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| Vanda Manuvadee 'Blue' 21 Dec 2012 |
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| Vanda Manuvadee 'Blue' 26 Dec 2012 |
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| Vanda Manuvadee 'Blue' |
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| Vanda Manuvadee 'Blue' |
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| Vanda Manuvadee 'Blue' Note the masses of roots! |
Vanda Manuvadee has a strong "dose" of Vanda coerulea in its ancestry, so it should be pretty cold tolerant (handy during OOAB winters). The hybrid Manuvadee was first registered in 1985, and is a cross of V. Pompinol with V. coerulea.
It doesn't have any medium in the tiny basket it is in, so its roots get a pretty thorough daily soaking (via pressure sprayer); twice daily in summer. "Pretty thorough" means the roots get sprayed once, the water is allowed to soak in while I do the potted plants than need it, and then thoroughly sprayed again. Like most vandaceous orchids (which include Phalaenopsis) the roots take a little while to have water soak into them - when the root covering layer (velamen) is dry and whitish in colour, it takes a little while to hydrate. So, to really water such roots effectively, you need to soak them so the entire root is green and glistening wet. Places where these orchids naturally grow get a lot of water on a regular basis, but then dries out before the next drenching, so these plants appreciate replicating this. At least, that is the case where the leaves are strap shaped. Round/cylindrical leaves (terete) generally come from drier climates. Vandas also seem to appreciate being fed; mine is probably under-fed as I tend to fertilise based on the requirements of the more sensitive species in the collection.
I suspect it would do better with a daily soak for 10-20 minutes in a large bucket/tub, but OOAB's floorspace has nowhere large enough to accommodate such an object. Beside the floorspace issue, given my trepidation about transferring "nasties" between plants, I am loathe to install a communal "dunk bucket" into which plants are plunged. It would be a lot easier, but the risk is too great. Before I learned about the risks of transferring plant pathogens (particularly fungi, viruses and bacteria) in this manner, I used to give plants a soak in communal baths (either the kitchen sink or a large cooler box) every so often. No more!
Having seen some of the absolute monster Vandas other EPOS members bring in to plant tables, this still has a lot of growing to do!
As minhas também molho todos os dias.
ReplyDeletee sempre florem mais de uma vez ao ano.
abraços
Well grown and lovely flowers, James. Nice to have your wife on board with a good camera, isn't it? As you may have noticed from some of my posts, my wife and I both are into photography and hiking and have a great time together, taking and comparing pictures. The only bad thing is that she often beats me out. She has a knack for getting the best picture every time.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ron! Unfortunately we only have the one "good" camera, but as long as I hand it over from time to time there shouldn't be too many dramas. :D
DeleteShe was quite surprised at how differently we liked taking pictures of flowers - I tend to go for a more "this is what a single flower of X looks like" and she tended to like wider shots of whole spikes or unusual angles.
My default photography mode is what I call "cataloguing"; a basic record of what-a-thing-looks-like, which tends to err more towards a scientific-style (flat on, even lighting if possible) - only if I have time would I tend to experiment with "crazy" angles or focus in on smaller features of flowers. At something like a show with people wondering WTF you are doing (I've often been asked "are you from the newspaper...?" when pulling out my camera - I guess with a massive flash on, it does tend to look a bit pro-ish!), I tend to just try and get the basics done. I guess if I felt less eyeball pressure, I'd just get out a tripod etc and do it right. Having a partner in crime does make you feel like less of a crazy person, although my wife commented that she thought other people must have thought we were both mad...