New neo owner looking for growing & culture tips

[Jubilee]

I've recently come into a lot of orchids and one of them is a little Ascf. Twinkle x Neof. falcata 'White Flamingo' AM/AOS (according to the tag). Since I can't quite figure out what Ascf. Twinkle means, I figured I'd focus on the Neof. falcata part and this looked like a good place to get tips!

When I got him there was a flower spike and I didn't have any sort of bud blast. They were tiny white flowers and lasted about a week or two. I've got him potted in some medium bark and he seems to be gripping well. Floating around the forum it looks like I should have put him in moss? I'm watering about every other day, but the humidity has been pretty low around here lately (although, it's at 75% and 58F at the moment).

Right now I've got most of my orchids, shaded, on my back patio and I'm trying to build a shade bench. I'm not sure of the average light readings, but I'm getting a meter today. Temperatures are running from the upper 50s at night to the 70s-80s during the day. Is this an ok culture to grow in? Anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks for any and all help!

(The grower had this to say on their website: Ascf. Twinkle has Neof. falcata as a parent, and it is very fragrant on its own. The Neof. falcata used here is a very large-flowered one which we have used extensively in our breeding program with great results. This hybrid should bring us some interesting progeny, all of which should carry the Neofinetia "tail" and its fragrance!")

[Trini Kjeldz]

pot looks too big if u leaving it (which i think you are)there DO NOT overwater......

[LinhT]

Hi Jubilee Welcome to the neo forum and please do not try to put that in moss until you get a chance to check out the moss mounding procedure that includes the cavity. Sounds like your plant is around 25% Ascocentrum. Many of the Ascofinetia type hybrids I see at my local greenhouse are grown in bark mix. Since your plant is Ascocentrum x Neofinetia crossed back into a Neofinetia I would guess you could probably grow it like a regular species Neo but I'm not positive. So if you really want to mound it in sphag, make sure you maintain a void in the center or put large pieces of charcoal/ lava rock in the center. Here is a link to the mounding method with the cavity (method 2) Neofinetia potting Otherwise, if the bark mix still looks good and the plant is putting out new roots and leaves (it should be right now because it's their active growing season) I would leave it as is.
If the bark is degraded and the plant looks like it's suffering, I'd unpot it, check out the roots and repot in new bark mix.

Here's a link to growing culture for Neofinetia falcata:Culture - Fukiran Society of America

Good luck!

[Jubilee]

You have a link and advice! Thank you! I think I would prefer not to put it in the mounded moss for the moment. Mostly because I had just transferred it to the pot that is pictured (I only received it recently) and it looks to be happy. It's very firmly rooted and I don't want to cause any problems repotting it again so soon.

[Leafmite]

I grow both neos and asco's in lava rock and net pots. In the winter, our house gets a little cool and the bark and orchid roots didn't get along too well. This setup has proven much better for me.

[WhiteRabbit]

In my experience, Neos seem to be able to grow in just about any media, so long as they aren't over or under watered for the media they are in. I have a couple in bark mix, some in sphag, a mounted one. They've all been doing well, tho need more or less watering depending on their situation.