Neofinetia falcata with Rotted/Dead Roots

[meghanize]

Originally Posted by LinhT

Those are your mild Fall temps????? Dang! I had snow on the ground earlier this week and 30's at night right now. So I do not have the option of growing them outside but YOU do I assume your humidity outside is fairly high, yes? If so, find one of those plastic hair rollers with all the holes in it that are about 2 inches long and stick that thing into the middle of your mound through the bottom. In your conditions, I'd think of letting it grow outside, perhaps under a tree or how ever you can get about 50% shade. As long as your winter nights do not go below 40's it should be fine. When the temps do get down to that low, you'll want to keep it more on the dry side. There is no fancy Neo healing tonic, but there is a product called HB-101 you can get on ebay. Seed Engei is a Japanese vendor who's grown mini Japanese species for decades and they recommend this product for the neos. One of my OB buddies has been trying it out and she says she does see bigger roots.

My winter temps will be a bit too cold, I fear, but the fall in Atlanta is usually quite mild. I'm going to take advantage of it while I can!

Thanks for the recommendation on HB-101. I've found some on eBay, so I'll report back. I don't imagine I'll see any improvement fast, though. My little guy has always been a painfully slow grower.

Originally Posted by stefpix

sounds great. do you put it in a clay pot? when you water doesnt the sphagnum shape fall apart?
is it good for other orchids? maybe cattleyas?

Yes, I put mine in a clay pot, but there are an abundance of fancy ceramic tall pots for Neofinetias if you want something more decorative. The mound stays intact just fine when you water. Be careful with it for the first few weeks, but it tends to gain strength over time.

The benefit to the bottle-method is that it promotes air circulation around the roots. That being the case, I imagine it would be great for any orchid that prefers similar conditions.

[Ranchnanny]

I tried on my three the traditional method but the cavity would break down and collapse. So what I did I inverted a webbed pot a bit smaller then the pot to be used and covered it with spagum until I got the mound I wanted.
The webbed pot stays inside the spagum and still allows air to flow through. So far its working well.

Sheridan

[s.kallima]

Remember that Neofinetia potted in sphagnum 'Japanese way' should be repotted each year. Otherwise the sphagnum will get too compact with time and fertilizer destroys it.
Meghanize, your plant doesn't look too bad, at least on the picture I see 3 long white roots looking healthy.

[meghanize]

Originally Posted by s.kallima

Remember that Neofinetia potted in sphagnum 'Japanese way' should be repotted each year. Otherwise the sphagnum will get too compact with time and fertilizer destroys it.
Meghanize, your plant doesn't look too bad, at least on the picture I see 3 long white roots looking healthy.

Thanks, s.kallima. I plan to repot each year. At this point, it's the only orchid I have left, so it shouldn't be too hard to manage haha!

One of the long roots was dead at the top, and there was some dead growth above the healthy roots that needed to be trimmed. I wonder if this is just the natural progression of root development or if it's the result of months of neglect...

[s.kallima]

I noticed that the part of the root close to the base of the plant, when getting old, turn into "wood" (they become very thin like a dry little branch, and they have no longer that green/white fleshy texture). But in many cases, I could still see growing activity at the tip of the root, and even branching of new roots. So I usually only cut a root if the tip is dead.