Just got my first Neo

[The Mutant]

So, yesterday my little Neofinetia falcata Yubae keiki arrived. I didn't even know Neos could look like this one, until a member of the Swedish orchid forum posted a picture of the mother plant. I was smitten, and when it turned out he had a couple of keikis for sale, I decided an early Christmas present was in order.

So, now I have my new little baby, and I'm terrified I'm going to kill it. Unfortunately, it only has one viable root (the seller informed me about this, so I was aware of it) and I really hope I can get it to grow some more. The seller has already provided instructions how to treat it, so hopefully I'll manage. It looks like a healthy little plant, and if I was an experienced Neo grower, I wouldn't have any problems with it I think. It's my newbie nerves making themselves known, and I scared I'll smother it to death (it's already a precious little thing).

I don't dare to post any pictures of it yet, but I will if I manage to get it to establish itself properly.

Wish me luck, please!

[rangiku]

Welcome, Mutant, to Neo madness. I am so happy you have been bitten with this bug. Also, you should eventually make some equestris/equestris primary crosses with Neos.

[dries666]

good luck with growing it to a beautiful plant! And mark my words.... start looking for a place where u could place several, eventually, sooner or later, u'll need the extra place

happy growing,
Dries

[sbrofio]

Good luck!

[The Mutant]

Originally Posted by rangiku

Welcome, Mutant, to Neo madness. I am so happy you have been bitten with this bug. Also, you should eventually make some equestris/equestris primary crosses with Neos.

I want to see how I'm supposed to pull that one off!

And thank you. I don't know if I've been bitten by the Neo bug, but at least one Neo bug took a little bite.

Originally Posted by dries666

good luck with growing it to a beautiful plant! And mark my words.... start looking for a place where u could place several, eventually, sooner or later, u'll need the extra place

happy growing,
Dries

Since I'm giving away some mislabeled chids and killing off some others (go me... ), there's room for some minis. We'll see if I'll get any more though, since the ones I'm interested in hurt my wallet so much... The seller has a BS Kibana though that has caught my interest. But first things first, let's see if I can grow this little fellow before getting any more.

[AnonYMouse]

Neos don't disappoint!

[dries666]

Originally Posted by The Mutant

We'll see if I'll get any more though, since the ones I'm interested in hurt my wallet so much... The seller has a BS Kibana though that has caught my interest. But first things first, let's see if I can grow this little fellow before getting any more.

just saying ... I never thought I would get any more neo's years ago, I thought; well I have three already, why spend so much money on other varieties of the same orchid? ... but eventually the interest and easy culture has caught up to me and my first 3 became four and a while later those 4 became 7 and only a month later I got another opportunity and 7 became 9 ... believe me my wallet never agreed to all of this . Interest kills in this business...
This time however, I'll think twice before letting beautiful neo's in my thoughts again....

greetz,
Dries

[MattWoelfsen]

This reminds me of the song "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen(?) or Abba(?). Anyway, WELCOME! I've seen you posting elsewhere on OB, and based on what you have posted elsewhere, I had a feeling you were going to come over to the Neofinetia gang! If you haven't found this information, please click on these links to get you some history and culture.

New World Orchids. They export plants to Europe. I'm posting a link to their Neofinetia culture links, but if you go to their home page you'll access a lot of the resources they offer. The next two links are also very helpful. And of course this part of the forum has a lot of very gracious and generous people. In fact, they helped me with my Neofinetia addiction!

http://newworldorchids.com/pages/neoculture.htm

http://www.orchidspecies.com/neofinetiafalcata.htm

http://www.orchidculture.com/COD/FREE/FS344.html

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by rangiku

Welcome, Mutant, to Neo madness. I am so happy you have been bitten with this bug. Also, you should eventually make some equestris/equestris primary crosses with Neos.

Originally Posted by The Mutant

I want to see how I'm supposed to pull that one off!

And thank you. I don't know if I've been bitten by the Neo bug, but at least one Neo bug took a little bite.

Ha! We've roped in another one!

Yes, you of all people must do some Phalanetia Irene (Neofinetia falcata x Phal. equestris) remakes. [Technically it's now Vandaenopsis Irene, due to the merging of Neofinetia into genus Vanda by the taxonomists, but they're still Neofinetia and fukiran (the latter term reserved for registered varieties) to us.] Actually Yubae is a hybrid (and you'd want to wait for it to grow more roots anyway, before stressing it with a pod), but I'm sure you'll not-so-eventually acquire some pure Neos as well. Your love of equestris is well-known from your posts here and elsewhere, so crossing with Neos seems like a natural for you.

Neo's have the same chromosome count as Phals, 2n=38, so intergeneric breeding can work, although assuming most Neo's are diploid, you likely want to use an equestris that is also diploid; for instance NOT Phal equestris 'B#100,' which is tetraploid.

I've been intending to try a Neo equestris cross myself, if I can figure out how to work the pollen on the itty bitty equestris and Neo flowers.

[coffeecup]

Originally Posted by MattWoelfsen

This reminds me of the song "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen(?) or Abba(?).

Queen, and yes, couldn't have said it any better.

As for the growth only having 1 root; just make sure to try to not overwater. That is probably the most common issue some folks have with starting out with Neos. It will sprout new roots in new time.

Again, welcome to this crazy sub-hobby! As if collecting orchids couldn't get more complicated!