I do not know how to properly fertilize

[SakuraDrops]

Hello all,

I have a lot of questions about fertilizing.
After reading the threads here, I realize I am not doing it correctly.

I have been using a bloom booster every 2 weeks. I do not want to use this anymore. I have ordered these items:
1. CALiMAGic™ 1-0-0
2. Quantum-Total Plant Probiotic
3. MSU K-Lite Fertilizer 12-1-1
4. Kelpak Superior Biostimulant

Here are my questions:
1. How do I figure out how much fertilizer I need to use for my plants?
2. Once I figure this out, how would I "mix" this into water? I do not have a wand. (yet) I have a separate water spout on my sink that spouts reverse osmosis water.
3. Should I start collecting my reverse osmosis water?
4. If I collect reverse osmosis water, would it lose quality if it is stored over time? What temperature should I store it at?
5. Any recommendations for wands? IF it is usable in my situation. Again, I have no idea what I am doing..or if I am even asking the right questions.
6. Are there any other fertilizers I should get?
7. Is there a recommended "routine" or "rotation" of fertilizers? Should some be used weekly, biweekly, or monthly?
8. How exactly do you *fertilize* as in, do you just pour the chemicals in the pot and leave it?
9. Should I rinse the pot with water after fertilizing?

I would appreciate any explanations or links to other threads to explain things in great details. I get easily confused reading some of the fertilizing threads written by the pros... Thank you very much for reading!! <3

[Roberta]

You are 'way overthinking fertilizer. It is the least-important of the cultural factors. Get everything else right, and then the fine points of fertilizer will make a difference. Orchids grow slowly, they need very, very little fertilizer. Think of fertilizer as "vitamins", not "food". Green plants make their own food by photosynthesis.

Ray would be the one to advise on Quantum-Total and Kelpak. These are not fertilizers, they are supplements designed to be used WITH fertilizers. But only in the quantities recommended. More is not better. MSU K-lite is very good, it provides the nitrogen which is the most important component for orchid growth. Follow the instructions. The "supplements" should only be used monthly. The fertilizer, "once weekly, weakly" is still good advice. Half-teaspoon per gallon is a good place to start.
Get a pump sprayer from Home Depot/Lowes or any big box store. (1 gallon for a small collection will be adequate, and easy to carry) With K-like or MSU I'd recommend using RO water. For general watering, plain old tap water is usually fine for most orchids. When you get into the sensitive cloud forest species RO is better, but if you mostly have Phals and Catts, they can drink the same water that you do.

[SakuraDrops]

Originally Posted by Roberta

You are 'way overthinking fertilizer. It is the least-important of the cultural factors. Get everything else right, and then the fine points of fertilizer will make a difference. Orchids grow slowly, they need very, very little fertilizer. Think of fertilizer as "vitamins", not "food". Green plants make their own food by photosynthesis.

Ray would be the one to advise on Quantum-Total and Kelpak. These are not fertilizers, they are supplements designed to be used WITH fertilizers. But only in the quantities recommended. More is not better. MSU K-lite is very good, it provides the nitrogen which is the most important component for orchid growth. Follow the instructions. The "supplements" should only be used monthly. The fertilizer, "once weekly, weakly" is still good advice. Half-teaspoon per gallon is a good place to start.
Get a pump sprayer from Home Depot/Lowes or any big box store. (1 gallon for a small collection will be adequate, and easy to carry) With K-like or MSU I'd recommend using RO water. For general watering, plain old tap water is usually fine for most orchids. When you get into the sensitive cloud forest species RO is better, but if you mostly have Phals and Catts, they can drink the same water that you do.

This cleared up so much confusion!! Thank you!!!

[Ray]

Being a scientific nerd, I’ll delve a little deeper.

First the simpler parts:

Quantum is a probiotic, not a fertilizer. The manufacturer recommends 1-2 ounces per gallon ever 2-3 weeks. I have found that after a couple of doses like that, going to one ounce/gal, once/month appears to be adequate. It does not hurt to use more or use it more frequently.

Kelpak is a biostimulant, not a fertilizer. On a routine basis, I recommend applying Kelpak at 1 tablespoon/gallon, once/month. However, whenever I get a new plant, repot one, or am trying to recover from a bit of neglect (such as going away on vacation), I double the dose and do so twice at a 2-week interval.

Feeding, in my opinion, should be thought of as similar to calorie counting with our food, using frequency of “meals” and nitrogen concentration (“calories”) being tied together. I have found that regular, weekly feeding at 75-125 ppm N is a decent, general application rate.

A very simple, yet reasonable way to estimate that is to divide 8 by the %N in the fertilizer, which tells you the teaspoons/gallon for the middle of that range, giving you room to round up or down for measuring convenience. K-Lite is 13.2% N, so 8/13.2=0.61, so you could use 1/2, 2/3, or 3/4 tsp/gal.

Houston water varies from very soft to only moderately hard, so you probably need not consider RO for all but the most sensitive plants, and K-Lite will work well with your tap water. Do not use the calcium supplement, as there is plenty in the fertilizer.

The three products can be used individually or mixed together. Many of my customers apply fertilizer once a week for 3 weeks, then that fourth week has all three together.

As Roberta mentioned, fertilizing is an extremely minor part of orchid culture. Feed your plants regularly and sparingly and they’ll do fine.

[SakuraDrops]

Originally Posted by Ray

Being a scientific nerd, I’ll delve a little deeper.

First the simpler parts:

Quantum is a probiotic, not a fertilizer. The manufacturer recommends 1-2 ounces per gallon ever 2-3 weeks. I have found that after a couple of doses like that, going to one ounce/gal, once/month appears to be adequate. It does not hurt to use more or use it more frequently.

Kelpak is a biostimulant, not a fertilizer. On a routine basis, I recommend applying Kelpak at 1 tablespoon/gallon, once/month. However, whenever I get a new plant, repot one, or am trying to recover from a bit of neglect (such as going away on vacation), I double the dose and do so twice at a 2-week interval.

Feeding, in my opinion, should be thought of as similar to calorie counting with our food, using frequency of “meals” and nitrogen concentration (“calories”) being tied together. I have found that regular, weekly feeding at 75-125 ppm N is a decent, general application rate.

A very simple, yet reasonable way to estimate that is to divide 8 by the %N in the fertilizer, which tells you the teaspoons/gallon for the middle of that range, giving you room to round up or down for measuring convenience. K-Lite is 13.2% N, so 8/13.2=0.61, so you could use 1/2, 2/3, or 3/4 tsp/gal.

Houston water varies from very soft to only moderately hard, so you probably need not consider RO for all but the most sensitive plants, and K-Lite will work well with your tap water. Do not use the calcium supplement, as there is plenty in the fertilizer.

The three products can be used individually or mixed together. Many of my customers apply fertilizer once a week for 3 weeks, then that fourth week has all three together.

As Roberta mentioned, fertilizing is an extremely minor part of orchid culture. Feed your plants regularly and sparingly and they’ll do fine.

Thank you so much!!!!