Growth in Neofinetia possibly infected?
 

Hi,

I recently acquired a Neofinetia with 3 growths about a week ago at a local auction but one of the growths has been slowly been losing it's leaves one by one while the leaves were still green. Today I accidentally dropped my Neofinetia onto carpet from like a 1 meter height and all the leaves on that growth simply just fell which makes it seem like they were about to fall anyways. I'm under the impression that this growth was either infected or had stem rot.

The plant seemed to be recently split off and repotted into a coconut husk medium. I had noticed that the medium was still slightly damp after a week and since it is winter I read it may be better to keep it drier rather than moist, so I let the Neofinetia lay on top of the medium rather than have it covered by the medium, and also did it for the purpose of investigating what is going on with the growth that was dying.

Here are a couple of images:
https://i.imgur.com/j3twd1G.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wXEN8fV.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kGWJQ4P.jpg

Picture from a week ago: https://i.imgur.com/Cfm7fVo.jpg

My main question is... what should I do at this point? Should I just let the growth slowly die and let it be? Or do I need to find a way to separate it and chop it off (Is it possibly for this to somehow affect the other growths)?

First, Welcome!

If it were my plant, I would just let it be. In the process of dividing, that fan might have gotten damaged - the other ones look good. I have growths die on Neos just in the course of nature, the plants still thrive. There are several people on the Board who are better Neo growers than I am, so before doing anything, I'd suggest waiting for some others to jump in.

What are your temperatures? The fastest way to kill a Neo is to keep it cool and moist. They will survive many months cool and dry.

My temperatures range from 65F during the day to 45C during the night, they are currently pretty dry as I haven't watered them since I got them.

If you meant 45 F I agree, I would keep it dry. I suspect it was damaged in repotting or perhaps it was moist when you got it, and those low temperatures caused trouble.

The remaining growths look good. It should recover. If you have a warmer day and night I would consider watering lightly early in the morning, just enough to dampen the roots.

No idea what caused the problem.

The issue is what to do now.
I would unpot the plant, discard the medium it is in.
Snap off the dying growth being careful not to damage the live remaining roots. Also remove any dead roots if possible without disturbing the live ones.

Finally and everyone here knows I am not a fan of sphagnum although useful here, wrap some strands around the base and lightly spray the base every two days especially if it will be getting some natural sunlight, three days for artificial. Do not overdo the natural sunlight which could stress the plant. If any new rooting is seen up it to two days.
Pot it in Spring to the method of your choice. I have stopped giving recommendations on that do to unfair criticism.

Finally, 45F is excessively cold. I am aware of wild conditions but are you intentionally subjecting it to that in a weakened condition?

You can also use the Search | Advanced Search feature in the top maroon menu to find other posts by Shoreguy on Neos. He has good recommendations. They are amazingly tough orchids but they have their peculiarities. Keep reminding yourself that cool and moist is fatal to these plants.

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll snap off the dying growth and wrap the roots in some sphagnum moss like you mentioned. I'll be careful not to have direct sunlight on it.

As for 45F, I kept it a couple of days indoors but with the window open for a couple of days thinking that would be more similar to its previous environment but I will now keep it in my bedroom at night where it reaches 60F at the lowest.

Some direct sunlight through a bug screen or light curtain would be helpful. Just be careful the sphag is lightly moist at the start.

Place it on a small dinner plate, not on anything that the roots would stick to like terracotta.

Here is an update after I cut the dying growth with some scissors:

https://i.imgur.com/5U8mWjW.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yo8GYf3.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ax4lzsZ.jpg

I didn't have NZ long strand sphagnum moss, but I loosely wrapped some sphagnum moss around the roots and the base of the two growths. I made sure to squeeze out any excess water from the strands. Also don't worry about the shininess of the takeout container lid, it's not water.

Let me know if I should change anything.