What is my Neo doing?

[camille1585]

I got this Neo 'shutennu' a year ago. Last october it started growing the growth you see in the picture. Then after a few weeks it suddenly stopped and didn't do anything all winter long. A few weeks ago it started growing again, but only a very very little bit. I only noticed that it grew by comparing it with a photo from October!
So is that a growth or a spike??? And why is it so slow? In the meantime it's grown plenty of new growths, that too me looked different than this. And plenty of new roots too.

[lambelkip]

I'm almost 100% certain it's a spike. sometimes spikes will stall (usually in the fall), then grow again when conditions are right (usually in the spring). be patient, you should have some flowers soon.

[justatypn]

Ahhh “The Japanese Wind Orchid” they are relatively easy to grow, great for the beginner. They are slow growing and bloom spring to fall. They like to be fertilized all year round-urea free, relatively normal watering cycle allowing it to dry between watering. Takes all types of lighting, no direct but an anywhere windowsill lover. Sometimes they take up to 3 years to produce for the first time, patience is what your looking for. Oh by the way, your photo did not come out so I am not sure if this is an inflorescence or not.

[LinhT]

What conditions is it growing in?

[camille1585]

It's on an east facing windowsill (which is the only window I have) and at this time of year gets direct sun from sunrise (5:30am) to around 11. I turn on the light (55w power compact) only when I'm home, and it's sitting about 20cm below. I'd say the light is on about 8 hours per day. I want to leave the light on also when I'm gone, but since the wiring is a bit iffy, I'm afraid of leaving it alone! Fertilized weakly weekly, just like the other orchids.

[Phyrex]

Looks very similar to mine. It also grew last fall and I thought it was something but then it seemed to have gone away. I'm sure it has grown a little now, just like you said yours did. I was told that spikes usually come out laterally (the same way the leaves are pointing) but I'm still hopefull.

[LinhT]

Originally Posted by camille1585

It's on an east facing windowsill (which is the only window I have) and at this time of year gets direct sun from sunrise (5:30am) to around 11. I turn on the light (55w power compact) only when I'm home, and it's sitting about 20cm below. I'd say the light is on about 8 hours per day. I want to leave the light on also when I'm gone, but since the wiring is a bit iffy, I'm afraid of leaving it alone! Fertilized weakly weekly, just like the other orchids.

Does your eastern exposure have alot of trees filtering the light or do you have lots of cloudy days? Is that why you have to add the power compact? What are your day and night temps right now? And what were your day and night temps during the winter?

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by LinhT

Does your eastern exposure have alot of trees filtering the light or do you have lots of cloudy days? Is that why you have to add the power compact? What are your day and night temps right now? And what were your day and night temps during the winter?

I don't have to worry about trees, I'm on the 20th floor! I added the light because from november to late march the window gets practically zero sun, and we go weeks at a time without seeing the sun in that period. As to the temps, now it's around 20-22°C during the day, and a bit cooler at night since I pull the curtain and I leave the vasistas open a crack. In the winter days were around 18°C and I think 13-14°C at night, I'm not sure, I never had a look at the temp behind the curtain, all I know was that it was cool! But it pretty much lived in very dim conditions since I couldn't afford the light until a few months ago. I did put it under the desk light in the evenings.
Does that help?

[LinhT]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I don't have to worry about trees, I'm on the 20th floor! I added the light because from november to late march the window gets practically zero sun, and we go weeks at a time without seeing the sun in that period. As to the temps, now it's around 20-22°C during the day, and a bit cooler at night since I pull the curtain and I leave the vasistas open a crack. In the winter days were around 18°C and I think 13-14°C at night, I'm not sure, I never had a look at the temp behind the curtain, all I know was that it was cool! But it pretty much lived in very dim conditions since I couldn't afford the light until a few months ago. I did put it under the desk light in the evenings.
Does that help?

Ok, Are you willing to experiment? You can try bumping up the temps to say, 24 degrees C. It doesn't have to be 24 C all day long, just most or part of the daylight hours. Maintain this for a week or so and see if that growth moves any faster. Otherwise you can just wait till Summer when the temps will be naturally warmer and see if it gets going. Some of them bloom later in the season when temps are warmer but I always thought Shuttennou bloomed a couple times during the growing season but I'm not positive. It's hard to see on the pic and maybe I'm blind but on the axis, there are slight creases on the top leaves. Usually you get this on the lower leaves and it's fine but the top leaves are generally "crease free". Do all your roots look ok? If the plant is a bit stressed, maybe that's affecting the growth of the nubbin too?

[camille1585]

The leaves are a bit creased because when I went to france for 12 days in april, the person that was supposed to water the orchids forgot to come. The creasing was much worse than that, but it doesn't seem to fully go away. The roots in the moss are perfect, and it has about 6 new ones growing.
As for raising the temperature, it will have to wait for the summer heat since the heating system in the building has been turned off.