Vandaglossum Furuse (Neofinetia Fujimusume) in terrarium?

[varda.elentari]

Anyone here grow Vandaglossum Furuse, also known as Neofinetia Fujimusume?

I'm building a paludarium and would like to mount my small plant on bark in it. From what I understand though (and I'm a beginner to Vandas and Neos so please correct me if I'm wrong), these these plants need a rest period. If I don't water it during the rest period but it remains in a high humidity environment, will that be sufficient for a winter rest?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

[Shadeflower]

Hi Elbereth,
there is much debate on whether orchids need a rest period or if they do what that rest actually involves.

One important thing for me is that a strong well established orchid can probably go 2 months and handle it but a stressed plant with not many roots would not be able to.

A winter rest is not needed to keep a plant alive. Some will argue it is needed to get some to flower but I know a neofinetia falcata does not need a dry rest. Since this a hybrid of that I'd say no dry rest is needed.

The only note I should add to this is that it does depend on how you grow it. Coldness + wetness can cause a fungal infection to develop.

So it does like a cool rest in winter (does not need it) and generally grows less in this time and too much wetness can cause problems - so you need to water less in winter but don't think of the plant not needing moisture.

I say moisture because keeping the roots damp is the aim, not soaking wet when it is cold.

Placing a bit of moss around the roots can help with this. If you lightly spray the moss it will absorb some moisture without the roots getting too wet.

I find moss quite tricky to work with but if you can keep moss a little hydrated like this without ever getting it too wet then moss works well.

[varda.elentari]

Thank you for such an informative reply Shadeflower!

A friend told me she keeps her N. falcata cold in winter so I assumed they need the cold to induce flowering.

I also find moss very tricky for long-term planting. I'm always afraid of overwatering. And I'd love to mount Neos but my humidity is far too love. A terrarium would be just the thing as long as I can get it to bloom at the relatively constant temperature. Watering I can adjust.

[Shadeflower]

glad I could help, but do get as many opinions as you can, everyone grows a little bit differently.
I knew someone who grew a falcata in their office where it was heated all year round and it flowered but a cold winter rest should produce even better flowering so if you can provide cool nights by all means do. I give mine cooler winters.

One thing I have recently tried which works surprisingly well i to use a glass, place a bit of moss at the bottom that stays wet and then just place the bareroot vanda to loosely sit on top of the moss.

The glass keeps the humidity high around the roots and it's nice and airy. The moss holds water for a few days.

It really is quite a simple method but just something I have recently discovered so up to you if you want to experiment. Don't forget not everyone has the same climate and tiny changes can make big differences but that applies to pretty much any method one wants to try.

[varda.elentari]

Yes, that's what's making it so hard for me to figure out what this plant wants from me. I've read up on it but I haven't yet figured out how to keep it happy in my conditions.

I like your method with the moss in a glass! I tried growing my other Vanda/Neo in a glass vase but I felt it was too dry but that was without moss at the bottom. And if I place the glass in the terrarium, I think that could work work very nicely AND I could remove it during the winter. Thanks so much!