Brown leaf tips on Brassavola nodosa

[tinarae]

This is a stick-mounted plant that I got about a month ago, and its leaf tips are turning brown I water/fertilize weekly, and I've just started daily misting about a week ago. It's under lights, might it be too close? It's farthest from the lights, and none of the other plants are getting brown tips. Thoughts?

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[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Maybe leaf tip burn from escessive build up of salts. Try cutting back on the fertilization from every week to once every two weeks. Then try using RO/DI water instead of tap.

[Ross]

I have several mounted on slabs or "sticks" and mine get soaked daily with a weak fertilizer mix. I suggest that you might be keeping it too dry if it has exposed roots. If you water by submerging entire plant/mount, then fertilizer buildup is unlikely. Also, these need very bright light. Mine gets full sun in a south window (when the sun shines.)

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I didn't think about the exposed roots on a mounted plant in this case. Yeah, you might want to be aware of that. Check the roots to see how the roots are and tell us, or even better show us what the roots look like. Maybe a better assessment of the situation can be made to help with better culturing practices for your situation.

[cirillonb]

I calculate that when the problem seems to be salt/fertilizer build up the answer may not be just using fertilizer less often but rather, diluting fertilizer and keep on a regular schedule. The logic is, if you hit the plant with a strong mixture,even infrequently, it may have the same deleterious effect. Notice that Ross states he fertilizes regularly with a weak solution
Nick

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You know what Nick has a good point too. I'll add that sometimes the instructions on the label of the fertilizer bottle is inaccurate or may not necessarily apply to your growing situation.

I forgot to mention, fertilizers containing urea could cause excessive salt build up as well in epiphytical orchids, because there's nothing to break down or absorb the urea without soil.

[tinarae]

Turns out my fertilizer does have urea. Thanks for the tip! This is my first experience with mounted orchids. I don't have a digital camera, but I'm trying to upload pics from my phone to show you. Before I fertilize, I wet all my orchids down pretty well, so the roots are wet before the fertilizer hits them.