Seeking help with first Neo & Kokedama

[Roberta]

Jason grows his Neos in the traditional Japanese moss mound. It's an aesthetic as well as cultural choice. He is very much into the whole Japanese approach to growing them. (He's good enough at it to be one of the very few Americans invited to judge at Japanese shows) The Japanese have been doing it that way since the days of the Samurai. However, that is certainly not the only approach that works, not by a long shot. To use that technique, you do need to pay attention to details and repot very frequently. I have tried it, didn't pay suitable attention to details, and it did not end well. After more trial and error, I have ended up growing them in baskets with sphag for the small ones, bark for bigger ones. The roots run wild - certainly not the Japanese aesthetic, but the plants do much better for me with considerable neglect. So do what works for YOU under YOUR conditions. Treating these like little Vandas (which they are...) is definitely one way to do it.

[Shoreguy]

Roberta,


Use search bar to locate my threads below if you want more orderly root growth.

Root Training

Root Training (Part 2)

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by Shoreguy

worried

WW started the thread. I was writing to her. Yes, I meant they should not be cold and wet at the same time. During cool periods of the year you would be amazed how long they can go without water, even bare-root. In this characteristic they are not at all like other Vandas.

[Shoreguy]

Estacion Seca

Sorry, totally misinterpreted to whom it was directed.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Shoreguy

Roberta,


Use search bar to locate my threads below if you want more orderly root growth.

Root Training

Root Training (Part 2)

But I love wild roots! De gustibus non disputandum est..

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by estación seca

WW started the thread. I was writing to her. Yes, I meant they should not be cold and wet at the same time. During cool periods of the year you would be amazed how long they can go without water, even bare-root. In this characteristic they are not at all like other Vandas.

I'm amazed how long they can go without water, at any time of year! I had no plant sitter then past 2 summers when I went on my usual 3 week vacation. So I water all the plants very well, stick them in a dim room, and hope for the best. I know that the Neo mounds fully dry out in about 2 days in the summer, but when I got back they still looked extremely good!

[Dulcinea]

Do cool periods matter when growing inside all year where temps remain about the same or is that phrase intended for outside growers, greenhouse growers who might grow cool in the winter?

[WaterWitchin]

Okay, so DEFINITELY not under my auto-mister. It definitely won't get too cold around here, because it has to live with me and I'm not into turning my thermostat down THAT low.

I was looking (unsuccessfully) for a video of how these moss mound Neos are watered. I see that Fischer now grows all for sale stuff mostly in a bark/charcoal/growstone mix for the commercial nursery part. Makes sense. They also have a kit for making your own moss mount, and one option is to use coir for the main base, covered with the sphagnum...says it dries out faster. I might try a bit of that in middle.

Roberta, you say one has to remount more frequently... I'm fine with that, since I grow most stuff in LECA and there isn't a lot of repotting to do anyway. Could you expand a bit on the "paying attention to details" part? What kind of details? Like the moss gets old type detail, or certain details about the plant itself to watch for?

Now that I've over-thunk doing this it appears you water it similar to a regular old mounted plant, but there's more moss involved in the mount. I'll report back with a show n tell once I have it mounted.

[camille1585]

WW - sometimes I feel like the traditional sphag mound method is too much hassle. Making mounds with standard sphag is very difficult, the process is so much easy with the long stranded stuff. However the long stranded grades are difficult to find and somewhat expensive (at least here). The Neo experts/purists will remound them at least once per year. I've been doing it every 2 years to because I finding remounding to be such a hassle. I'm now thinking of moving all the plants to bark as their repotting dates come up...

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by camille1585

WW - sometimes I feel like the traditional sphag mound method is too much hassle. Making mounds with standard sphag is very difficult, the process is so much easy with the long stranded stuff. However the long stranded grades are difficult to find and somewhat expensive (at least here). The Neo experts/purists will remound them at least once per year. I've been doing it every 2 years to because I finding remounding to be such a hassle. I'm now thinking of moving all the plants to bark as their repotting dates come up...

Probably so in the long run. This is just a whim, to create something cool for my vase and enjoy for awhile. I've never made one, so here we go! It has a lot more to do with the experience and experiment, and hopefully not killing the plant in the process. And when I watch the Fischer video of how to do it, he makes it look just so darned easy!

I'd hate to say out loud how many times I've experimented with a mount, just to see if I can because it might look awesome.

---------- Post added at 09:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:31 AM ----------

Similar to growing and blooming a cool-down necessary Cymbidium or a big Vanda... or attempting to grow a huge clump of equisetum in a wading pool. It's all about the experience. Go big or go home! :rolf: