foliar feeding

[Ray]

Originally Posted by estación seca

A professional Phal. grower told me Phals take up fertilizer from their leaves faster than from their roots, and the huge commercial Phal. growers take advantage of this. The research is available online though I've never looked it up.

That’s an interesting observation. I can see that being a possibility when they are very young (lots of leaf surface area, little wax, few roots), but over time I would think that would not hold true as the plants mature.

Something else I just thought of - might plants grown in a humid environment develop less of a waxy layer than ones grown drier? Seems logical, but I don’t know if that’s the case.

[tmoney]

Originally Posted by Ray

That’s an interesting observation. I can see that being a possibility when they are very young (lots of leaf surface area, little wax, few roots), but over time I would think that would not hold true as the plants mature.

Something else I just thought of - might plants grown in a humid environment develop less of a waxy layer than ones grown drier? Seems logical, but I don’t know if that’s the case.

good points. this article suggests that some plants will reduce wax when humidity is decreased...but no orchids were part of this study, so i will have to do more digging....

Just a moment...

well, i suppose then that our middling humidity may finally be looked at as some sort of positive!

there is also a short section on wettibility in relation to the angle of droplets hitting the leaf. might be of interest to any currently foliar feeding

[Ray]

As a general comment, I am against foliar feeding, as the salts all leave ugly deposits.