I recently acquired 3 decent sized used Vandas. 2 were in the standard slatted wooden boxes. they have air roots about a foot long. draped with the roots is a mass of Spanish moss. is this a good Idea, or a bad idea. the third orchid was laying on a mass of std potting debris. I removed it, put it in a box identical to the other two, and stuffed some sphagnum moss around the in the box part. the roots are hanging down naked. should I get some Spanish moss for those roots? should I get Spanish moss to put in the box around the standard roots?
I've visited several vanda growers in Florida who don't use -any- growing medium with their vandaceous plants. I use diatomite with some, but let others grow bare-rooted--literally. They seem to do fine.
We have quite a few Vandas. So, a few years ago, Frank rigged a watering system using sprinkler heads, PVC and a simple timer from Home Depot. The water comes on at 9 AM every morning and lasts for 5 minutes. We water more often in the dryer months, and less when we have our summer rains. We can set it for twice daily if needed. Fertilization is done a couple of hours after watering, by hand, twice weekly. Sometimes we shut down the system and just do the fert. Ideally, if we could follow Martin Motes suggestions (and he's surely right), we'd fertilize with every watering. We're not set up for that.
I would never have enough time to water them by hand. They'd suffer. And, we love them, so needed to do something to give them what is needed.
As far as the bucket method is concerned, the only time we use that is if we're disinfecting, i.e. using a fungicide. Otherwise, I'd be concerned that we could spread pathogens. Of course, if a plant, Vanda or otherwise, is dehydrated, then a sterilized bucket is fine. Just our two cents!
Oh, by the way - we grow outside, under screens around a pool area and in an extended lanai. I am sure that makes a difference.
I don't have that many vandaceous plants, so I water them indoors every couple days by spraying them in a utility sink. Outdoors, I just use a hose and a fine spray nozzle. I use the same method on Nepenthes. I fertilize them with a sprayer.
The bucket method seems to me to be a good way to spread disease.
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