This page originally described how I grew neos using “air culture.” But after reading many posts on Rick Prokop’s FB Group “Air Culture for Orchids,” about his research. I decided to try a variation of his approach.
Rick’s most important point is that many types of orchids use CAM (Crassulacean Acid Metabolism). The CAM mechanism permits orchids to survive draught. For example, Rick took standard “box store” phalaenopsis in good health, removed them from their bark media, immersed their lower roots in water for four or so hours, placed them in glass vases, and did not water them for three weeks, and they remained in excellent condition.
Rick having found what might be the minimal amount of time to saturate a healthy phalaenopsis and perhaps having also found the longest time they can satisfactorily go without water, Rick reported that he waters his orchids weekly!
But such a discovery! Rick’s approach suggests that the problem of root rot common to growing orchids in bark or moss can be avoided and there is no need to purchase these media. As for containers, Rick uses inexpensive glass vases or jars.
To be continued . . . . 10/27/2025
various problems with using bark or moss such as over watering which promotes infections by microorganisms can be avoided.
In nature, you can find Neos growing on rock shelves or tree limbs with their long roots cascading downward. In greenhouses and on window sills, you can find Neos growing in sphagnum moss, bark, a mixture of both, or simply without a medium.
In Japan, they are grown in a mound of long-stranded sphagnum moss set in a Fuuran pot as shown at Orchids Limited / Orchid Web. Besides Fuuran pots, Neos are grown in ordinary clay pots as well as airy cedar baskets that permit Neo roots to cascade.
Cascading roots is what I have sought, so I’ve grown Neos in tall translucent plastic containers. The containers have wide openings where the orchid is supported by a “cradle” of soft copper wire; or on a “bed,” of wooden skewers attached to the container’s walls. Skewers are featured in the photo below.
I use the cutters of a Dremel rotary tool to form holes for: attachment of the wooden skewers, aeration along a container’s side, or drainage at the container’s bottom. The latter holes are very important! I usually place them about an inch from the container’s bottom.
I’ve additionally cut a small door for one of my large hybrids, a Neostylis Lou Sneary, so that I can best manipulate the large container’s contents. Please look at the photos below.
Optionally I’ve covered the wood skewers with moss, but I’ve always placed pebbles or LECA (light expanded clay aggregate) at the container’s bottom to retain water and maintain humidity.
I have tried different approaches to watering. Early in using these containers, I had allowed the water to remain at the container’s bottom in which case the amount of water was limited by the drainage holes.
For the past two years, my watering regimen has depended on a long wooden skewer. It extends from the top to the bottom of the container. When the tip of the skewer is near dry or the roots look dry then I pour water over the roots or just spray them. I then wait about 15 seconds and usually water again but now with a fertilizer solution at 1/4 the recommended strength. I then tip the container to drain the water. Worth noting, I’ve never let my Neos go dry for more than a few days.
Here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I keep my Neos in a west window and they do well. All have matured with multiple offsets. During the spring they produce multiple spikes.
By the way, you can find more information about caring for orchids at the websites of the American Orchid Society and the St. Augustine Orchid Society.
Please let me know how this page worked for you.
–Marshall Lev Dermer
Send mail to: marshall@dermer.com
1/20/2025