Compost Tea or Electroculture

[thediaTOMaceouscity]

Hey guys.

So before I begin, I'm going to be working on a research project this semester on Rhododendron maximum for seedling growth (they have a high germination rate as it is) but as I've been doing different research on compost teas etc, it seems that plenty of people are using it for other types of plants. I wanted to know if anyone is currently using compost teas and having success with it. I'd be looking at the simplest form (brewing and aerating for 24 hours and using the tea as a foliant spray or watering their orchids through with the brew) and if anyone has any results. I may add on an orchid part of my research and do it on the side to see if there's any improvements as opposed to water.

Also does any one practice "Electroculture" on their orchids?

[WhiteRabbit]

[thediaTOMaceouscity]

You seem to "bump" a lot of my questions. What does that mean exactly? Just curious.

[Ordphien]

She's pushing your question to the top of the section you posted in so someone with more experience in what your asking will see it and answer.

I've heard mention of a few members using weak compost treres solutions.
In one of the threads I just read someone (from Australia if I remember right) used compost pellets.
They stuck one or two pellets with their orchids and over time it broke down and fed the orchids. I'm assuming making some sort of instant weak compost tea every time they watered.

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[thediaTOMaceouscity]

Okay thanks Ordphien! I think I'm going to buy a flask and begin some trials of compost tea on some baby orchids and see what results I get, type it up and get it out there for some factual evidence. It seems like it should work. I think I'm going to do an electroculture part of it as well just for KICKS! From all the literature I've read it seems that the EC on a compost tea brew is present I wonder if I can get the same amount of growth by only using electricity. I will keep everyone up to date!

[Ordphien]

This may or may not be true... I don't know but I seem to recall teas made from different kinds of compost worked better than others... let us know what your experiments yeild.

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[tucker85]

A few years ago I used Merrill's Compost Tea (from chicken manure) for about a year and a half. The results were not as good as I had with chemical fertilizers. I think the main problem is that the nitrogen in compost tea is mostly from urea which requires bacteria to break it down into nitrogen. Since orchids are grown in a coarse medium like fir bark, the urea washes out of the medium before it's broken down into nitrogen. It may work well on paphs or phrags that are grown in a finer medium but I never tried it on those.

[thediaTOMaceouscity]

Thats an interesting thought Tucker85. Wouldn't it generally wash out of the medium anyway though. If we thought about it as nature, a monkey would poop on some branch and the rain would wash those nutrients down the branch on to the orchid in flushes here and there and wouldn't the orchid absorb those nutrients? Why do you think the Chemical Fertilizers were/are better? I volunteer at a local native plant garden/botanic place and they'll be trying to use this on Cypripediums and Goodyera species.

---------- Post added at 06:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:33 PM ----------

No one's touched the Electroculture part yet!

[Ordphien]

I don't know what electroculture is! Please explain...
I'm picturing an orchid hooked up to a machine that shocks it...

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[Ordphien]

Originally Posted by Ordphien

I don't know what electroculture is! Please explain...
I'm picturing an orchid hooked up to a machine that shocks it...

Also having seen many orchids in the wild, I have to say I don't think many of them would pass our high standards lol...
Maybe that's why so many of us prefer the chemical fertilisers. So the poor things can meet our standards lol.
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