Neofinetia, Kyokusho 旭昇

[Pattywack]

Hakumin your Kyokusho is beautiful! The variegation is striking on this plant, really nice.

I agree with u bada, you have a neat and clean set up. Looks very “Better Homes and Garden’ish” and certainly a pleasure to spend time with.

I thought I remembered you posting some time ago about growing under lights, in an old post. Glad to see you are still using T5HO tubes and happy with your results. I’ve not switched to LEDs yet myself.

I love the pots as well, very uniform. Simple and elegant. Thanks for sharing!

[u bada]

I know I'm deviating from the beautiful subject of your thread but a few replies here:

-you need a lot of light to grow kingianums, they bloom outside here in SoCal no problem because you can just sit them in a full light no problem... and you've bloomed them just with those spot lights?

-"monies" are beautiful plants for sure just the foliage, hence I'm getting into them too. a little less perfect than neos which look amazing right off the bat, but yeah probably yours need cool dry winters and higher light, but keep me posted if it blooms indoors in your set up. Would be great to enjoy some indoors. Outside they really can tolerate a lot of light, despite their leaves being way thinner than neo leaves. unfortunately snails like the leaves, another reason I'd love to keep them indoors.

-Chinese cyms are a mystery to me but I'm sure I'll bug you about yours on how it's doing indoors in future.

-Re LED's, totally get what your saying. When I use to live on your neck of the woods, in an apt, I got away with growing a blooming a lot of things under flours and HID lights because I think I was able to get day/night temp difference with how warm they and especially the HID light get. Again, just really excited neo's do well without that temp drop, but with LED's not having that added thing may be putting a hamper on flowering success in my grow tanks. As far as changing LED bulbs, well I've been playing around with them for 3-4 years and reduction intensity is a benefit (they're pretty close to the plants) but can't tell if that's what's been going on. if I have to change lights in another how many years, wouldn't be a problem for me.

-bummer on pots, but had already gathered that. Maybe I'll just have a local ceramicists make something for me and see if that's cheaper from ordering international...

[bjmac]

Hakumin wonderful setup and very clean. How do you get your humidity up with the open shelves and what is the level? Do you have to water often to keep it there? Wish I had more room to have this many neos.

[Hakumin]

Originally Posted by u bada

-you need a lot of light to grow kingianums, they bloom outside here in SoCal no problem because you can just sit them in a full light no problem... and you've bloomed them just with those spot lights?

-"monies" are beautiful plants for sure just the foliage, hence I'm getting into them too. a little less perfect than neos which look amazing right off the bat, but yeah probably yours need cool dry winters and higher light, but keep me posted if it blooms indoors in your set up. Would be great to enjoy some indoors. Outside they really can tolerate a lot of light, despite their leaves being way thinner than neo leaves. unfortunately snails like the leaves, another reason I'd love to keep them indoors.

They do get a bit of direct sun from the window too for a portion of the day, but yes, the two spots are the primary source of light. The lamps are par30 spots with 9 degree beam angle with 1050 lumens each. At the level of the plants, the lux reading is actually higher than what the plants on the stand are getting. Narrow angle LED spots are surprisingly powerful.

Other than that, I do stick the kingianums on the window sill itself during the winter to give them a better chill. That's actually probably why my moniliforme hasn't bloomed. I never gave it a chill the way I did with the kingianums, as you suspected, but I've always been afraid to lose leaves on it because they seem to more prone to losing its leaves with cold and dry spells.

---------- Post added at 09:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:28 PM ----------

Originally Posted by bjmac

Hakumin wonderful setup and very clean. How do you get your humidity up with the open shelves and what is the level? Do you have to water often to keep it there? Wish I had more room to have this many neos.

I don't do anything in particular to increase the humidity. In the summer, the ambient humidity stays between 50% and 65% naturally. In the winter, the humidity drops down to 15% to 40%, but they go "dormant" in the winter the way I grow them so the low humidity doesn't seem to affect them much.

In the summer, I water as soon as the moss is dry on the outside but the slightest bit damp on the inside, about once every 4-5 days. In the winter, I water after the moss is crispy dry for 3 days, inside and out, about once every 6-9 days.

I water everything by dumping them in the shower and running it for 5-10 minutes.

[Shoreguy]

Originally Posted by Hakumin

I simply don't have the place to grow outdoors since I live in a third floor apartment in a city, so I learned to make do.

Seems like I learn from you every day, at least when I am checking postings on the Orchid Board. This time not even about neos or orchids.

English is my first and only language and yet when I read your above comment, it seemed wrong. In particular the phrase “make do”. So I looked it up on the internet and indeed you are correct and “make due” is wrong.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Shoreguy

Camille,

For a tiger stripe, I highly recommend N Karanishiki.

It is somewhat high end. In addition to the tiger stripes, it has ruby root tips. Do an internet search to familiarize yourself with how it should look and be sure to get a picture of the exact plant you will be purchasing so you won't be conned. The picture should have been taken during root tip growth to see the tips in all their glory.

Another excellent choice is N Byakko, more readily available and more affordable. Plain root tips. One issue with Byakko is that the variegation is white and not yellow resulting in it being more subject to sun damage.

Thanks for the suggestions. The selection of Neos for sale is more limited here, and mostly depends on what my favorite supplier chooses to buy in his twice per year imports from Korea. I'll note these names and keep an eye out, or ask if he can include one in his next import.

[Shoreguy]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Thanks for the suggestions. The selection of Neos for sale is more limited here, and mostly depends on what my favorite supplier chooses to buy in his twice per year imports from Korea. I'll note these names and keep an eye out, or ask if he can include one in his next import.

What happens if your supplier orders an inferior Kara Nishiki and you have to turn it down? That could result in problems with your future dealings.

Ask the supplier to be sure to order one with good distinctive yellow tiger variegation and if in active root growth, ruby tips. You might ask him if he can email you a picture of the exact plant being considered and you can approve or disapprove based on appearance and price to you. It’s your money.