Question about 20-20-20

I saw several discussions about using 20-20-20 fert for orchids. I found one by Plant Prod, but it is to be used on all plants.
Fertilizer - All-Purpose Fertilizer 20-20-20 PLANT-PROD - Rona.ca

Would that be ok for my chids, or there is a specific orchid edition of 20-20-20 fertilizer?
Thank you.

[tucker85]

I'm changing this post because I finally found an ingredient list for the fertilizer you mentioned. It should be fine for fertilizing orchids. It contains potassium nitrate and ammonia which are the sources of nitrogen that are preffered for orchids. It also has micro-nutrients so I would consider it a good fertilizer for use on orchids.

[isurus79]

Typically an all purpose fertilizer uses urea as its nitrogen source. As Tucker said, you need a fertilizer that is urea free. Urea free fertilizers will say so on the label, often in highlighted letters.

Thank you guys. So, this one was money wasted.
I will continue looking for the one that states "urea free".

[tucker85]

Orchideya, I changed my origional post. I found a list of ingredients for the fertilizer you bought. It has potassium nitrate and ammonia. Those are the preffered sources of nitrogen for orchids. As long as you have the version of that product that contains micronutrients it should work fine on your orchids.

Great!!! Yes, mine is a red labeled with micro nutrients.
Tucker, if you don't mind, could you please post a reference to where you found ingredients list.
And thank you so much for taking your time on this research.

[tucker85]

It took a little detective work. In the US most fertilizers show the sources of nitrogen on the label. I guess that may not be the practice in Canada. But both Canada and the US require an MSDS (material safety data sheet) for any product containing controlled substances. Nitrate is used in bomb making so it has to be listed. Ammonia is also dangerous under certain circumstances so it needs to be listed also. Follow the link below and look at the MSDS. Potassium nitrate is on there at 44% and ammonia near the bottom. Urea does not need to be listed so there may be some urea in the fertilizer but that won't hurt anything as long as there are other nitrogen sources. Potassium nitrate is considered one of the best nitrogen sources for orchids.

Plant Products

Thank you Tucker. That is very informative website.

[ezil]

A lot of people in our society use it, esp. when using tap water. Our water is quite hard, so the Ca and Mg levels are always sufficient. If you use it with RO, rainwater, or distilled water, you'd have to add about 10% tap water to get enough. I used to use it as well, until I could get rain water. I now only use it occasionally, but that's because I bought a year's supply of DynaGrow.

Great, thank you Ezil. I use tap water for the most of my orchids. I only try to collect rainwater for my paphs and now for my new comers: phrag, dracula and masdie, because I read that they are sensitive to the water quality. My vandas and phals seem to be ok with tap.