How do you feel about these conditions for culture ?

[Epiphyteme]

So while I brush up on things , I still have to ask are there any varieties she might have that won’t break the bank but aren’t outlandishly hard to get to display their desired characteristics ? So semi uncommon haha

[Pattywack]

I see Satomi has 28 new listings on eBay if your interested, take a peek. I’ve won several of her eBay plants, always receive the plant shown. On eBay she is japaneseorchids. Her listings are only 4 days long.

[Shoreguy]

Originally Posted by Epiphyteme

So while I brush up on things , I still have to ask are there any varieties she might have that won’t break the bank but aren’t outlandishly hard to get to display their desired characteristics ? So semi uncommon haha

This is really not an instant gratification endeavor. For some neos, I have literally waited years to obtain, sometimes because the desired characteristics were not strongly present, sometimes because the variety was not being offered. This can be viewed as part of the fun (or frustrating challenge) but it makes it finally obtaining the plant that much sweeter.

I do not know whether Satomi has all the 7 Neo varieties that I have included in my album but she obviously has most. Just click on the small camera. They are some of my favorites or I wouldn't have included them. Only one is variegated but I have pictured some others in some of my posts.

I also recommend you view posts that have titles of Neo varieties in this section of the forum. And not to belabor it but my 2 warnings stated in my earlier posting must be taken very seriously.

[u bada]

Few things to comment...

Choosing between paphs and phrags makes sense, but between one of those to neos is a bit of a stretch. Neos aren't really grown for the flowers, in fact I found it refreshing that it's an orchid that isn't all about the flowers... but paphs and phrags are pretty much about the flowers. Phrags i've never tried but with all that's necessary, including the room and steady if not high humidity, I've hardly found them worth trying. I throw them in the best for greenhouse list. There are those that grow them indoors, yes, but that would be a crapshoot in my opinion. Paphs for me have always need a temp drop or cool winters or something... even phals need that and for my conditions and space restrictions, not too much success... but admittedly paphs and phrags and phals aren't of my favs, although I appreciate.

Pretty new to Neos, although I've always grown a whatever clone here or there and they've been pretty tolerant of being neglected, although there was a year of real bad water, care, and heat and I lost a lot of plants in general. So being frustrated with my conditions I've been focusing on plants that are easy and all research pointed towards how amenable to indoor culture neos are, proven to be true so far for me, and of course I found them vastly interesting for their background and intrinsic vegetative features of which they are appreciated.

And through some research and questions on here, even temp drops aren't really needed to get them to flower and grow well and don't need excessively high light and humidity. Of course there are a few unique tips/ pointers but you can learn most of those here and of course sink in my mire with some of the trickiness of some varities with the rest of em.

There are some easy varieties out there, you usually want to go with something that grows readily and quickly and flowers easily. I suggest you go to orchidweb and take a look what their offerings and see what you like, they have nice descriptions on those qualitie of ease of growth and flower, etc. Shutennou and Amami island form are probably the easiest from what I gather. I wouldn't suggest ordering from Satomi until you know more what what you're ordering and know what to expect. It's a bit too stressful to order from her until you know what you're doing. LOL.

[Shoreguy]

Epiphyteme,

First off can I refer to you as Epi, as it would make communication a lot easier?

You mentioned earlier about receiving an offer from Satomi for a N Hisui for $15 and seemed to indicate disinterest due to the low price. At the beginners level, there really is not always a direct correlation between desirability and price. In this instance, the real issue was whether the plant had good green flowers which is the main characteristic of Hisui or not. If it did, the plant would be a true bargain which you would want to keep forever, if not you would get rid of it rather quickly.

A good example of a low cost but excellent choice is N Gojo Fukurin, a marginally striped Neo which is such a prolific grower that it is dirt cheap and should not be looked down upon because of its price. Supposedly they are only propagated by division so you would not have to fear divergence from its characteristics from selfing or sibbing, nor a vendor trying to pass a plant off as a Gojo Fukurin which wasn't. How many counterfeit $1 bills are there.

Below is a picture of my N Tenkei Fukurin. I recently changed its label from Gojo Fukurin because its degree of yellow variegation seemed to justify that it had so mutated.
I have had this plant for 30 years or so.

[kckerobe]

Originally Posted by Pattywack

I’ve only been growing Neos for almost two years and I can honestly say you can not grow just a few. There is no stopping, you’ll want them all.

So true... I started with a NOID neo and the collection swelled to 30+ varieties, plus 40+ seedlings from two flasks.