Worm Tea and Orchid Fertilizer/Raising Daytime Temperatures

[KBoyd1]

Hi, everyone,

My name is Kirby Boyd and I live in north Texas. I'm also very new to the world of orchids. I have a few questions about worm tea and orchid fertilizer, as well as, raising daytime temperatures for my orchids.

1. Can I use worm tea and orchid fertilizer together, or must I use one versus the other?

2. If I can use them together do I alternate their use (i.e. every other watering), or can I use them both at the same time?

3. When I mist my orchids can I add worm tea, or do I use only plain rainwater?

4. How much worm tea per gallon of water do I use? Please be specific as in 1 tablespoon/gallon or 1 cup/gallon, something like that.

5. How can I raise the daytime temperature around my orchids if it's still to cool in the winter? Can I use a space heater, or something like that?

Thank you for your help in keeping all orchids beautiful!

Kirby

[wintergirl]

Here is an entire recent thread on worm tea.

Worm Tea

Welcome to Orchid Board!

[KBoyd1]

Thanks, Wintergirl!

[Jenn4a]

Hello!

I've been using ceramic bulbs or infrared bulbs to raise te heat. Infrared bulbs shouldn't be used at night though (at least I don't think they should)... If you use ceramic bulbs, make sure you're using a lighting source with a ceramic or porcelain socket. The ceramic bulbs get very hot and will melt plastic sockets.

I do watch the heat though, I don't want to cook any of them! I recently got a mini PVC covered greenhouse from Menards and I keep the heat bulb in the middle, underneath the plants. I pointed it down, and it's above some black pots of water. I have a fan angled so that the fan blows the water around, and the bulb heather the water all while raising the temps. The plants get a better amount of humidity and heat this way! but it does take up space that I could have used for plants...

[hbozeman]

It's good to have another N.Texas person on here(I'm from Corinth). I started with a tabletop setup with a PVC stand, a 4 ft., 2-bulb fluorescant light. I covered the stand with plastic. My plants sat on humidity trays. The heat from the lamps and the water in the humidity trays did OK. I now have, in addition to that, 2 4-shelf metal storage racks with lights hanging under each of the top shelves, still using humidity trays and plastic wrap. I have computer fans for circulation. They are in an upstairs game room with its own AC/heating unit (rarely in the winter is it on). Growing mostly phals/paphs and mini vandas.

[JDT]

Welcome!!

The directions on the bottle of Worm Tea I get are; "Non-chlorinated water - 1/3 cup per gallon, one ounce per quart as a spray - double quantity for elimination of active insect infestations."
JDT

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