Philippine Vandas

[bench72]

Thanks to our members in the Philippines, I have been bitten by the vanda bug!!!

Yes, I want to add to my list of Vandas... but of course living in Sydney and having only a very crude growing set up, I need to choose wisely...

So, which of the Vandas grow in high altitudes in the Philippines?

cheers
tim

ps. I am getting a Vanda ustii.... woo hooo

[Piper]

Congrats on the ustii, Tim! Nelson's photo of that one was really gorgeous.

Do you have the temp and humidity vandas want? I'll never be able to windowsill one here. On cold days, I can't get the humidity above 35% with two humidifiers going around the clock.

Julie

[ntgerald]

Is hard to grow in Manila because perhaps it won't thrive outside of its cloud-forest niche. It won't even bloom in places like Tagaytay.

I think the easiest to grow and bloom Philippine vanda is lamellata, and the remediosae variant is especially floriferous, with flowers close together, in contrast to the boxallii variant. Scandens is also easy to grow here.

Ustii despite coming from the highlands of northern Luzon easily adapts to Manila. May even bloom twice a year.

Merrillii even though it comes from the highlands also easily adapts to Manila condition.

[Hoa Tony Nguyen]

Hi Tim, If you don't have enough humidity, then you have to pot the vanda in barks or coconut husk chips (in either teak baskets or clay pots). My vandas including species are doing well like that and our weather is quite coolish over here. In term of which vanda species to grow, I would suggest Vanda tricolor var. suavis (gorgeous flowers and even more gorgeous scent!), Vanda roeblingiana and if you can get your hands on Vanda javierae, get it too. These vandas might thrive under rather coolish conditions in Sydney where dendrobium speciosums and the likes grow very well. However, you need to protect them during the winter by taking them inside the house when temperature drops below 50 F. My Vanda roeblingiana definitely does very well under coolish conditions (it stays in my greenhouse during the winter at the coolest spots where winter night temperatures could get down to 50 F when outside temperatures get really cold (35-40 F) and it goes outside during the summer where day temperature only exceeds 80 F very short time in late summer/early fall. Vanda tricolor also does well around here and I used to grow it outside and took the plant in during the winter. After I got the greenhouse, since my greenhouse is quite coolish, they are quite happy in there and I move them to warmer spots during the winter so they can grow uninterrupted.
Cheers. Hoa.

[bench72]

Thanks for the info y'all.. I have placed an order for a lamellata (not sure what type though), a merrillii which are both flowering size, and a little baby ustii! They will hopefully keep my V coerulea company...

As for humidity... hmmm, hopefully... I'm a heavy hand with the hose so that could double up with the mister rather than watering... and I have to be doubly persistent on those hot dry days we get around here... thankfully doesn't happen too often... oh the humidity around my orchids hovers around the 60 mark.. so hopefully that is ok... will follow your advise on potting

cheers
tim