Moss is primarily decorative. It _might_ serve some purpose as
an "indicator plant" -- i.e, if the moss dries up and dies, maybe you are not watering the vanda enough??? I have no experience in potting vandas to grow in a low-humidity environment, so will leave that to others. Our vandaceous are all grown "bare in the basket" or, if we have an opportunity to dispense with the basket altogether (plant will come out easily, or we take a topcutting), then just on vanda hangers, no basket at all. But growing this way does require a thorough watering, every day in warm weather and at least every other day even when it's cool. Good growing, Kenni "gerald" wrote in message news I recently acquired 3 decent sized used Vandas. 2 were in the standard slatted wooden boxes. they have air roots about a foot long. draped with the roots is a mass of Spanish moss. is this a good Idea, or a bad idea. the third orchid was laying on a mass of std potting debris. I removed it, put it in a box identical to the other two, and stuffed some sphagnum moss around the in the box part. the roots are hanging down naked. should I get some Spanish moss for those roots? should I get Spanish moss to put in the box around the standard roots? |
#7
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message . .. Some of ours have Spanish moss around the roots, others not. Personally, I think the biggest benefit of the moss is that it enhances the overall look of the plant. I don't see any difference in growth. Like Al, I have a huge curvifolium covered at the base with the stuff. It looks great. We use no media at all for our Vandas. How then do you water and fertilize them? Do you take them down and dunk them in a bucket of water? |
#8
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
We have quite a few Vandas. So, a few years ago, Frank rigged a watering
system using sprinkler heads, PVC and a simple timer from Home Depot. The water comes on at 9 AM every morning and lasts for 5 minutes. We water more often in the dryer months, and less when we have our summer rains. We can set it for twice daily if needed. Fertilization is done a couple of hours after watering, by hand, twice weekly. Sometimes we shut down the system and just do the fert. Ideally, if we could follow Martin Motes suggestions (and he's surely right), we'd fertilize with every watering. We're not set up for that. I would never have enough time to water them by hand. They'd suffer. And, we love them, so needed to do something to give them what is needed. As far as the bucket method is concerned, the only time we use that is if we're disinfecting, i.e. using a fungicide. Otherwise, I'd be concerned that we could spread pathogens. Of course, if a plant, Vanda or otherwise, is dehydrated, then a sterilized bucket is fine. Just our two cents! Oh, by the way - we grow outside, under screens around a pool area and in an extended lanai. I am sure that makes a difference. Diana "Manelli Family" wrote in message ... "Diana Kulaga" wrote in message . .. Some of ours have Spanish moss around the roots, others not. Personally, I think the biggest benefit of the moss is that it enhances the overall look of the plant. I don't see any difference in growth. Like Al, I have a huge curvifolium covered at the base with the stuff. It looks great. We use no media at all for our Vandas. How then do you water and fertilize them? Do you take them down and dunk them in a bucket of water? |
#9
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
On May 4, 9:09 pm, "Manelli Family" wrote:
" How then do you water and fertilize them? Do you take them down and dunk them in a bucket of water? I don't have that many vandaceous plants, so I water them indoors every couple days by spraying them in a utility sink. Outdoors, I just use a hose and a fine spray nozzle. I use the same method on Nepenthes. I fertilize them with a sprayer. The bucket method seems to me to be a good way to spread disease. J. Del Col |
#10
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Vandas and Spanish Moss (Diana & Jadel)
"jadel" wrote in message oups.com... On May 4, 9:09 pm, "Manelli Family" wrote: " How then do you water and fertilize them? Do you take them down and dunk them in a bucket of water? I don't have that many vandaceous plants, so I water them indoors every couple days by spraying them in a utility sink. Outdoors, I just use a hose and a fine spray nozzle. I use the same method on Nepenthes. I fertilize them with a sprayer. The bucket method seems to me to be a good way to spread disease. J. Del Col Thank you. I only have 8 orchids at the moment and have used the bucket method when fertalizing, never giving a thought to disease spread. |
#11
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
On May 4, 9:40 pm, jadel wrote:
On May 4, 7:05 am, gerald wrote: I recently acquired 3 decent sized used Vandas. 2 were in the standard slatted wooden boxes. they have air roots about a foot long. draped with the roots is a mass of Spanish moss. I've visited several vanda growers in Florida who don't use -any- growing medium with their vandaceous plants. I use diatomite with some, but let others grow bare-rooted--literally. They seem to do fine. J. Del Col Hi, Vandas are very flexible and easy to grow provided all the appropriate requirements like lighting, watering, temperature are met. I remembered having a Vanda Madam Rattana from Thailand. I was grown in a 1.5 inches plastic thumb pot with nothing in it and it was hanged from the normal hanging wire. It grew in my garden and it produced regular flowers like others. Nutrients absorption is also conducted through the mob like roots.Therefore care must be taken not to injure it. Contributed by Fred from http://orchid-orchidcare.blogspot.com/ |
#12
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
On Fri, 04 May 2007 08:05:28 -0300, gerald wrote:
I recently acquired 3 decent sized used Vandas. 2 were in the standard slatted wooden boxes. they have air roots about a foot long. draped with the roots is a mass of Spanish moss. is this a good Idea, or a bad idea. the third orchid was laying on a mass of std potting debris. I removed it, put it in a box identical to the other two, and stuffed some sphagnum moss around the in the box part. the roots are hanging down naked. should I get some Spanish moss for those roots? should I get Spanish moss to put in the box around the standard roots? When we buy Ascda or Vanda type plants I often find the stump of a top cutting has been stuck in a pot so that the hanger can be attached to the pot. Then a large chunk of bark, charcoal or lava rock is used to brace the plant. The roots grow out over the edges of the pot. When I plant such a growth for my gh I used a net/or wood basket and use peanuts to help support the plant in the basket, but the first watering the peanuts shot out. SO I used sphagnum moss to maintain the peanuts. This is not a good situation. The roots immediately headed for open air and so we now use just enough wire, charcoal, lava rock or large bark chunks to balance the plant in the basket. Most of them grow better with less. When I top a plant a want a keiki from the bottom I will drape spanish moss to help collect the humidity or most in the gh. It seems to help. Of course it could all be in my head. Enough wishes and a few will come true/ SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/main.php |
#13
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
On Fri, 4 May 2007 21:32:21 -0400 in Diana Kulaga wrote:
We have quite a few Vandas. So, a few years ago, Frank rigged a watering system using sprinkler heads, PVC and a simple timer from Home Depot. The water comes on at 9 AM every morning and lasts for 5 minutes. We water more often in the dryer months, and less when we have our summer rains. We can set it for twice daily if needed. Fertilization is done a couple of hours after watering, by hand, twice weekly. Sometimes we shut down the system and just do the fert. Ideally, if we could follow Martin Motes suggestions (and he's surely right), we'd fertilize with every watering. We're not set up for that. Anyone that does the automatic sprinkler for vandas or similar use use a fertilizer siphon in the system? How are the results? -- Chris Dukes elfick willg: you can't use dell to beat people, it wouldn't stand up to the strain... much like attacking a tank with a wiffle bat |
#14
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
I water my entire greenhouse with overhead spray nozzles, which spray RO +
MSU fertilizer injected into the feed stream. The vandaceous plants - in everything from wooden baskets alone, to baskets plus charcoal or PrimeAgra, EpiWeb baskets, or hung from bare wire - all do just great. -- Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info! wrote in message g... On Fri, 4 May 2007 21:32:21 -0400 in Diana Kulaga wrote: We have quite a few Vandas. So, a few years ago, Frank rigged a watering system using sprinkler heads, PVC and a simple timer from Home Depot. The water comes on at 9 AM every morning and lasts for 5 minutes. We water more often in the dryer months, and less when we have our summer rains. We can set it for twice daily if needed. Fertilization is done a couple of hours after watering, by hand, twice weekly. Sometimes we shut down the system and just do the fert. Ideally, if we could follow Martin Motes suggestions (and he's surely right), we'd fertilize with every watering. We're not set up for that. Anyone that does the automatic sprinkler for vandas or similar use use a fertilizer siphon in the system? How are the results? -- Chris Dukes elfick willg: you can't use dell to beat people, it wouldn't stand up to the strain... much like attacking a tank with a wiffle bat |
#15
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Vandas and Spanish Moss
On May 4, 9:33 am, wrote:
On May 4, 7:05 am, gerald wrote: I recently acquired 3 decent sized used Vandas. 2 were in the standard slatted wooden boxes. they have air roots about a foot long. draped with the roots is a mass of Spanish moss. is this a good Idea, or a bad idea. the third orchid was laying on a mass of std potting debris. I removed it, put it in a box identical to the other two, and stuffed some sphagnum moss around the in the box part. the roots are hanging down naked. should I get some Spanish moss for those roots? should I get Spanish moss to put in the box around the standard roots? Live and growing drapes of Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) get along very well with the live and growing drapes of vandaceous orchid roots in my greenhouse. They both like lots of moving air and moisture. The living moss may help keep vanda roots healthy in a less than perfect environment. It would be difficult to keep either very happy in a low humid environment like a house. In my greenhouse, I let the spanish moss grow with the roots of one Asctm curvifolium basket and the plant is now massive with a huge drape of roots and moss tangle topped by a giant plant. This plant looks far happier then the baskets without moss growing among the roots. (I do believe Spanish moss is a weed and it is possible for it to begin actually competing with the plants. I don't know if it would be wise to pack it into the basket as a 'potting media'. Use it drapped from the basket to help hold humidity around hanging roots but be prepared to rip most of it out if/when it starts to compete with the vandas. I think using sphagnum as a potting media in a vanda basket would cause problems for me the way I grow them. They do not respond well to being planted. I have seen indoor growers be successful with vandas planted "on" clay pots filled with very large chunks of charcole or course gravel or even large bits of broken clay pottery are the "potting media" In my opinion it is going to be a struggle if you want to grow a vanda in an open basket in a house. On the other hand, in a greenhouse, you don't need any potting media at all; you could hang them on hooks... you just need to douse the roots and spainish moss with water/ fertilizer every day and provide lots of light and warmth. Hello the Group! I hope y'all are doing well (and here's a hug if you're not). I have one Christieara (thanks to Kenni and her recomendation) which while not technically a Vanda, has a bit of it in it's background. Every year it sends up three infloresences (one at a time) with about 16 flowers each. It is in a basket with some chunks of bark. There are several roots and they have branched (in fact there is new root activity now along with the start of the final spike. I soak it in a bucket of water, for about 15 minutes almost every day, all year long. Next to it I have a small clump of Spanish moss I got when the plant care company they use at work changed the moss. I just happened to be there the day it was changed and the new moss was very fresh, so I took some home. I was delighted to see it was alive and it began to grow. I have it draped around a division of Den biggibum, mounted on a piece of tree bark. Sharing the bark are two other small Tillandsia. This is also watered almost every day, with a pump sprayer. The spanish moss is over a year old. The point - yes, there is a point g - while it would be much easier in a greenhouse, it is possible to grow certain orchids in a home, that wouldn't seem at first thought to be good choices. Just my two cents. I would never have brought that Christieara without a little push from Kenni at JB Orchids, thinking it would never survive, let alone flower, in my windowsill. Without a humidifier or fan. Thanks for letting me share! Bob Campoli - Philadelphia, Pa |
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