How and how much to fertalize a catt and a vanda

[TRANCEBOY]

As many of you know i have been having a hard time watering my catts. After my last thread I am moving it up to 3 days.. tuesdays. fridays and sundays. I am however using sundays to add fertalizer. I am using 1/4 better gro fertalizer. Basically I am mixxing in a gallon of water and dropping it in the roots. I always make sure to wet everything very well but most just zips out of the basket.

1) is this the best way to fertalize ? 2) should i do more often 3) do you think the plant is getting proper fertalizing if the fertalizer runs out of the basket.

The first part of this question is for my catts. However my vandas also get water every day and fertalizer on sundays. I understand they are heavy feeders. Should i use more fertalizer ? Should i do another day doing the same amount. I spray them with the fertalizer when they are dry leaving them wet. Is this proper ?

Also i added a little superthrive to the fertalizer. Should i be mixing this every time i fertalize ?

[tucker85]

1. When an orchid is in a basket, pouring fertilizer into the basket isn't an effective way of delivering fertilizer. I use a sprayer set to a fine spray to deliver fertilizer. I spray the entire plant, leaves, roots, medium and basket. Because the droplets are small they are more likely to be absorbed by everything they touch. The fertilizer on the leaves will eventually be washed down into the medium. The fertilizer on the wood basket and the medium will remain available to the plant for a few days. Also when you spray fertilizer you will use much less fertilizer than if you pour it in. You can use a cheap hand sprayer if you have a few orchids or a one or two gallon pump sprayer. I have about 80 orchids and it takes less than 2 gallons of fertilizer for my plants.
2. Once a week is fine for cattleya alliance orchids during the winter in South Florida. I fertilizer my vandas twice a week because they grow all year and they are bare root with no medium to hold the fertilizer. Starting late April I fertilize everything twice a week because orchids grow very rapidly in the hot, humid South Florida summer. Some South Florida growers use a time release fertilizer in the spring and then supplement with a light dose of liquid fertilizer once a week.

Since I water everything before fertilizing, I can use a little stronger dose of fertilizer. If you're using a general fertilizer used for all plants, I use 1/3 to 1/2 the recommended dose. If you're spraying it on a dry orchid I would use 1/4 the recommended dose. If you use a fertilizer made specifically for orchids you can use the dose recommended on the label. If you want to get more technical, I like to use 100 ppm nitrogen. If you go to First Rays web-site he has a calculator that will tell you how many teaspoons of your fertilizer will give you the ppm you want.
The day after you fertilize, look at the root tips on your orchids. If they look brown it may be because the fertilizer dose is too strong.

[keithrs]

Like Tucker's said... Spray every thing! I recommend you go buy a pump sprayer.

I keep a 35 gal trash can full of Ro water. I add 1/8 cup diluted fertilizer. My k lite was a 5:1 mix. 5 pints of boiled Ro water to 1 pint(roughly 2 lbs) fertilizer. That gives me roughly 15 ppm N. I use roughly half a trash can to water all my 120 or so plants(most being seedlings) every day when warm out. Lately, I have only watered once or twice in the last month with straight ro... Rain has done the rest.

I find it beneficial to drench the crap out of your plants. One, it insures that they get watered and two, you leach out salts in the pots. #2 reason in my book why people have root problems.

Also, take your plants off the Superthrive diet! Does more harm then good. Instead go with kelp once or twice a month.

[TRANCEBOY]

I need to check when i get home the amount im using but the water in the gallon is very light blue. I belive its 1/4 a teaspoon. For the vandas i added a little superthrive on sunday with half the spoon of fertalizer. and today i did half of the same spoon.

[keithrs]

1/4 tsp per gal is a good amount if fertilizing 1-2 times a week. That's about 70 ppm N if you have the 20-14-13 formula.

[Ray]

Just A general comment, I am repeatedly amazed at folks wanting to be conservative about their feeding habits. Do not forget that part of the irrigation process is the flushing of the medium and root system, plus aeration caused by the entrainment of the air by the water, and they may be as important as the application of fertilizer.

Whenever I water, I flood the crap out of the pot (literally and figuratively), wait, and repeat the process, hence I subscribe to low fertilizer concentrations as the others have suggested.

Incidentally, keep "12.5" in mind: when you divide your target ppm N level by that, it gives you the number to divide by the %N on the fertilizer to calculate the teaspoons per gallon to mix. For example: you want 50 ppm N, and you have a 15-6-7 fertilizer. 50/12.5=4, so 4/15=0.26667 teaspoons per gallon (I'd just use a quarter tsp.).

[TRANCEBOY]

Well all this is very new to me.. In fact i was never into plants. Guess im getting older and admire the beauty of nature. I pretty much water till its out of the pot with a hose. Guess that would be flushing with every water. Is their any other way to water ?

Non of mine are in pots or use moss so i water for about 8 to 10seconds and move to the next .

[gardengirl13]

Originally Posted by Ray

Whenever I water, I flood the crap out of the pot (literally and figuratively), wait, and repeat the process, hence I subscribe to low fertilizer concentrations as the others have suggested.

I like hearing I'm doing something right!! When I water I bring each pot the sink and drown the heck out of it. Letting all the water come through nicely. Then I use the fertilizer and also just pour until it coats the media nicely and starts coming out the bottom. It does seems somewhat wasteful as most of the fert drains out, but my plants love this and are all doing well.

i also use better gro, the bloom booster one, the other has too high N for me. I find higher N produces leaf growth but really slows flower growth on all my other plants so I assume it will do the same with orchids. I looked for a more balanced one this weekend and could only find that or for complete balance it was urea miracle grow which I didn't want.