How much Superthrive for Phals?

[nenella]

hmm yes I agree with your thinking Jarad! although a capful ; I take as being a capful of the cap of the actual bottle /container the 'stuff' is in... when it's in a bottle with a cap & then talks about drops..... it's an other story.....

[zxyqu]

agreed, but some of my supplies come in various sizes, resulting in varied cap sizes. Is a bit frustrating, but I just use the free spoon Ray gave me with a fert purchase. I'm a least a little more consistent that way.

[nenella]

Thanks again it helps!!!!!!!

[Bud]

That is good to know that there is a measuring spoon ... my other fertilizers just asked me to use the cap/cover of the bottle...and it is very inacurate

[Merlyn]

My first experience with ST is a horror story !!! I misread the instructions and was using a teaspoon per gallon at every feeding !!! Things started going weird and it took a couple months to finally trace it back to the ST !!! It was mostly my Phals having not only deformed blooms but leaves as well !!! I tossed out the ST and didn't go near it for about 2 years until recently after Ray gave a talk at 2 different OS I belong to. I never go over 3 drops per gallon and only use it when repotting or on plants that are waning in health. I sometimes use KLN instead. Here's an interesting point from Ray's last talk = he says they deteriorate at room temperature so I keep all similar stuff, ST, KLN, SOLO in the fridge and try to mix only what I need to avoid keeping the leftover at room temp !!!

[The Mutant]

Thanks Merlyn! I remember reading somewhere that it should be kept in the fridge, but I had completely forgotten about that. I immediately put it there now after reading your post.

Pweh! Lucky me there are people here on OB equipped with functional brains as compared to me.

[Ray]

About 15 or so years ago, I started looking at SuperThrive from a chemist perspective, did some research into plant-benefiting chemicals, and concocted my own version from retail products for a fraction of the cost of ST. After 6-9 months of testing - a "control" with fertilizer only, one set with fert + ST, and another with fert + my stuff - those getting the additives (both at about 1/8 tsp/gal) grew significantly better than the control. I was convinced my stuff was better, but probably not statistically so. Each group consisted of 50 plants each of Oncidium Sharry Baby and Phal Lemforde White Beauty.

After ending that experiment, I decided to "push it", and started applying SuperThrive at one tablespoon per gallon of fertilizer solution at every watering.

I saw no deformation of the plants, but upon blooming, all of the phal blossoms were deformed. Fortunately, they returned to normal in subsequent bloomings, when not being OD'd.

[Pelepel]

Ray, we have most of our orchids in s/h for nearly three years and are doing great. But our paphs never seem to like it. Do you recommend s/h for paphs or a bark mixture? What has been your luck with them?

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Pelepel

Ray, we have most of our orchids in s/h for nearly three years and are doing great. But our paphs never seem to like it. Do you recommend s/h for paphs or a bark mixture? What has been your luck with them?

Paphs were the first experiments I ever did in the development of S/H culture, and they took to it so well that it encouraged me to try others.

All of my slippers are in s/h culture and doing quite well.

There is a lot more to orchid culture than just LECA and a reservoir; you'll have to provide more details (another, new thread is recommended) if you want to pursue it.

[Pelepel]

Thanks for your reply, Ray! We pretty much followed everything you had to say on your site and in threads a few years back, and everything is growing beautifully for 3 years. Just was curious if slippers liked it enough.I know one paph was super weak. We have a lou sneary that is going absolutely nuts in it! As with our neo falcatas. Very interested in your seaweed product!