Mokara Culture Help?

[jrod]

I was at a wedding in September, and the bouquets included the most amazing flowers. They were a gorgeous egg yellow with bright orange spots. After tons and tons of research, I tracked the flowers down to Mokara Madame Panni (this is a Vandaceous hybrid). Of course, I found one for a decent price and grabbed it while I could, as I was afraid I might never find it again.

Now here come the uh-oh. The humidity in my house is extremely low in the winter, without a practical way to keep it up. When this plant arrived, it was a gorgeous plant with 2ft of growth, but only three 6in roots. I've been misting it like crazy, but for now it's just sitting on the floor in medium light. It hasn't shown tremendous signs of wasting yet, but I don't want to lose it.

Now here come the questions...

While hosing the plant off in the shower, I found a new root nub coming on. Can I pot this plant up like most of my other orchids, which are kept in terracotta pots with a fairly coarse bark mix? Will the roots grow into a bark mix well, or do they need a more open medium?

Since the plant is so big, would it be better to cut it into sections before potting it up, so that each section can produce roots and get a better root/leaf ratio? Does that even make sense?

I think I've got other cultural issues worked out, ie feeding, light, etc. The humidity is the big problem.

Any other comments welcome. I wish I could give the supplier's name, because they were a treat to deal with, accepted PayPal, and sent a gigantic plant (labeled 'small') at a very reasonable price. Their only shortcoming is that their selection is fairly limited.

Thanks in advance for the help!!!!

[Gin]

Since the plant is so big, would it be better to cut it into sections before potting it up, so that each section can produce roots and get a better root/leaf ratio?
No! don't do that ..would dehydrate for sure .

Some people grow Vandas in pots in time the roots will crawl out , they hate to be repotted , I did grow mine in the house in wood slat baskets with large landscape bark (well soaked and rinsed ) in a south east window , watered till the roots were green , the cool mist ultra sonic humidifiers work well .Mokaras like a lot of light but beware of to much if short on roots and low humidity . Hope this helps a little . Gin

[jrod]

Thanks, Gin! It looks like i'm going to pot this guy up in a large terracotta pot with very coarse bark as medium. I'll probably work a little LFS into the mix as well, to keep a bit of moisture on the roots. Hopefully this will keep me from having to repot very often. Fingers crossed...

If anybody else gets a chance to ring in, be my guest. I'm going to do the potting this weekend, but I'll still be taking suggestions until then =)

[bench72]

regarding cutting it up.... I wouldn't do it unless you can cut them up and each piece has a root/s.

One thing my Dad does to his 'vandaceous' plants is he puts a bit of sphagnum moss and wraps it around a part of the plant he wants some root growth and in a few months there usually is.. and that's when he cuts them up. I'd say also smear some rooting hormone on the bits you want to root.

[jrod]

I potted this guy up today. Used a terracotta pot with coarse bark, except around the existing roots, where I packed some sphagnum. I had to cut a few dead root tips and remove a few lower leaves to get a good fit, so it's drying out overnight before i give it a good soaking tomorrow. then, hopefully, it'll start to take off. I'll post an update when I have news. Everybody cross your fingers and hope it's good news =)