Quantum Orchid?

[kmccormic]

Has anyone ever heard of or tried this Quantum Orchid stuff that Repotme.com is selling? I'm curious about it.

Quantum Orchid - 8 ounce bottle

[katrina]

I have never used this but I have used worm tea type products on my orchids but never noticed much of a difference. Certainly not anything I could see that would justify the prices of most of these products. I use worm products in my garden beds and have seen great results so I thought that would transfer to orchids...it just never did. I can only assume it's the fact that we don't grow most orchids in soil.

You might find this interesting...
http://www.staugorchidsociety.org/PD...ySueBottom.pdf Sounds like the results have been very mixed.

I use seaweed and I do see a difference in root growth w/it but I can tell you that it does cause a faster break down of sphag. Some brands of seaweed actually make the sphag slimy...but it does help to produce some really nice roots so I deal w/having to repot some plants more frequently.

BTW - I can't stand the smell of the seaweed so the plants only get it when the orchids are outside for the summer. If I ever find one that doesn't smell like seaweed, they'll get it year round.

[Ray]

With the use of biologicals in plant care, it is the microorganisms' metabolites that have the effects on the rhizosphere and the plant. Each species puts out different metabolites, so has different effects, so it pays to apply as broad an array of "good bugs" as you can. Unfortunately, it isn't simply a matter of mixing them together, as they can compete with-, or even cannibalize each other.

To Katrina's point about worm tea, and not seeing anything with its use on orchids, that may have to do with the specific microorganisms that grow in the tea. Some are only viable in organic soils, while some can populate plants themselves, as well. Which ones are in worm teas is somewhat random, depending upon whatever is local where it is made.

I have no doubt that Quantum Orchid has some benefits, but its formulation is somewhat limited compared to other, less-expensive products.

I will acknowledge that I have a commercial interest in this area, but you might want to read about Inocucor Garden Solution, which just happens to be on sale.

[tucker85]

I experimented with Quantum Orchid and several other beneficial bacteria and fungus products. I had no noticeable benefits from any of them. None of them harmed my orchids but they didn't seem to help either. There's always the possibility that the plant was benefiting in some way that wasn't obvious. I've experimented with many supplements over the years and the only one that gave me any obvious results is kelp or seaweed. I still use that regularly.

[thefish1337]

I've used the Inocucor that Ray sells. It works well in reducing the fungal spotting of typical trouble species like Zygos and Oncidiums. Areas that were already affected by black spot turned to dead plant tissue instead of black fungal tissue so its best to innoculate new growths to prevent the problem from happening all together. Because i was used to black spotting on my Onc i found the lack of black spot and tan dead leaf spots a little weird at first. The price is a bit high once you realize how much you need to use to innoculate your collection but once you do it doesn't take much to maintain the populations of beneficial bacteria. Inocucor works really well with ferns as well:

My roommate 'attempts' to have a houseplant collection and was over watering his ferns at some points and underwatering them at other times and because of this both of his ferns declined to 1-2 fronds each from 10-15 from when they were bought and looked on their last legs (not deciduous).

I decided to do a somewhat uncontrolled experiment and began watering the ferns with about a cup between the both of them with 1:50 solution every 3 weeks or whenever I remembered (sometimes he had watered the soil sometimes the soil was bone dry basically i watered them with this solution 2-3 times over a period of 2 months). Fast forward 2 months and the ferns that had nearly all died back now have both about 30 new fronds growing between the two and look vibrant. During the ferns decline I was making fun of him about how poor he took care of his plants. When they mysteriously bounced back the past two months he began to brag to me to which I responded "i've been inoculating your ferns with beneficial bacteria and taking care of them, it wasn't you..."

I do also acknowledge that because this experiment was uncontrolled that it could be that I was watering them properly-but he knew that ferns should be kept damp and mostly followed that approach sans a few lapses where he let them dry out too much but this sold me on inocucor and allowed me to maintain my bragging rights.