Sphag vs. Bark Mix for Neofinetia

[Shoreguy]

For new growers of neos, it would be of value to hear from experienced growers who have used both methods. They would be in the best position to comment on the advantages and disadvantages of both.

Those of us who have been using one method throughout should not in my mind change over because if something works for you stay with it.

For 40 years of Neo growing, I have exclusively used bark mixtures, immediately repoting any plant received in sphag so I really am not able to fairly comment on which method should be recommended to a new Neo grower.

Are there any of you out there who can contribute to this issue?

[estación seca]

Every sick, dead or dying Neo I have seen posted here by a beginner was in a raised ball of sphagnum.

I don't think the sphagnum is the problem; it's lack of knowledge and experience. Neos require much different watering through the year than other orchids commonly grown by beginners. It takes a very long time to kill a Neo by underwatering. They die quickly if the roots are wet and airless, as when overwatered in sphagnum. They also die quickly if cold and wet for more than a few hours.

Sphagnum compacts rapidly. Compacted, wet sphagnum can lead to root rot. Hakumin mentioned recently repotting Neos 3-4 times per year into fresh sphagnum, and also wrote a large Korean grower repots frequently.

Norman Fang of orchids.com spoke to our club recently. I am working on my notes to post here. But he said you must separate you orchids potted in sphagnum or you will overwater them.

[Tim S.]

I currently have about 100 neo's. I have grown in both sphag and bark mix. Although I like the look of traditional sphag potting, bark mixes work better for me. In the winter I grow underlights in my basement then late spring take them outside. Bark is more forgiving with watering. They get rainfall and when needed i water them when outside.
Sphag outside doesn't work well for me. (rotting issues when wet too long).

[jcec1]

I only have a few, my first was in bark and yes it got watered too frequently and started to rot, I now grow them bareroot in vases just like all my other vandas. No issues with rot anymore.

[Hakumin]

I have experience growing Neos in both bark and sphagnum.

Speaking strictly on a growth and flowering standpoint, I can grow Neos in either medium just fine. However, for me, sphagnum happens to make my life easier due to the environment I grow in and the lowered frequency of watering that sphagnum allows me. (I also grow most of my few other orchid species in sphagnum as well)

As most of the comments above have mentioned already, whether or not a plant will rot or thrive in any specific medium is all about watering habits and the environment it is grown in. No potting medium is better than another in every circumstance, and any individual medium has its positives and negatives.

In other words, I don’t think that any potting medium should ever be recommended to a new grower without information on how that grower’s habits may potentially affect a plant grown in that medium. In cases where you cannot expect a new grower to change their habits, then the recommendation should be based on which one would best fit, given those habits.

When it comes down to it, sphagnum is a relatively high maintenance medium that often requires a fairly particular potting and growing method. If you compact the moss too much in the pot, the roots will rot. It dries slowly, especially when the humidity is above 70%, so watering needs to be monitored carefully rather than simply set on a schedule. Moss degrades faster than bark so the condition of the moss needs to be monitored regularly as well. It really takes a decent amount of experience and skill to successfully pot and grow in sphagnum.

However, if you can adjust your growing conditions to fit the needs of a plant growing in sphagnum, there are benefits. Sphagnum is lighter in color and absorbs less heat. Growing in sphagnum with porous clay pots also adds an evaporative cooling effect to the roots. Both of these effects help Neos grow better during the hot days of summer. Roots also grow straighter in sphagnum and don’t stick to the moss, making the roots less prone to damage during repotting.

Bark on the other hand is more flexible to a wide range of growing habits, especially when the grower needs to keep track of numerous different species of orchids. It requires less skill and finesse to repot properly as bark won’t compact the way sphagnum does. The coarser bark that many use dries faster than sphagnum, so it is more forgiving for people who tend to water frequently or for people who grow in higher humidity. Since bark comes in a wide range of sizes and since you can easily modify your mixture to adjust water retention and drying characteristics, you can easily adjust for each individual plant. It’s easier to grow in bark when you have many different species that have different needs, but cannot individualize your watering habits or environment for each and every species.

Yet as a complication of growing Neos specifically, and the heavy importance placed on the aesthetics of the leaves, bark, especially if not chosen or mixed appropriately, can dry too fast, dehydrating and stalling the growth of the leaves if watering is not monitored carefully. In terms of the survival of the plant and flowering, Neos are surprisingly forgiving to being under watered, but very intolerant of overwatering with its roots rotting rather quickly. Because of this, less experienced growers will easily get exasperated with moss and choose to grow in coarse bark which dries faster, reducing the likelihood of root rot. However, while Neos are not easily killed by under watering, if the plant stays a bit too dry too frequently, the plant will begin to produce leaves with uneven lengths, wrinkles in the leaves, and certain types of variegation and leaf characteristics will fail to appear. Even with bark you need to be just as careful with your watering if you want the varietal characteristics to show their best, because bark often encourages keeping the plant too dry.

Overall though, all of this might make it sound like bark is more or less the better choice simply because it's easier to keep the plant alive in bark. For me however, and most of the traditionalist Neo growers, there are other benefits to sphagnum that outweigh the flexibility of growing in bark.

For many Neo growers, growing in the Japanese traditional way is more than just about keeping the plants healthy and flowering profusely. The Japanese method is also about growing and training each plant to bring out and best show off its individual characteristics to create a work of “art” out of each specimen.

Growing in the peculiar raised sphagnum mounds helps that endeavor by better showing off every detail of the plant from top to bottom. When the abscission line, stem color and root tip color are all just as much celebrated as the flowers, it doesn’t make much sense to keep those parts of the plant below the rim of the pot. The raised moss mound makes it easy to show off these lower portions of the plant. The moss is more than just a potting medium. It’s the pedestal to display the plant on.

Sphagnum also makes it easier to grow a clean, compact beautiful specimen plant. Since the roots grow straighter in sphagnum with less tangling, you can easily arrange them neatly downwards. This helps keep the base of the plant tight and compact, helping to prevent the growths from being pushed apart by errant roots, as well as allowing you to use a smaller diameter pot and still fit all the roots, giving better aesthetic proportions to the overall plant/moss/pot combination. Roots growing in bark will twist and turn around each piece of bark creating a kinked and knotted mass of roots that's pretty much impossible to rearrange when repotting. Sphagnum also makes it possible to use skewers or wire to train leaves and growths into position with high precision. Bark severely limits the ability to train the plants in this way because a skewer can't be placed anywhere into the pot except directly adjacent to the pot wall.

And lastly, there is the simple fact that growing Neos in moss mounds is traditional. Nearly all Japanese and most Korean Neo growers predominantly use sphagnum. Books and drawings from as far as 150 years ago show Neos potted in moss. Moss has even become such traditional a medium that when you’re showing a Neo in Japan or Korea for judging, it is required to be potted in sphagnum.

Some growers, on the other hand, have argued that growing in sphagnum is pointless when you’re never going to be able to have the plant judged in Japan or Korea. But for those who are enamored by the these traditional methods and aesthetics, it’s not simply about having a plant judged and winning an award. The fascination of the history, culture and artistry surrounding these plants is often enough to make a grower want to do it that way.

So, what would I recommend a new grower to use?

Well, that’s one thing that I never actually do. It takes too much effort to come up with a suitable answer. Instead I ask them what medium they want to use and offer my opinions on how to successfully grow using that medium. I also find that hardheadedly disparaging or over zealously promoting any specific growing medium or method, especially without having experienced the alternatives, is a surefire way dig up animosity among many orchid growers.

In the end, anyone can grow healthy and vigorous Neos in any of the usual orchid media. Moss, bark, mounted, clay pellets—it doesn't matter which they use as long as they take the necessary steps to learn how to use that medium.

But if I was pressed to recommend one medium or another, I would do my best to figure out why the grower wants to grow Neos and find out their growing habits and environmental conditions. Only then would I suggest which one I think would lead them closest to success and satisfaction.

[Shoreguy]

Incredibly insightful. Should be read by every Neofinetia grower or wannabe grower.

[Pattywack]

Hakumin, beautifully said. My year of growing Neofinetia has been enjoyable and rewarding. I have other orchids growing in bark, bark mixes, rock, LECA, sphagnum and many mounted plants. Most of my plants are miniature.

Initially I thought Neofinetia looked odd/weird in their moss mounds. Different. This forum, along with the members enthusiasm definitely influenced my opinion about these plants. Obviously you cannot purchase a Neofinetia from most vendors, this alone made these plants attractive to me.

My first few Neos were purchased at Al’s Orchids, he sources his plants from Seed Engei. Al has plants that he has grown for years, he is very attached to these plants and always ready to share his growing conditions when I ask him anything. With all the different orchids in his greenhouse, Neofinetia are his favorites. Many have the “red tag” attached.

In my inexperienced opinion, Neofinetia were grown in sphagnum because that is HOW you grow them. I never gave a thought to growing them in bark. It may seem simple minded but for me, it was traditional and if I could grow them and bloom them in their moss mounds, that is what I want to do. I started with one Neo....

If at anytime one of my plants shows signs of distress I’ll unpot it and check the roots. I feel like the moss is easier to water and control the moisture with these plants. I do have an upturned net pot in most of these moss mounds.

You are completely correct as far as being enamored with the traditional methods and esthetics and the beautiful history of Neofinetia.

Thank you for your post!

[AnonYMouse]

I have mine planted in LECA,
CHC, Orchiata, sphag and this:

[Pattywack]

Anonymous this looks awesome! The plant seems to love the pot. How long have you had this mounted on here? Look at those roots!

Very nice!

[AnonYMouse]

That pic was from last year. I started that 3.5-4years ago and it has been a learning process every step of the way, from making a lid to battling mites. What a lot of newbies don't understand is that it takes time to grow a perennial. Every adjustment I made needed a couple months and more to see a change. I got it to grow (faster and bigger than any other Neo) but it hasn't spiked. It's had more light and resulted in griddle marked leaves and I just don't have a better location. My next step will be to create a lamp shade just for it. Then waiting again.

I should also mention that that is NOT my first plant on an olla. There were at least two other genera before. It also started with sphag covering the old roots during the transition (note the short roots).