Osmocote in small doses should be ok except in hot rainy season..thats when its aproblem

That is a neat photo effect Neonut...how did you manage to group the six shots together....?

Too much shade & / or fertiliser will tend to take away colour and leaf markings in Neo's. So now you have taken care of the shade problem, you just have to work out if & when to fertilise.

I prefer not to fertilise Neo's that have highly coloured leaves, or leaf markings, as I have found they will develop that washed out look. I do fertilise Neo's with manly green leaves, like carolinae, and variegated Neo's.

Symptoms of too much nitrogen and too little light can look very similar, but when you see "donkey ears", i.e. the inner leaves suddenly coming out much longer than the lower ones, that usually points to fertilizer. It's not real obvious in your plants, neonut, so I can't be sure, but the center right one in particular does have a bit of that overfed look.

You don't have to throw out the osmocote, just use it very sparingly. Rather than giving it a big dose all at once, try just a few pellets at a time, at more frequent intervals. That way it won't dump all at the same time, or very much. Admittedly it kind of defeats the purpose of a slow release, but why waste it?

Lisa, hdd and devo, thanks for the advice. I will limit the amount of fertilizer in future and see what happens. A few of my other neos do have that 'donkey ears' effect that you mentioned so no more fertilizer for them.

Devo, I used Photostudio 2000 to 'stitch' the 6 photos together. I've had it a while I think it came with my scanner if my memory serves me correctly. If I can use it, it certainly isn't too difficult.I imagine many of the newer programs would have a similar option.

I started using Superthrive, and orchid fertilizer 1/2 strength. Superthrive is a vitamin/hormone mixture that helps the plant better use fertilizer. I noticed on the mounted Neos hanging on the fence that all of a sudden they are all growing new pups. I've also been using the Superthrive on some clivia seedlings, the ones that are getting it are pulling ahead of the ones that are not at an amazing rate. I kept hearing about the stuff, and finally decided to try it.

In Florida, Osmocote reportedly breaks in about a month in our heat and humidity. Nutricote aka 'Dynamite' was recommended to be used on broms by very knowledgable bromeliad collectors as it does not break down very quickly.

bambi_too you have garden web mail