Neofinetia, Kyokusho 旭昇

[Hakumin]

Not the most elegant arrangement of blooms, but I like the contrast with the yellow variegation in the leaves.

[u bada]

Really beautiful but then again it may be deceiving because maybe it's more your photo skills than your plants ;P

You grow this like other tigers? if so feel free to share any secrets to keep that variegation...

Also, is there something unique going on with the spurs thats unique to this variety?... or just me looking at too many qualities in neos these days that I'm overly sensitive to slight details that are actually nothing particularly different...

[Hakumin]

Originally Posted by u bada

Really beautiful but then again it may be deceiving because maybe it's more your photo skills than your plants ;P

You grow this like other tigers? if so feel free to share any secrets to keep that variegation...

Also, is there something unique going on with the spurs thats unique to this variety?... or just me looking at too many qualities in neos these days that I'm overly sensitive to slight details that are actually nothing particularly different...

It's just my photography skills. It's actually just a 1 growth plant. All the leaves you see are just an illusion.

Joking aside, I grow this one under the highest light I can give out of any of my neos, but since I grow under lights, it's hard to explain exactly how much total light it gets in relation to growing under other light sources. Other than that, the care I give it is identical to any standard neo.

As for the spurs, it's just the one in the front that got the funny curl. The rest are pretty normal.

[camille1585]

Gorgeous plant! Like you, I really like the contrast between the yellow striping and the white blooms. Is it just me, or do the spurs have a slight tinge of pink?

I think I need to add some tiger striped plants to my small but growing collection.

[Hakumin]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Is it just me, or do the spurs have a slight tinge of pink?

The spurs are faintly pink, and the pedicels are as well.

[Shoreguy]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I think I need to add some tiger striped plants to my small but growing collection.

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.

---------- Post added at 12:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:22 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Hakumin

It's just my photography skills. It's actually just a 1 growth plant. All the leaves you see are just an illusion.

Joking aside, I grow this one under the highest light I can give out of any of my neos, but since I grow under lights, it's hard to explain exactly how much total light it gets in relation to growing under other light sources.

Hakumin,

You grow under lights? I never would have guessed.

I nearly fell off my sofa (something hard to do) when reading that. Such success with the alternate source!

[u bada]

Yeah was shocked about that too... but thinking about it, many plants grown under lights look very perfect meaning very even growth and his plants look pretty perfect to me.

What lights are you using, Hakumin? and how close do you have them?

Have light setups, but LED pretty strong, but have been growing the neos at an window setup and and on balc to see differences, maybe I should have a couple under lights to test that too.

Just got a byakko, pretty excited, but one leaf burnt a little so I pulled it further from window and the variegation lessened and now back to a brighter but more even lit spot. Maybe that's worth trying under lights.

[Hakumin]

Originally Posted by u bada

What lights are you using, Hakumin? and how close do you have them?

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.

I am currently growing under three 24" T5HO tubes. At least until I can find LED replacement tubes with the output and spectrum that I want, I'll stick with these for now. I am currently using Sunblaster 6400K tubes. My plants seem to do best under them after having tried several brands.

I have three shelves. All three shelves have one middle tube that turns on and off at sunrise and sunset. The outer tubes on each shelf is timed separately from the middle to give varying amount of light to each shelf during the day as needed.

The plants are arranged on each shelf depending on their light requirements since there is higher light towards the middle of each shelf as opposed to the edges.

The plants are between 4 and 8 inches away from the tubes depending on height of the plant. If a plant needs less light, I'll put it towards the edge of the shelf or on a lower light shelf. If a plant needs more light, I'll put it towards the center of the shelf or on a higher light shelf.

The most important thing to understand about growing with artificial lights is that you cannot take the usual outdoor footcandle recommendations for plants at face value.

If a plant is said to require 3000 fc, this means that it requires that intensity at peak intensity as the light increases and decreases gradually over the course of a day. It does not mean that you should give it 3000fc constantly throughout the whole day.

Artificial lights generally do not gradually rise and fall in intensity the way sunlight does, and if you attempt to give that plant 3000 fc using artificial lights, it's way too much light.

Anyway, this pic is a bit old, but this is how it's set up:

[u bada]

Really great, clean, organized set up, wow. Perfect for small space dwelling and photo could be design mag feature ready.

side questions:

-jointly been amassing a small collection of den moniliforme as well, but grow them outdoors as most other dens need more sun, air flow and temp drops... you able to grow yours and flower them well indoors? and same question for the chinese cym? (as it appears to be in front of window)

-Where are you, and everybody, getting the cool simple terra cotta neo pots? searched and searched... maybe just international source?

Been experimenting with numerous LED lights and so far mixed results. Overall still get more growth than flowers. And even with LED's you can overdo the light thing. But i do use them over aquarium type set ups not racks. Still appears fluorescent lights are a lower cost dependable successful solution for growing lots of plants on racks.

[Hakumin]

Originally Posted by u bada

-jointly been amassing a small collection of den moniliforme as well, but grow them outdoors as most other dens need more sun, air flow and temp drops... you able to grow yours and flower them well indoors? and same question for the chinese cym? (as it appears to be in front of window)

I have one moniliforme which I got for the leaves more than the flowers. It grows happily, lots of roots, healthy canes, but I have not gotten it to bloom.

The Cymbidium is an ensifolium and so far no blooms yet, though again it seems to be growing happily with a bunch of new bulbs and steady growth of leaves.

Quite honestly though, as much as I know about Neos, I am next to clueless when it comes to monies and cymbs, and i got these specific ones primarily for their leaves.

Two of the three dendrobiums on the table are actually kingianums though and those I have gotten to flower.

Originally Posted by u bada

-Where are you, and everybody, getting the cool simple terra cotta neo pots? searched and searched... maybe just international source?

Japan. Sorry. I have a friend who lives in Japan. I have her purchase them occasionally and repack and send to me. Others use shipping services, but breakage tends to be high unless the pots are carefully repacked for international shipping.

Originally Posted by u bada

Been experimenting with numerous LED lights and so far mixed results. Overall still get more growth than flowers. And even with LED's you can overdo the light thing. But i do use them over aquarium type set ups not racks. Still appears fluorescent lights are a lower cost dependable successful solution for growing lots of plants on racks

I've found that it's less "even with LEDs you can over do it" it's more "with LEDs it's EASY to over do it." I've found that most LED T5 tube replacements have too high an output and can easily burn plants when placed as close to the plants as I have to.

In the big picture though, LEDs do have quite a few benefits.

LEDs are cooler running than fluos so if you have a hard time controlling heat, LEDs would help a lot.

Also, LEDs are for the most part, cheaper in the long run than fluos. While fluos are cheaper per tube, you do have to replace the tubes more frequently.

For me though one of the big reasons I'm using fluos is that the phosphor mixtures used in LEDs tend to create a tone of light that looks strange to me and skews the color of certain characteristics in my plants. They do make high CRI LEDs, which I am using in the two spotlights you see in the photo, but I have yet to see any for sale in T5 format, or in a format that I'd easily be able to switch out to.

Overall, when the LED replacements catch up to the variety of options that fluo grow lights have, I'll make the switch then I think.