When to apply fertilizer?

[Ray]

Brooke, it seems to me that the first solution applied will be the most absorbed, not the last.

Also, don't be too cheap. For example, even though the price has really gone up, if you use MSU RO fertilizer at 125 ppm N, the cost is only about $0.03 per gallon. Is that too costly to keep your plants healthy?

[Leisurely]

I use 50 gals. of fertilizer solution to feed my orchids once per week. At .03 per gallon that comes to $1.50 per week. I am feeding 500 plants and it is only costing me $1.50 per week. Consider them your pets and think of how much cheaper they are to provide for than your cat or your dog.

[Brooke]

Well Ray, since my MSU fertilizer comes from you, as did the RO system I use, I don't think you can call me too cheap :>)

Since I grow a few hundred plants in the greenhouse, of many different genera, unlike Ray, I cannot turn on an overhead watering system with a dosatron hooked up to it. If I did, I would not be meeting the various watering or fertilizer needs of many of my plants. I cannot water a lycaste the same way as a cattleya or a phal or a phrag or a paph or, or, or - it is a long list.

I also have various potting media from bark to coir chunks, to Prime Agra, to sphagnum moss and then you have to throw in all the different types of mount material. Different pot sizes also adds another twist to the watering question. I certainly don't want to water those newly unflasked Psychopsis sitting just below that 10" potted cattleya.

I also would have a problem of trying to give an actively growing lycaste that is a water/fertilizer hog the same fertilizer I use on my masdies where I just whisper the word fertilizer twice a month.

My attempt at humor obviously fell short of the mark. My intent was to tell someone who asked a question how I did it. My plants are quite happy, grow very well and bloom quite profusely with my routine.

I really can afford my fertilizer but I am open to government assistance on my propane bill for the winter.

Brooke

[frostedeyes]

theres no perfect formula only you and your orchids know whats best for your orchids.. try to feel their growth if your happy then just do what ur doing but if u think they arent as vigor... then add more... here's the rule... newer growths should be bigger than the old one...

[Cym Ladye]

Has anyone considered the fact in this question of "Watering Before Fertilizing", that if the plant is in fir bark or a fir bark mix, it is not the roots that directly absorb the fertilizer that is applied, but rather the bark which converts it to a nitrogen form that can then be absorbed by the plant roots? Watering first "softens" the bark so that it may absorb the nitrogen more easily and hence convert it to a form usable to the plant. This is usually done 24 hours prior to fertilizing IF the mix is totally dried out. Keeping the bark semi moist throughout the growing period should negate this pre-watering effort.

[isurus79]

My plants get fertilized when I tell them they are gettting fertilized! They get 20-20-20 from about March until November or December and then nothing. I have well over 100 plants of all different species and different pot sizes. I follow the directions on the label (it is fert specifically for orchids) and water 2x per month, 3x in peak growing season. Nobody gets "pre-watered" and nobody really gets any special treatment either! I have pretty darn good results too! I think the trick is to pot your plants in a way that allows them to dry out at the same rate (1 day for my situation). Big pots get larger media and larger holes cut in the sides of the pots and smaller pots get spag with holes cut in the side. Its a pretty easy system for me and it works great!

[Cym Ladye]

Steve,

You have just proved my point. Do what works best for you AND your plants!

CL

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

Do what works best for you AND your plants!

I totally agree!