Hi Allymarie! Please give the cultural experience of your vandas. Water, solar, did it get cold during our cold snaps? Pictures, bugs, bug poison, how potted and anything else will make the deducing much easier....

Hi, my vandas are in wooden baskets hanging from trees and on a wooden fence that gets filtered western sunlight. I water about every other day and fertilize every 2-3 months.I don't use pesticides much and when I do it's Bayer Rose and Flower. The spikes start out very green and healthy then they start looking brownish and then dry up.I have noticed some that bloom in the fall have no problems blooming.I'm having that problem with some of my other orchids also.All of my orchids are outside year round on benches under or hanging in trees so they are exposed to everything.I'm having trouble posting pics on this site so can't show the plants.Could it be insect damage? Any help would be appreciated.

Allymarie

Sounds like thrips are getting to your spikes... Ortho fire ant powder (acephate 50 pct) at 1 TBSP per gallon once a month... sucks to wait a year for a killer vanda spike to bloom and then just get the brown blahhhhs on the spike..BTW vandas are heavy feeders, if you have them in bright light, they can be fed weekly...

I water my vandas every day. In the summer on hot days I water vandas twice. I find that most vandas do not like it below 50. They are warm loving orchids. More sensitive than most to the cold. The flower problem could be a delay response to the cold. What was you absolute low temp this winter? If it was thrips the flowers would still bloom but look worked over by the bugs and you would want to cut it off. But Orthene is my choice for that issue. I use it quarterly regardless of evidence of bugs. And I use it if I see any bugs also.

Thanks for your advice everyone. I'm so upset over losing my flower spikes and buds,it's really very frustrating.Today I noticed a noid cattleya that I've had for many years that never bloomed in forever was finally in bud only to have the buds dry up and fall off. I was very close to tears this morning.Thanks again!

Allymarie

Could be thrips (I'm fighting a similar problem) or bacterial/fungal problem. You need to see if you see the insects on the buds. If the buds don't develop, I would guess bacterial.

See if you can find bugs on the spikes.

Jane

What where your low temperatures this winter?

The temps this winter went as low as the 40's at night.I have seen small bugs that look like flies with bluish bodies on the orchids, are they thrips? Only the spikes and buds are affected not the leaves.If the buds do develop they shrivel up and turn brown.