Bloom Event - Vanda Princess Mikasa Purple and Giant Blue

Although I do grow many less Vanda than I used to do (they take up far too much room), I still hardly seem to go for any time without at least one of them in flower, and now I have two in bloom.

The first of these is what used to be Ascocenda Princess Mikasa purple, until someone messed around with the names (again), so now its just Vanda which is, admittedly, easier to spell and pronounce. My regular readers will attest to the flower power of this particular hybrid, as it was one of the earlier posts on this blog, the link being back to November 2015. This particular plant also bloomed back in March, and now its at it again. This being the third blog post about this plant, I'm not sure I have anything new to say about it. It sits at the back of the bench, growing and generally minding its own business, and occasionally flowers. It doesn't get watered any more or less than any of the other orchids in the growroom and seems fine with it. You may notice that when I first wrote a post about this plant (link above), I had it listed as having no ID. I have done enough reading and comparing to other plants that I'm confident enough of the ID to change its label.

The Mikasa hybrids are all easy going (for Vandas) and come in a variety of colours. I myself grow four different colours of this hybrid. I should start a national collection.

The flowers are, once again, quite crowded on the spike, but that seems to be the habit of the plant, so I guess I'll just have to put up with it. They are a decent size without being dinner plates, and seem to last well.

I love the lip colour on this hybrid, such a dark velvety purple, like a landing platform (which it basically is).

Every time I post about this I talk about how it is in a pot but I'm not sure how it'll do, but I think its been in its pot for long enough now that I can say this method of culture is a success and just stop worrying about it.

The plant is obviously healthy and happy. You can see how good a bloomer it is by the amount of spent flower spikes on it. Notice that they are mostly from one side of the plant. I've no idea why this should be, but it has always been that way. If anything, the leaf span has increased a little over the few years I've had it, and I would like to think that it is capable of producing more than one spike at a time.

Second up for this post we have the giant blue Vanda (that is not its actual name, purely descriptive. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a proper name. Its probably blue magic or similar but I guess I'll never know). As I've probably said before somewhere, this plant was given to me some time ago. It was quite a size then, but has grown considerably since, and will be getting out of hand before too long.

If you have a decent sized screen or the ability to zoom, you will see on the above photo, about halfway up the plant next to the tie, a couple of leaves shorter than the rest. That is how high the plant was when I got it. No sooner had I installed it than it looked to me as if it got crown rot which would have been bad news indeed, but it continued to grow and now we have a plant that is well over a metre tall. It is growing in that brown pot and has been for some considerable time, now. It lives next to Princess Mikasa discussed above under a 150 watt flourescent tube that is raised higher than the other lights to make room for it. What I'll do as the plant continues to grow I don't know. I can't really take the top off and grow that on because it hasn't produced any roots further up the stem, yet. Time will tell.

At any rate, it is a nice blue (under certain light conditions (no, I don't mean 'in the dark')) and has very nice markings.

The flowers are a good size, as ever, and there are 11 on the spike. This feels a bit mean on a plant this size but is a good amount for a large flowered hybrid Vanda. Plus, this plant has already bloomed this year, and that was only in July, so I should try not to be too greedy.

The next Vanda to bloom will be Princess Mikasa blue, but I expect our paths will cross before then.

Bloom Event - Big Giant Vanda

Its taken me ages to get around to writing about this Vanda. It was given to me a few years ago, along with a few other bits and pieces. Unbelievably, it doesn't have a name. It is quite different from the other big blue Vanda I grow, with flatter flowers, and the V. coerulea trait of lateral petals twisting to the horizontal being almost entirely absent from this plant. It was quite a big plant when it was given to me at a couple of feet tall, but it has almost doubled in size since then. I know exactly how much it has grown since I got it because not long after it entered my care I had a bit of a scare that it had got crown rot. It hadn't, but the leaves that were emerging from the crown at that time were damaged, and they are still present.

The blue colour and the tessellations are both outstanding. This one is much bluer than V. blue magic, although the flowers are marginally smaller. They are more than made up for in quantity, though, with this spike bearing 14 flowers. There would have been more, but the tip blasted, probably because it is quite windy at the top of the room it grows in. Still, its an impressive show, and I think there would have only been one extra flower if it hadn't.

Yes, I know it would have made a better photo against a black background as I do for more normal sized orchids, but this one was just too awkward. Still, you get the general idea. I've thought before that a decent photo of this in full bloom would make a nice base for a tattoo design. It is quite rare to see Vanda this sort of size, so I'm quite proud of this plant although I have to say that some of my other Vanda are growing quite quickly, too.  Vanda do have a (not entirely unfounded) reputation of being difficult to grow, and I have had rather mixed experiences with them in the past. I think I have it fairly sussed now, though. The first point to bear in mind is that Vanda like warm temperatures (yes, even hybrids of the cooler growing V. coerulea), and bright light all year round. This is obviously a problem for UK growers in winter, and the plants respond to this by going into semi-dormancy. They stop producing new leaves and the root tips cover over with velamen. This needn't cause too many problems provided watering is reduced accordingly but it is hard to balance plants being kept dry enough to prevent root rot and damp enough to stop them drying out (which they also don't like).

You can see the plant clearly doesn't mind being grown in a pot (which is starting to look decidedly small for the size of the plant). You can also just about see the couple of shorter leaves about halfway up the plant that show how big it was when I got it. Vanda grow quicker than you might imagine. I definitely think the key to getting them performing properly is keeping them growing through the winter, which means growing under lights in the UK. They certainly bloom much more often that way. I have far less Vanda than I used to, but there is nearly always a couple in bloom, summer or winter.

The other thing to not about Vanda is that once they are upset, it takes them ages to settle down again, and many plants are lost during this time. The key is definitely even conditions. Remember they come from areas that don't have seasons as we do, so they don't respond well to variations in temperature and light. I find that they will take quite a lot of water while they are growing, but are very intolerant of wet conditions. Pond pots seem to work well, but I struggle to find them the right shape to grow anything bigger than a modest sized plant.

Bloom Event - Vanda 'Blue Magic',

Anyone who knows me fairly well will tell you that they're fed up of pictures of blue Vandas, because I post them on twitter/facebook/instagram all the time. I'm not trying to show off, it's just that they bloom really regularly for me. Have to say, the Vandas have been looking a bit sorry for themselves recently, party through lack of watering on my behalf. I grow them potted, and they do fairly well. It seems to depend on the hybrid. Some take to it, some don't. However, Vanda 'blue magic' seems a good performer, and will put up with a surprising amount of abuse. So here's a picture to prove it.

Another quality photo, as you can see. In case you were wondering, I had just sprayed all the plants in the growroom, hence the wet flowers. The usual advice is to not spray flowers or leaf axils, but that very much depends on your growing conditions. My growroom never gets cold, and I spray while there is still a few hours of light left. There is also a fan running, so most water has evaporated before the night.