Neo in Glass

[Pilot]

Hello all-- just a quick update of the status of my plants.

The neofinetia is really beginning to take off in this method.

It has another fan growing and two more new roots-- the older ones continue to retain their grow-tips.

I should mention that these plants literally set in water during daylight hours. In the case of my vanda, I can actually see a noticeable drop in the water level (its actively growing roots and leaves).

To the photos.


My neo:


My vanda species:


Neostylis:






Vanda hybrid:


A whole mess of new roots coming out of the vanda hybrid.


With the day light period getting longer, the plants in my solarium have not hesitated-- everyone is pushing new roots and leaves, orchids or otherwise. I'm looking forward to Spring/post-frost so they can go outside and grow well instead of the strong, yet leggy growth found in plant grown in doors-- well at least for those sun-loving plants.

Do neos have a "normal" number of leaves they grow each year or is it as many as it can under the given conditions? The Neostylis is on new leaf number 4 right now. Its a fantastic plant!

[Vanda lover]

Do you have them in water during the day, then pour the water off for the night?

Nancy

[DelawareJim]

So now your growing them in water? They can't be happy with all these changes.

Cheers.
Jim

[camille1585]

What was wrong with the method before that you now grow them in water culture? I would be careful with it, while it's an excellent way to jump start roots on near death orchids, it's not a very good long term solution. If they like the moisture, why not put them in S/H instead?

As for how much a Neo grows during a season, I don't think it's usually measured in leaves, but rather the number of new growths. Back when I had Neos I was getting 2-3 new fans a season. Never really paid attention to the number of leaves.

[Vanda lover]

It looks like this is a combination of water culture and vase culture, if you have them in water during the day, but not at night.

[DelawareJim]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Back when I had Neos I was getting 2-3 new fans a season. Never really paid attention to the number of leaves.

WHAT???!!!! Camille, What do you mean back when you HAD Neos???

Cheers.
Jim

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by DelawareJim

WHAT???!!!! Camille, What do you mean back when you HAD Neos???

Cheers.
Jim

I don't know if you read the story, but last spring/summer I was away at Cornell for 5 months. The orchids couldn't come along so were staying in the care of my mom. She does an fairly nice job with them, but back then I didn't trust her with my favorite/hardest to replace orchids. So in march I packed my 15 favorite orchids in a box, with tracking, with insurance and send them to Rosie in the UK. All 3 Neos were in there.

Very long story made very short, the box got hopelessly lost and showed up in september. Amazingly 4 were still clinging on to life after more than 5 months, but life outside the box was too hard on them My only consolation was that I managed to claim part of the insurance.

So when Glenn comes to the UK this summer for an orchid show, I'm ordering more Neos!

[Pilot]

Originally Posted by Vanda lover

Do you have them in water during the day, then pour the water off for the night?

Nancy

Yes Nancy, that is precisely what I do. My environment is very dry and by morning, all the roots have the classic grey tinge to them, letting me know they're dry.

So now your growing them in water? They can't be happy with all these changes.

Cheers.
Jim

Changes? I'm not sure I've changed much of anything in the past 3 plus months of owning them. The neostylis has always grown this way, as has the vandas and the neofinetia was doing horribly in its moss mound, the typical growing method of neos. I have seen new roots and leaves abound so if they're not liking things, its a surprise to me.

What was wrong with the method before that you now grow them in water culture? I would be careful with it, while it's an excellent way to jump start roots on near death orchids, it's not a very good long term solution. If they like the moisture, why not put them in S/H instead?

Camille I haven't changed anything from the previous method-- actually this is on the only method since deciding to grow with vase culture. As I mentioned to you before, I have horrible luck with sphag moss-- I don't like it! I find it very difficult to manage under my environment. That is originally why I took my neo out of the moss.

As for leaving the plants in water during the day, this isn't much of a change of what I was doing before by leaving them in for only 30mins to a hour. I leave them in longer because the roots were stalling out and drying up. Since leaving them in the water longer, I have seen a dramatic increase in root growth and now top growth. I water them with quarter strength fertilized water every day.

I keep them in vase culture because I like the look of it. S/h is nice and all, but it isn't the best presentation especially with vandaceous orchids.

I'm a little taken by the responses to my latest update-- it seems people are suggesting this is unsustainable for the long run. I'm wondering if this is right and if so, why isn't it sustainable? I've had to tweak my watering method because of my horribly low humidity but the plants have in turn responded positively.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

[camille1585]

I guess I read a bit quickly and went over the bit where they are dry at night.

Still, I think leaving them in water all day every day might not be good. The reason I think this is that as the roots are growing, they have to adapt to the environment they are in. But in your case what do they do? If they do grow roots adapted to the water, then I'd assume that likely makes them all the more intolerant of dryness. And it still sounds like mostly water culture, which is known to be not that great for most orchids in the long run.

I really like your new method, but going from 30-60min soak to an all day soak seems a bit extreme. But if it works in the long run, good for you, and we will have learned something!

[Pilot]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I guess I read a bit quickly and went over the bit where they are dry at night.

Still, I think leaving them in water all day every day might not be good. The reason I think this is that as the roots are growing, they have to adapt to the environment they are in. But in your case what do they do? If they do grow roots adapted to the water, then I'd assume that likely makes them all the more intolerant of dryness.

I really like your new method, but going from 30-60min soak to an all day soak seems a bit extreme. But if it works in the long run, good for you, and we will have learned something!

I understand your concerns. I really do. But I was also having the issue of time, as well. I would often forget these poor things were steeping in water and I would head off to work. I watch my little girl in the morning and then work in the evening so the plants would often end up in water all day anyway.

But as I've mentioned, too, come morning, their roots are the classic grey color of roots that have successfully dried before the next watering. With the 30-60 min steep, I had roots that suffered the drying of the rest of the day.

So I guess I need a happy medium. I'm not sure what that is.