fish emulsion

[leeflea]

does anyone knoe if fish emulsion(5-1-1) is beneficial. on another site, i was told it was a waste of money and could burn the leaves. lee

[Jkelee]

Ironic, I just bought a big bottle of it today! As I was told about 2 months ago, by one of my Local Chid growers here, that's been doing it for over 50 yrs now. He says it's 'his little secret'. That's the ticket for him on selling "Healthy Orchids". So I bought it, as I was at another garden center and saw it there, and remember what the Chid grower told me.

So, I hope and pray it wasn't a waste of $??

[Jkelee]

I just found thes good words about it;

Frederick's Orchid Flowers: Pros And Cons Of Fish Fertilizer For Orchids

[leeflea]

thank for the feed back. i have used it with ni dire consequences, thank goodness. i was warned about using gibberellic acid on them. that i used on the allamandas as i have for years.
great sie this is. lee

[Ray]

To my thinking, there is nothing unique or "special" about fish emulsion. Commercially, it was derived from the observation that native Americans living near large, productive fisheries would plow chopped-up fish into fields as a fertilizer supplement.

The negatives are threefold: high nitrogen content (relative to the other elements), it is incomplete on the minor- and trace element list (hence the advice in that article that it be a supplement only), and the lovely perfume. I was not aware that you needed to use it with a fungicide, so I guess that's a 4th "issue".

The fact that it is organically derived is meaningless to the plant, and if you have to go through extra gyrations to use it, why bother? If you're willing to, it should not be an issue unless you overdo it.