Been meaning to do a post about this topic for a while now but never had the free time to really write down everything I wanted to go over till now, so... here it goes.
Topic:
Leaf spotting, "Sun damaged" and/or seen as purple/black pigmentation that derive from direct sunlight exposure
Not sure if anyone else has experienced this, but when you leave certain Neofinetias out in direct sunlight, they start developing purple/black pigmentation on their leaves. Not ALL Neofinetias seem to have this ability, only a select few in my experience. Variegated leaf Neos and most bean-leaf types don't seem to get this problem. However, some striped neos certainly do and colored flower types do as well. Probably a few others do too and I just haven't seen it yet. Of course, I do not believe my statements are 100% accurate, but I am speaking from my own personal experience. Hopefully others can chime in on their own experiences as well.
Anyway, backstory time: Check out this Neofinetia.
I received this Neofinetia 'Shirai-to-nishiki' on 4-17-13. It had sun damage, a leaf was practically burnt and other leaves had heavy black/purple pigmentation. It was NOT attractive to me. This type is supposed to get the "Purple" pigmentation when exposed to strong light, but I think it was exposed a little too much!
Picture of the BEFORE:
It was obvious that it did not need anymore sunlight to me. So I kept it away from direct afternoon light and only gave morning sun to reduce intensity. Check it out now 7-30-13:
Notice the improvement in color. The severely burnt leaf on the left fell off a month ago. A severely burnt leaf at the very bottom right (seen in the first pic) also fell off. Those were obvious goners as the entire leaf almost turned black. However, take a look at the very bottom leaf on the left side. Look at the first photo, now look at the AFTER photo.
Also, take note on the leaf behind the first plant you see in the center. There's actually a second plant there too. In the first photo, you see it has the purple/black spotting. In the second picture, it no longer has it. Huge difference in color!
I actually prefer it looking like the one in the second pic, over the first pic. I'm not sure if the purple pigmentation this variant is supposed to have refers to those black spotting or not. I am pretty sure it's supposed to be a cleaner magenta/purple coloration. So in my point of view, this plant recovered, in a sense, from overdosing of sun exposure. What do you folks think/prefer? First pic or second?
Furthermore, while I don't have photographic evidence, I had other plants that experienced this overexposure to the sun spotting. I had a Shutennou leaf that had gone almost completely black on the underside of the leaf. But ever since I removed it from direct sunlight, it has reverted back to green. A Raikoumaru leaf that was pitch black, is now green again (slightly yellow tint, very very subtle though).
Conclusion? If you find your plants getting the purple/black spotting and don't like it? Get it out of the sun! It CAN heal. I know other folks have asked about these sun spots before and asked if it was permanent or not. I hope this post helps others out because the answer is NO, it is NOT permanent. It can go away if you take it out of direct sun exposure.
Have a great day y'all!
A little disappointed they don't last for very long. From bloom till death, the flowers only run for about 3 weeks for me. But realistically, it's only about 7 days that they look picture perfect with the entire spike in full bloom and are NOT showing a decline (yet).
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