Neofinetia falcata 'Tamakongo'

[smweaver]

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

so how many neofinetia plants are actually in the pot?

There are approximately eleven growths that are either mature or near-mature (plus maybe six to eight more that are very small basal growths), with six of them in spike.

[camille1585]

What a fantastic looking plant, well done!! I will show this photo to my Tamakongo (currently 1 mature growth, with 1 spike). How long did it take to reach this side? My impression is that this variety grows rather slowly.

I have all my Neos in Sphag mounds, but have been thinking of switching to bark once my stock of long strand sphagnum runs out. It is difficult to find here and I dislike having to repot/mound every year. I was concerned about it the roots being too wet potted, but the net pot seems like an excellent idea. Though I will not use as tree fern as suggested, as it's also difficult to find.

[smweaver]

Hi, Camille. Thank you for your comments. I received the plant after it had several growths, so I can't take too much credit for it. It is rather slow growing (but that's the experience I've had with other bean-leaf varieties also), but it takes up such little space that I don't really mind it growing slowly.

I do like sphagnum added to the mix. But I have had some bad experiences with it when used by itself. I still scratch my head in wonderment whenever I see so many California growers who manage to successfully grow their standard-size cattleyas in NZ sphagnum. My summers are far too wet and humid, and the moss just never seems to dry out fast enough whenever I've used it on its own.

Good luck with transitioning your neofinetias to bark. I have not regretted doing that.

Steve

[camille1585]

I bought a Vanda Cherry Blossom 2 months ago. I had unpotted it (was in a weird compressed block of peat like material) and I was growing it like a Vanda until I could decide what I wanted to do with it. Thanks to this thread it is now in bark, in a net basket.
I'm looking to seeing the blooms, this is my first Neofinetia hybrid!

[Shoreguy]

Certainly better off now than before.