Neofinetia Falcata Help!

[zrhanson]

Hello! It's been a long while since I've posted here (with my avid previous activity of about two or three posts! Ha ha ha), since college and everything sort of got in the way. Since I last posted, I went to Swaziland, Africa and saw a TON of awesome native orchids (and a bunch happened to be in bloom while I was there! Unfortunately, I never seemed to have my camera on me. ) However, this isn't why I'm posting.

I'm gonna try to attach a couple of pictures of this Neofinetia Falcata that I just purchased. My third orchid! My roommate is starting to get concerned (heh heh heh)! Now, I bought this kind of on a whim----vendor information removed - see FAQs on posting ---- because it said it was fragrant, I had an empty spot on my desk, and because I've wanted a new orchid for a while! (My other two are a pink phal, and a white mini phal. I've only ever gotten the pink phal to bloom, and when it did it only had one flower! Still a proud moment for me nonetheless!)

But after buying it, I started to read about it, and a lot of the information I could find (what wasn't in Japanese) seemed to contradict itself in some areas, and I just was confused. Now, I don't know what kind of sunlight to give this thing, for starters. It seems like a lot of places said to give it a lot of sun, and some places said mostly shady! Now, I'm not in the sunniest spot (my window is a NNW facing window. I'm quite jealous of my neighbor, who I can SEE has direct sunlight!). So what I've been doing is sitting it by the window, and putting my desk lamp on and facing it towards it for a few hours a day. There is one of those energy saver mini fluorescent bulbs in it, so it doesn't get too hot. I've attached pictures of my current, erm, "situation" I have this orchid in.

Another thing I found out is that there are tens of thousands of varieties of these, and I have no idea what mine is. So any ID help there would be nice, though with the huge variety, not expected! :-)

I really like this guy, and don't want to lose it! It's about 8 inches tall, and has two smaller growths along with it, and it seems to be sprouting a new leaf out the top. So I guess that's good. Anyway, any help you awesome people here could give me would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks again,

-Zach

[Naoki]

Hmmm. Zach, it seems like that it has too much moss in the pot compared to the plant size. Have you checked the roots? Not only do they need rather high light during the growing season, but also they love to get some wind. It is called, Fuuran. "Fuu" in Japanese charactor means 'wind'.

I grow mine in the traditional moss mound, but some grow them with a regular orchid mix. PM me if you have more questions. I will be more than happy to help you along with a few links which helped me learn more about this orchids.

It costs thousands dollars for ONE growth of some 'rare' variety, btw.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

We grow ours in a shallow redwood bark+ charcoal + sponge rock + medium coconut husk chunk + lava rock mix. The get very bright light and are watered 2 times a week during the warmer months and once a week in the cooler months.

cheers,
BD

[Raver]

i have mine in a basket and i water it everyday, i also give it a lot of sunlight that the leaves have a tinge of purple in them

[zrhanson]

Thank you all for your info. So do you think that the light bulb setup is giving it adequate light? I really don't have any windows that get any more light than the one I have here at my desk.....

Also Naoki, what should I look for with the roots? I'm pretty new at this, but I mean it looks from what I can see without unpotting the whole thing that it's doing all right. The roots on the top layer seem to spread out all over the surface of the moss, but I don't know about what's inside.... How would I go about checking that?

[Naoki]

Zach, I would pull the plant out of the pot and check the roots to see if they are active roots. In other word, check to see If the root tip is either green or maroon-ish red. Since it is potted with moss, you should be able to wrap the roots around if they look good.

[zrhanson]

All righty, well I have taken it out of the moss, and I took some pictures of the roots. The roots themselves all seem green, but the tips of them seem brown in a lot of cases. I took some pictures that I'll post with this. I am at a loss as to what to do next, though....

[Naoki]

Tony, those roots look fine. Put them back into the pot by wrapping the roots with moss. Or you can just put them in a pot with bark mix.

Now you would want to let it reach to dry before you water again.

This is how one of my Neos is growing.

[zrhanson]

That looks pretty awesome, like a very happy plant! I'd love to try mounting mine! They look so much more refined when they're mounted! :-) I'm glad mine's been given a clean bill of health! I was worried because some of the bottom leaves are yellow, but maybe they're just dying off in their natural cycle?

[otis226]

Looks like a very healthy plant, Zack. Mounting it would certainly be an option. They are hardier than many give them credit for. Being a vandaceous orchid, they do like bright light and good air movement. I'm not sure, but I'd say that your set up won't be enough light in the long run, but I could be wrong. You can see by the lower foilage that this plant has been grown with lots of light, as evidenced by the darker spots on those lower leaves.
Once again it looks to be a very healthy plant and certainly blooming size. If you check 'the Neofinetia Web', this site should give you lots of good info on your plant. Good luck,
and Good Growing,
Tony