Wanda

 
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Orchid family. Homeland Asia, Australia, Malay archipelago. The genus includes about 35-45 species of epiphytic or epilitic species of monopodial orchids.

  • Wanda blue Vanda coerulea is a plant with an erect stem up to 1 m long and a large number of aerial roots. The leaves are two-row, belt-shaped, about 20 cm long and about 2.5-3 cm wide. Flowers about 10 cm in diameter are collected in multi-flowered erect inflorescences. The color of the flowers is mainly lavender, gradually changing to blue. The petals are broadly oval, narrowed to the base, wide open, with a darker lip. Flowering in autumn.
  • The wanda tricolor "Vanda tricolor" is a taller species with an erect stem, reaching 1.5 m or more. Two-row leaves are belt-shaped, reach 40 cm in length, 4 cm wide. It also forms numerous aerial roots. Peduncle about 25-30 cm long, with a multi-flowered brush. Flowers about 7 cm in diameter, fragrant. Petals obovate, with a wavy edge, narrowed to the base. The petals are white or cream, the lip is elongated purple or saturated pink. Flowering in autumn.

Wanda - Care and Maintenance

Temperature

Wanda is thermophilic, the optimal temperature is about 22-28 ° C, while the daily temperature drops should be 8-11 ° C. And it is the night drop in temperature that contributes to flowering. Winter minimum 16 ° C, but wands grow quite normally in normal home conditions. Only Wanda blue requires cooler wintering, with temperatures within 14 ° C.

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Lighting

Wanda needs very good lighting, but direct sunlight is permissible only in the evening or morning hours: before 11 and after 16 o'clock. During the day, the plant will burn in the direct sun, but if there is a shade in the form of a blind or light tulle, this is enough to protect the orchid. When placed in a room, you practically cannot do without an additional light source. Provided with high-quality versatile lighting by artificial light (white or daylight lamps), wands grow and bloom better. In general, daylight hours should be at least 12 hours. With a lack of light, casting takes on a darker shade.

The only case when wands perfectly tolerate direct sun in summer - after adaptation, accustoming to life outside in the warm season. Fresh air and a gradual increase in sunlight temper the orchid and promote abundant flowering.

Watering and humidity

Watering during leaf growth by immersion after drying the substrate (it should dry out in 1-2 days) after another 2-3 days, if the orchid is grown without a substrate, water it every 2-3 days during vegetation. Wanda is an orchid, native to places with a pronounced seasonal climate, so in winter - the dormant period (reduced illumination for three months) watering is very moderate, watering about once every 5-7 days. When watering, as well as spraying, it is important that moisture is not poured into the sinuses of the leaves - this causes damage to various fungal diseases.

Wanda loves air humidity of about 60-70% and above, on dry hot days in summer, the orchid is sprayed, filtered, boiled water is used. You do not need to wet the roots - they are saturated with moisture during watering. If the wanda is placed outside for summer, usually natural humidity is sufficient and can be dispensed with without spraying.

In cold weather, when the temperature is from 18 ° C and below, it is better to replace watering by spraying the roots with warm water. Do not spray the leaves at all!

Flight connections

Ideally, wanda should be grown without any substrate, with a bare root system. Its roots, strange as it may seem, are very adapted to dry air. In nature, after rain, moisture from them instantly dries up from the movement of the wind.

Wand roots must constantly breathe, they can be grown without a substrate, tied to a block. Or, as a pot, they take a box of wooden slats, between which large gaps are left. Planting in a plastic pot by drilling a hole in it from the side is not enough, you will have to drill not just holes, but very large holes! It should be noted that the roots of the wanda grow through the holes and it is safer to carry out the transplant simply by breaking the box or pot into pieces. But the need for this arises every few years.

Fertilizing

During the period of active growth, vandu is fed with a special fertilizer for orchids, which is added to water for irrigation. The optimal ratio of NPK in equal parts: 20-20-20 or 10-10-10. If wanda grows in a bark substrate, feeding should be done no more than once every 14 days. If wanda is grown with bare roots, fertilizer in a weaker concentration from the recommended (less than 3-4 times) is applied when watered about 2 times a week. Forum topic about growing Wanda.

Reproduction

By separating part of the stem with aerial roots - at least three healthy roots. The cut must be sprinkled with crushed charcoal or sulfur. Fix the plot on a block and grow as a mother plant. It is important that the separated part does not have contact with moist soil, they should be well blown with air.

   

Growing problems

The orchids that we buy in stores called Wanda are not really natural species, but hybrids, usually blue wanda and tricolor wanda and other species.

The main problems of the wanda in the apartment are a lack of light and an attempt to compensate for the lack of air humidity by frequent irrigation.

As for light, vanda needs a lot, a lot of light, but openwork passing through a grid of blinds or a mosquito net.

East, north and northwest are not the best places for wanda, especially if they are shaded from the street by buildings or trees.

If you plan to illuminate, then you need to calculate the number and power of the lamps so that the level of illumination from them is comparable to the lighting of the southeast windowsill on a sunny day.

Rot: when the substrate is waterlogged, especially on cool days or when the temperature drops at night, as well as when landing in an "incorrect" non-breathable container (for example, an ordinary plastic pot), when landing on too moisture-intensive moss sphagnum, roots or stem may rot. At the same time, the tissues soften, turn black, the plant does not receive nutrients, turns yellow and dies.

Control measures and prevention. The substrate for planting must be disinfected, when dividing part of the stem, the cuts are sprinkled with coal, if there is blackening and softening, you can cut out the damaged area to healthy tissue, sprinkle the edges with crushed charcoal. You can add the drug "Maxim" to the water for irrigation.

Remember that the substrate in orchids should dry out very quickly - in a few hours. Also, the prevention of rot orides is achieved by good air circulation. If necessary, install small fans, but they should not be directed to the leaves and flowers, but somewhat to the side.

How long does it take to keep the wanda in the water when watering?

Usually 15 minutes is enough, no more, for velamen to be saturated with moisture and nutrients. If it is very hot and dry, you can extend the bath up to 20 minutes. But don't soak it for more than 25 minutes.

The water temperature should be 40-45 degrees. At a lower temperature, it will cool in 20 minutes.

Instead of fertilizer, a nutrient solution for wanda can be made on the basis of pine bark - soak 2 liters of bark in hot water in advance, when it cools to the desired temperature, strain into a basin for bathing. In such a solution, you can bathe wanda several times a week.