Not meant to be a sales pitch, but will be construed as such by some.

[Ray]

I have found KelpMax to be a truly remarkable addition to my orchid culture. I've been growing orchids for over 45 years and using KelpMax for 9 (as of last month), and folks get tired of me recommending it, as they (incorrectly) assume I'm hyping it solely for sales purposes. In fact, the only reason I still carry it - and the only reason First Rays is still open since I retired - is because the manufacturer told me they would not permit any retailing in the US if I dropped it, and it is just too good of a product to let that happen.

There are several commercial growers who use it regularly. One of the early adopters is Dave Sorokowsky, who owns Paph Paradise. When the "orchid ladies triad" owned J&L, they used it as well, and I recently shipped some to Chuck Acker.

Not long ago, I sent some to Graham Wood of Lehua Orchids in Hawaii. I got this (attached) email in return. (He has since begun using it on some paphs as a comparative experiment.)

[camille1585]

To see such an endorsement from a grower is great. A lot of the feedback on the product on OB comes from home growers and most of us can't test the product on the same scale as a grower.

I'm become a firm believer in the nearly 'magical' properties of kelpmax/kelpak after 6 months of use. Being a plant scientist I wish I had set up a sort of controlled experiment, but my anecdoctal evidence has convinced me that it is beneficial for use in regular culture and for orchid ICU cases.

[estación seca]

I have over the years treated more than a dozen medium-sized Vanda seedlings with an overnight soak in KelpMax. There are visible new root points the following morning, all along the old roots. This hasn't happened with water soaks. This is a historical comparison and not a simultaneous controlled experiment, but then nobody has done a controlled study of jumping out of airplanes with and without parachutes.

[DirtyCoconuts]

i did a fairly uncontrolled study....uncontrolled decent



I love kelpmax and swear by it- if you are ever contemplating stopping, please let us know so i can stockpile

[Keysguy]

Ray- Lucas (new owner of J&L) isn't still using it?

[Orchidtinkerer]

I've started using it and am still undecided.

The previous recommendations I had seen were too unreliable either by people who didn't have the experience to compare it to anything else or people who claimed it gave instant results in 2 weeks.

Those claims made me especially suspicious as nothing is instantaneous when it comes to orchids.

I will test it some more. So far I have treated a bunch of phal seedlings and comparing to untreated ones. I then have one I repotted, compared to the others I have not repotted. So far there is no difference between the treated and untreated ones after a month but the repotted one is shooting ahead of the rest.

This tells me they all need a repot I guess before I get reliable results.

I am all in favour of trying it even if it doesn't work on the offchance it does, I'm hoping to see some results. Like the email says it can take up to 3 months to see results which is more reassuring than the 2 weeks claims I'd seen before.

What I do wonder is whether people treat it like a magic pill instead of repotting when it is needed. Like I mentioned repotting has had more of a positive effect which is also something I feel should be worth mentioning.

No matter how much kelpmax or any other booster you use it will never rectify if something is preventing the orchid from thriving.

[Ray]

OT - you and I agree on all points! That last point especially. If we do everything perfectly, the plant will perform to its genetically-programmed maximum. Anything we do that's less-than-ideal detracts from that potential.

When I first got a sample of the stuff (it took 6 months of email and telephone hounding to get the manufacturer to give me the US distributor's contact info), I tried it on my vandas. It was mid-spring, when they typically started "waking up" after the winter doldrums, but that hadn't quite started. I treated them twice in 2 weeks, and about 2-3 weeks later, they started throwing roots like mad.

The typical root growth for me was about a half-dozen new ones each spring, but the average that year was about 40, consisting of new roots plus lots of branching of existing ones.

Interestingly, the response plants have to KelpMax goes far beyond what the small auxin content would lead one to expect. Apparently the rest of the vitamins, minerals, proteins, amino acids, alginates and other polysaccharides and other growth regulators are directly usable by the plants, supplementing what they would naturally produce by themselves and by the microbes living in the rhizosphere, multiplying the effect.

[Mr.Fakename]

Originally Posted by Ray

Interestingly, the response plants have to KelpMax goes far beyond what the small auxin content would lead one to expect. Apparently the rest of the vitamins, minerals, proteins, amino acids, alginates and other polysaccharides and other growth regulators are directly usable by the plants, supplementing what they would naturally produce by themselves and by the microbes living in the rhizosphere, multiplying the effect.

That's why I firmly believe in using organic boosters and fertilisers once in a while, there are so many things salt based products can't replicate!
Kelp extract is a good example, aloe vera has been proven good for plant immune system, and even rice cooking water contains water soluble proteins and vitamins that can be used to fertilise.

In in vitro culture, there are literally thousands of papers supporting that banana pulp and coconut water drastically enhance growth, and yet the exact reasons why are unknown.

"The reasons for the beneficial effects of coconut water are not clear. Plant hormones and
related substances, hexitols (Pollard et al., 1961; Ge et al., 2004, 2005, 2006), and
some or many other substances may be reasons for these effects. A fortuitous combination or interaction between several of the different compounds in
CW may also be a reason." (Micropropagation of Orchids - Yam, Arditti)


If someone has ungodly amounts of coconuts in their garden, you know what to do

[Ray]

I am starting to give OS talks via Zoom, and one of the new ones, "Understanding Orchid Nutrition" has a segment on boosters and stimulants.

In the latter case, I am aware of three, basic types - direct hormone treatments (KLN, Superthrive, some seaweed), indirect (Mega Thrive which uses very large concentrations of B & Mo to stimulate hormone generation - risky in my mind), and "shortcut" stimulants like KelpMax that contribute stuff the plants use without necessarily processing it or making their own.

[fishmom]

Ray, is there information on First Rays about your presentations? I looked but didn't see it. I would like to pass it on to the person in my OS who arranges programs.