Yet another example of "Less is More" with Feeding

[Ray]

Considering how much water, and how little food an orchid gets in nature, I switched to K-Lite fertilizer (12-1-1-10Ca-3Mg) at only 25-35 ppm N at every watering in November of 2011. Since then, I have been very pleased with their growth and flowering, but it makes me wonder if even that might be excessive. Examples like this also push my thinking in that direction:

This is Phrag. Will Chantry, moved from flask directly into 3.5" Semi-Hydro pots about 18-20 months ago. They were watered in with roughly 30 ppm N K-Lite, which was supplemented with 1:250 KelpMax and 1:100 Inocucor Garden Solution. Since that time, they have only received RO water, applied via overhead misting 2x/day, in my basement "incubator". This was not done by choice, but by too many distractions that led me to ignoring it. Apparently that's not so bad!



The leaves are a bit mottled, suggesting a bit of nutrient deficiency, but this still managed to grow and bloom. The second image shows the extensive root system, both in the pot and overgrowing it.

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[DeaC]

Lovely but what would you use to correct the mottled leaves that are "nutrient deficient"?.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Feed it more. I'm hoping this is true as I get lazy about feeding and seem to be lucky if I get mine watered.

[Helene]

From 2008-2014 my orchids never got any fertilizer, and they still bloomed. They did get some from the media breaking down, I assume. Cause I never repotted either…
Of course they seem to grow better now when I feed them, but I am still going easy on them.

And- different orchids might have different needs, some will do better than others. But yeah- I think we give them too much most of the time.

I noticed that my plants grew lots of roots and thick, waxy leaves in this period. I was thinking that it maybe was a reaction to the treatment (my hubby was the one 'caring' for plants then): making lots of roots to get more nutrition from the air/mix, and waxy leaf to make sure they didnt dry up too fast. Not sure, but maybe.


Now I try to read how they grow in nature, and give them better care. And I usually feed very little, and more often. Like in nature- they dont get nutrition once a week, but a tiny bit on more regular basis.

Ps: yeah, I didnt have any paphs, mostly phalaenopsis. Different care for different plants.

They are survivors.

[Ray]

Feed it more. I'm hoping this is true as I get lazy about feeding and seem to be lucky.

Yep. That's my thought, as well. That particular plant is staying in my collection, but its siblings are for sale.

I think Helene is also right about the microorganisms releasing nutrients, which means you'd better not use any disinfectants!

[estación seca]

There will be cyanobacteria (AKA blue-green algae) growing just about anyplace where it's damp and not fungicided. These are some of the few organisms that can actually fix nitrogen. I would suspect these are helping you out a lot.

Heavy nitrogen feeding is often toxic to cyanobacteria, interestingly. So choose one or the other.

[Ray]

Well. There is no sign of any such bacterial/algae growth in the pot.

[Selmo]

Different generas need differing amounts of care. Have you tried this with different generas and species with the same or different results? In nature rainwater is full of nutrients, dust, minerals, and microorganisms, that it collects from the enviroment, so you may not have to add any fertilizers and/or nutrients when you water, if you are able to keep your plants outside, some of the time. Thunderstorms with lightning will produce rain with more nitrogen than storms without lightning. Remembering back to biology class, there is the law of tolerances, where there are minimum and maximum thresholds/ranges that things need to survive, grow, reproduce. There are thresholds/ranges for light and temperture and there would be a minimum threshold/range for nutrition as well. I understand your concept, you being a producer, in finding that magic number that will produce the best results wih the least amount of cost, but are you harming the plant in the long run. Your plant in your photos is doing excellent, but is this the exception or the norm with this minimalist approach. If one was to eat less than the minimum daily requirement, would one survive and prosper, or would one wither away? Is there a fine line between enough and not enough. Interesting though, to see if it is the same for all or if the threshold has to changed up or down depending on the species, genera, or even different growing environments. Keep up the science and logic and informing us in new and different ways of growing and thinking. Saw your same post on the species snobs forum, no respondences, I should not call them that, I am sure they are nice people, but people here way more friendly and willing to share knowledge

[PaphLover]

Ray, I have a question regarding fertilizer and S/H. How long can you use fertilized water? Do the nutrients leach away within a day or so? Can a 'batch' be made and used for a week? I have MSU (crystals) and some wet nutrients (MagiCal, RootBuilder, Orchid Champion [can't yet get Inocucor in Canada])

Since you recommend feeding lightly at each watering with S/H and since my orchids seem to wick up the water in the reservoir every few days, it becomes a bit tedious to figure out the correct fertilizer to water ratio as they dry up (sometimes I might only need a litre for a few plants, sometimes 4 litres or more).

Forgive me if this is a really obvious or dumb question.

[ShadePlant]

I am also tempted to mix up fertilizer in advance but the issue is that the Fertilizer I think would encourage algal growth in the water.