Very Limited Anecdotal Evidence/Coincidence, but...

[Ray]

The technical director at Kelpak in South Africa told me he was experimenting with spraying flower buds to see if it made any difference. With my very limited collection of plants these days, I don't have a lot of "Guinea pigs", but a Phrag. Lucky Girl "volunteered". I've had the plant a couple of years now, after receiving it as a gift from another grower. Like some phrags, it has a penchant for dropping one blossom shortly after a new one opens. With one blossom fully opened, and a bud close to opening, I sprayed the top 6" of the spike with a 1:250 solution, hoping to see if the next blossom looked any different.

The answer appears to be "no", but I'm now twenty days into the first blossom, and it is still hanging in there.

I know that this might be pure coincidence, but I'm throwing this out there in case anyone wishes to experiment.

[isurus79]

Assuming the hypothesis of longer lasting blooms is valid, any idea what the mechanism would be?

[Ray]

Originally Posted by isurus79

Assuming the hypothesis of longer lasting blooms is valid, any idea what the mechanism would be?

Only a guess, but maybe some of the phytochemicals in it replace similar ones that degrade over time, leading to senescence in a blossom???

[Dusty Ol' Man]

Big words.

[thefish1337]

Originally Posted by Ray

The technical director at Kelpak in South Africa told me he was experimenting with spraying flower buds to see if it made any difference. With my very limited collection of plants these days, I don't have a lot of "Guinea pigs", but a Phrag. Lucky Girl "volunteered". I've had the plant a couple of years now, after receiving it as a gift from another grower. Like some phrags, it has a penchant for dropping one blossom shortly after a new one opens. With one blossom fully opened, and a bud close to opening, I sprayed the top 6" of the spike with a 1:250 solution, hoping to see if the next blossom looked any different.

The answer appears to be "no", but I'm now twenty days into the first blossom, and it is still hanging in there.

I know that this might be pure coincidence, but I'm throwing this out there in case anyone wishes to experiment.

I have had really good results spraying tomato flower trusses with kelpmax before the flowers open. Not only do you get better fruit set, in some varieties I can get additional branching with this practice (I have got some heirlooms that produce only 6 per truss on average up to 10). The tomatoes stay fresh for a noticeably longer time on the plant and counter. It's definitely worth experimenting with-

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by isurus79

Assuming the hypothesis of longer lasting blooms is valid, any idea what the mechanism would be?

Seeing as Kelpak is a natural cocktail of hormones, a possible mechanism is crosstalk between various phytohormonal pathways. This is extremely well studied in relation to plant development and plant defenses. Increased levels of one hormone can inhibit or increase others, or act synergistically. Ethylene and abscissic acid are the two main phytohormones involved in flower aging, and other hormones like cytokinins and gibberellins will have an opposite effect and delay senescence.

[DirtyCoconuts]

I wonder if it is also a matter of the microfauna and fungi that come to eat or as a byproduct of the kelpmax. If suddenly there is an area of abundant resources where it is usually not, perhaps they populate the flower and in turn reduce the presence of something else that kills the flower?

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Seeing as Kelpak is a natural cocktail of hormones, a possible mechanism is crosstalk between various phytohormonal pathways. This is extremely well studied in relation to plant development and plant defenses. Increased levels of one hormone can inhibit or increase others, or act synergistically. Ethylene and abscissic acid are the two main phytohormones involved in flower aging, and other hormones like cytokinins and gibberellins will have an opposite effect and delay senescence.

Huh, that sounds absolutely fascinating!

[thefish1337]

I didn't come up with the tomato thing myself by the way. It's on the website! Not surprising the technical director of the company has been experimenting with it because they recommend spraying flowers for grapes as well.

When you transplant your tomatoes do one root drench at 1:100 and then follow up with 3 foliar sprays every two weeks afterwards- thank me later!

Kelpak on Tomatoes

[Ray]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Seeing as Kelpak is a natural cocktail of hormones...

Actually, it’s not.

Hormones only make up a small percentage of the active ingredients.

I have come to the conclusion that it’s sort of the equivalent of a “plant IV”, giving the plant a lot of the same stuff it would produce for itself, without the need to expend its own resources to do so.

Kelpak has been around for 40 years and has been used on just about every food/nut/fruit crop known, plus turf and landscaping. There is a wealth of info on their website, but none about its use on orchids, as I am apparently the first to try it (at the time, nobody at the manufacturer had any orchid experience, either), so I’m sure there are some interesting benefits we haven’t “discovered”.