Fertilizer Change During Flower Spike

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Bloomer001

I'm going to try a seaweed extract next Spring through Fall when root development starts again (KelpMax, Clean Kelp, etc.).

Some kelp extracts are designed more to stimulate root growth. Others, like Kelpak (formerly retailed as KelpMax) is more of a "biostimulant IV" that affects everything.

[I want the plant to focus on spiking and budding now, so going to forgo hormones that trigger root production for the moment.

Kelpak is not a hormone root stimulant.

I like your Ca and Mg formulas - I will experiment with these.

If you are using NYC water, you must supplement them.

And I will get a pH tester to take a closer look at that, and treat water to get an optimum pH level (likely pH down).

The pH of your applied solutions have little-, to no effect on the rhizosphere pH. Read: Orchids and pH

Based on my limited experiments, I think higher nitrogen is key for leaf, root & spike growth. Everytime I dosed the Miracle Grow with 24 nitrogen the leaves, roots & spikes took off (it is very noticeable.) The MSU pellet formula that I use has less nitrogen at 13 N. So that tells me the higher N in the Miracle Grow is making things happen (at least for leaves, roots and spikes.) I don't know if high N is as critical for budding and flowers. (Ray's website says it is.)

You're making several mistakes here.

1) Don't equate formula with concentration. One teaspoon of a 30-10-10 formula and 2 teaspoons of a 15-5-5 formula provide the identical level of nutrition and the same ratios.

Nitrogen is, by far, the most important nutrient. About 99% of the dry content of a plant is C, O, H, (from air and water) and N (from fertilizer), about 1% is P, K, Mg, Ca, and S, combined, and the remaining fraction of a percent is everything else, so if you control your feeding by nitrogen, adjusting based upon the formulas' content, you're fine.

2)No where does my website say higher nitrogen is critical for budding and flowers. The right level is important. All the mineral elements are needed for the plant to grow all tissues. The fact that some tissues have differing mineral concentrations to others does not mean that adding those will specifically cause the plant to grow those tissues.

Plants basically have three priorities - maintenance (staying alive), adding tissue (growth), and reproduction (flowering). Through the course of water, air, mineral and photon uptake, they undertake a variety of chemical processes that create and array of chemical reserves. Your cultural conditions greatly determine the rates of creation and consumption. Poor and the plant cannot create enough to sustain itself. "Enough" and it may stay alive but not grow. "Additional" provides more opportunities.

First and foremost, they will apply those reserves to staying alive. If the production of the reserves exceed the maintenance demand, the plant will expend them on adding tissue. If the production fare exceeds the total demand, it may expend them on attempting reproduction. What the plant does is not determined by the mineral ratios to which it is exposed, they are controlled by hormonal signals and triggers that are significantly culture dependent.

Focus on culture and wetering, not nutrient ratios. For any plant to gain one pound in mass, it must chemically process about 5 grams of fertilizer and 200 pounds of water. As most plants lose 95% or more of their absorbed water through transpiration suggests that the amount of water absorbed for that pound need to be on the order of 4000 pounds to the 5 grams of nutrients.