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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Pretty picture: Vanda NOIDs

These poor things have been, in WCW's words, "to hell and back." Mostly they've just been too wet, off and on, but they've also fallen out of their pots a number of times, and their roots have been injured, and all manner of other problems. We've put a pretty insane amount of work into them and still haven't sold a one, because of their price. (Either $70 or $80; I forget which. It's high, yes, but it is reflective of the cost we paid to get them here in the first place.)


Fortunately, the Vandas seem to be forgiving us. Or at least the one in the pictures is: it's the only one to rebloom so far. It's being a much better sport about it all than I would have been, if I were an orchid.


I don't actually care for Vandas that much: they're pretty, certainly, and I like the subtle pattern in the petals, but the shape doesn't really do much for me, they're not as big as some of the orchid flowers I've seen, they don't seem to appear in particularly large number, and for being that pricey, I'd think they'd be proportionately awesome. But there is one thing:


The color isn't quite accurate, but it's close: this one at Lowes (many months ago) was a very un-orchidy color. Which does impress me. So few flowers are blue to begin with, and blues are nearly nonexistent among houseplants, aside from some Saintpaulias and the occasional flash of color among the other orchids (e.g. Zygoneria). So they do have good qualities.

Any thoughts or experiences re: Vandas that anybody wants to share? (Particularly comments of the, well that one's nice and all, but to really dig Vandas you've got to see _________ variety.)
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 22, 2008 at 8:15 AM

    I really like the blue one you found at Lowes. I've never seen that color of Orchid.

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  2. mr_subjunctiveOctober 22, 2008 at 11:55 AM

    It's the only one I've ever seen, so far. Most of the Vandas I've run across have been the same general color as the ones in the first pictures.

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  3. telipogonOctober 25, 2008 at 9:24 AM

    Vandas are easier to grow out of pots hanging from wires where they can be sprayed wet and allowed to dry naturally. In our climate (england) growing them in glass vases gives good results.

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  4. AnonymousOctober 25, 2008 at 8:10 PM

    As teli said, in the right conditions no pot is required -- no media either. A warm humid greenhouse is one such environment.

    Part of your selling problems could very well be that they ARE NOIDs. For that kind of money, an orchid collector is generally going to pass right by a NOID.

    Not a big vanda nut myself though a well grown plant will often have multiple spikes and rebloom several times a year.

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  5. mr_subjunctiveOctober 26, 2008 at 4:34 AM

    When they arrived, they were in plastic mesh pots like y'all are talking about. For display purposes, we had to set the mesh pots in larger clay ones, and then at some point they got potted directly into the clay ones with bark and the whole bit, which was WCW's idea, not mine. I'll talk to her at some point about moving them out of the clay pots and bark.

    (Although -- would pots and bark be better if someone were going to try to grow one as a regular houseplant, without benefit of a greenhouse? Or is someone without a greenhouse basically just wasting his/r time trying to grow a Vanda in the first place?)

    As for the NOID thing, it seems like they had ID tags when we got them. I want to say the tags were wired onto the plastic mesh pots, actually. So maybe when we got rid of the pots they'd have preferred, we also got rid of their identification and shot ourselves in the foot a second time.

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  6. UnknownDecember 5, 2008 at 4:47 AM

    The greenhouse I frequent always has a large supply of blue Vandas. I was seriously considering buying one, just for color alone, but thought otherwise upon finding out that they need to be watered every day. Here's the link to Vanda culture from that greenhouse (I hope it's OK to post links?):

    http://www.orchidsgardencentre.com/orchids.vand.cfm

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