Q I have a vanda that is supposed to be blue. The plant is eight years old and has grown many plantlets and lots of thick roots. I apply bloom booster 20-50-20 and Superthrive weekly in the summer, but it has never flowered. I have lots of others that flower twice a year. I live in Pennsylvania so they are in full sun all summer here. Why doesn't the one plant bloom?

A  After eight years I must first compliment you for your patience. If you are giving your vanda full sunlight outside all summer long I cannot see how you could do better in that respect. Maybe it is a nonflowering plant, which would explain why it is producing keikis rather than flowers. Already, the midsummer has passed, so desperate measures are called for. What I would do is stop fertilizing the plant completely, immediately. No Superthrive either, but continue with water. If you do not see a spike by autumn, do yourself and the orchid world a favor and do not bring this plant inside. If you're really soft hearted, you might try my colleague's advice: take the plant inside in the autumn, but water it only once a month (no fertilizer) until it goes out again next spring. Then treat it like the others and give it one last chance. But I would be hard hearted after eight wasted years. —Andy Easton.