How do YOU winter your Neofinetias?

[DelawareJim]

I've grown both with a cool, dry winter rest and keeping warm and moist like it was their regular growing season and I haven't really noticed much difference either way. They go into my unheated garage, onto house windowsills, and under HO T5's on shelves in my basement depending on the space available when I bring them in.

From what I remember when I first got into Neos was they grow from the Ryukyu Islands into southern China and Korea and most of Japan which I learned is a fairly broad climatic distribution. While I was doing my research, I also went onto Weather.com and checked the monthly averages for temperature and rainfall for cities or towns within this range (Okinawa, Miyazaki, Wakayama, etc.) Winter average lows ranged between 35'F and 60'F and summer average highs ranged between 75'F and 85'F and average precipitation ranged between 2 inches per month and 7 inches per month depending on location; drier in the colder regions and wetter in the warmer.

Bottom line; from the climate data from their native range and my own experience, as long as they stay above freezing, and stay below 90, they'll be fine with whatever temperature you give them. I personally keep mine on the dry side during the winter because when I first started, I lost a couple due to root and crown rot when they were cold and wet too long. They all get watered on pretty much the same schedule during the winter, about every 10-14 days whether they are in S/H, moss mounds, bark in pots or mounted on cork or Ecoweb/Epiweb (new accidental experiment this year). I will water the mounts more frequently if I see the leaves are starting to fold a little.

Cheers.
Jim

[Red Orchid]

Originally Posted by DelawareJim

I've grown both with a cool, dry winter rest and keeping warm and moist like it was their regular growing season and I haven't really noticed much difference either way. They go into my unheated garage, onto house windowsills, and under HO T5's on shelves in my basement depending on the space available when I bring them in.

From what I remember when I first got into Neos was they grow from the Ryukyu Islands into southern China and Korea and most of Japan which I learned is a fairly broad climatic distribution. While I was doing my research, I also went onto Weather.com and checked the monthly averages for temperature and rainfall for cities or towns within this range (Okinawa, Miyazaki, Wakayama, etc.) Winter average lows ranged between 35'F and 60'F and summer average highs ranged between 75'F and 85'F and average precipitation ranged between 2 inches per month and 7 inches per month depending on location; drier in the colder regions and wetter in the warmer.

Bottom line; from the climate data from their native range and my own experience, as long as they stay above freezing, and stay below 90, they'll be fine with whatever temperature you give them. I personally keep mine on the dry side during the winter because when I first started, I lost a couple due to root and crown rot when they were cold and wet too long. They all get watered on pretty much the same schedule during the winter, about every 10-14 days whether they are in S/H, moss mounds, bark in pots or mounted on cork or Ecoweb/Epiweb (new accidental experiment this year). I will water the mounts more frequently if I see the leaves are starting to fold a little.

Cheers.
Jim

Great info this helps me so much just the fact that you have using both methods & no damage to the Neos. Thanks for this post

[coffeecup]

For those of you who have Sedireas, I am finding I have to water these a bit more than the Neos during the winter. I started getting shrively lower leaves and as soon as began to water them more, they all bounced back.

[dries666]

I have my sedirea only since a few months, but this is something I also noticed. I watered them together with my neo's and immediatly the sedirea showed wrinkles untill I watered it more frequently... BUT I still only water it once a week and my neo's once every 1.5 or 2 weeks now in wintertime... and this seems to be plenty.

greetz,
Dries

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by coffeecup

For those of you who have Sedireas, I am finding I have to water these a bit more than the Neos during the winter. I started getting shrively lower leaves and as soon as began to water them more, they all bounced back.

Originally Posted by dries666

I have my sedirea only since a few months, but this is something I also noticed. I watered them together with my neo's and immediatly the sedirea showed wrinkles untill I watered it more frequently... BUT I still only water it once a week and my neo's once every 1.5 or 2 weeks now in wintertime... and this seems to be plenty.

greetz,
Dries

Since Sedirea is now officially Phalaenopsis, I just treat mine like my Phals, mist the air roots at least daily and don't let the sphag get completely crunchy. So far, so good.

Then again there's a lot of variance in cultural requirements between different Phal species.

[MattWoelfsen]

That is the same conclusion I arrived at when I noticed my Sederia japonica responding very well to more frequent watering. I had them growing in the same environment as Neofinetia and they did not seem as robust. I moved them to the shadier side of my growing area with my other Phalaenopsis, it is also warmer, and I am feeding them like my other Phals. It has been a month now and they all seem to be better--roots growing, leaf development increased, and the plants seem to be shinier.

I'm experimenting with my small tribe of Dendrobium moniliforme by moving them into the same location as my other Dendrobium--brighter light, warmer temperatures and weakly weekly feeding.

Now that I've gotten over worrying about my Neofinetia winter rest regime--they too seem to be thriving.

[Pilot]

I moved a minmaru in to sh media today. Not sh culture, just the media.


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[Red Orchid]

I think we are slowing figuring out the culture for those beauties. Mine (fingers crossed) seems to be happy throwing out a new leaf & roots. It is in moss & getting lots of water & light. So far so good but you never know they can turn on you quickly.

[AnonYMouse]

Originally Posted by Pilot

I moved a minmaru in to sh media today. Not sh culture, just the media.

I did the same with my standard after my last shima died. Since all my Phals were switched over to dry LECA a while ago and they have roots galore and various growths going on (but spikes are sloooooooowwww to stalled), it made some sense for the Sedirea.

[NYCorchidman]

Are neos found throughout Japan because it is a bigger country than many people think stretching from as low as subtropical (Okinawa) all the way up to eastern Russia.

And in Korea, only the southern most island have neos growing wild. and in this area, winter does get freezing cold (not as severe as north eastern america) and it snows quite a bit.