are these orchid fertilizers good?

[karrolhk]

I would get Better-gro if I could, but I am not in the US and dont have Amazon locally.

Locally, I could only find orchid fertilizers in the following NPK ratios:

for general growth - NPK 1:2:1
for blooming - NPK 2:1:3.5

Attached is a pic of the fertilizer I could find locally.

My question is, are these ratios good? The brand doesnt matter as long as the ratio is right, right?

[camille1585]

I can't say anything about the ratios, but you don't need to get a fertilizer marketed specifically for orchids. They have a lower concentration adapted to orchids needs (very little food), but you can use whatever other fertilizer with a decent ratio and simply use less of it in your water. A 20-20-20 will work very well for instance.

[estación seca]

Fertilizer is the least important aspect of orchid culture. Don't obsess about it. Only when environmental conditions are excellent would you likely be able to see differences between fertilizers.

Focus on ensuring proper light, temperatures and humidity. Use a small amount of fertilizer, frequently, during the growing season.

[Ray]

I agree with both comments above, but will add that there is no such thing as a fertilizer that boosts blooming.

[PaphMadMan]

Fertilizer is fertilizer, and orchids don't need much. It doesn't matter if it says it is for orchids, and unless the ratios are extreme they don't matter much either. Use a fertilizer with micronutrients. The Manutec brand you show appears to have reasonable ratios and a good array of micronutrients, just missing calcium. Any organic material you use for potting orchids will also supply nutrients, just one of many reasons that repotting regularly is important in most cases. Fertilize regularly but at no more than half the strength recommended and no more than half as often. Do that, and unless every other aspect of of your orchid culture is perfect fertilizer will not limit your success.

And I agree completely with Ray that no fertilizer can boost blooming, but too much of the wrong fertliizer can inhibit blooming. If you are fertilizing heavily and have excellent growth but no blooming it may be due to too much nitrogen. If you follow the half/half recommendation above that will probably never be an issue.

Some people enjoy being very precise and specific about fertilizer use, and that is fine, but if you relax about fertilizer and concentrate on every other aspect of culture you will probably have better success than they do.