Yes/No to Seaweed/Kelp in winter for struggling Cattleyas

[Amanda L]

I had 2 Catts from a BB store that had nearly total root loss. I cut off all dead roots, placed them in a tall container with large river rocks and secured them with a flower stake. I made a mix of 1/4 tsp 20-20-20 orchid fert, and 1/4 tsp of SuperThrive. I misted the roots (or where roots should be) everyday. I never drained the water from the container, just make sure no part of the plant is resting in any accumulated water. Eventually new roots started to emerge. Once there was a decent sized root mass I potted them in small pots that I made from the bottoms of water bottles with several holes in the bottom. I treated them like normal after they were potted up. They ended up in 5" slotted pots and the roots are now everywhere, with a nice amount of p-bulbs. One of them is still thriving and nearly bursting from the pot and one has died from recent neglect. I'm hoping it's not actually dead, but it looks more hopeless than when it was rootless. Somewhere on this forum is a post about those Catts and I believe there are picture of them, maybe even some of what I call my OICU.

Good luck!

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

Ray, do you have a technical article or analysis that describes the stimulants in Kelpmax? Or is that info on the product label or SDS (formerly MSDS)? If you have that available, I would appreciate it if you can share that. It would be good to keep as a reference.

Thanks!

Sorry! I missed this post.

So far, the only statements out of the manufacturer are that the product "has been shown to contain a large number of auxins, cytokinins and polyamines, abscisic acid, and concentrated gibberellins and brassinosteroids, which have been shown to elicit a wide range of physiological responses including cell division, stem and root growth, flower and fruit development, seed yield and protection from stress."

The SDS says nothing about the exact chemistry. Otherwise, I only have the following contents (ppm):

Growth Stimulants
Auxins: 11
Cytokinins: 0.031

Nutrients
Proteins: 3000
Carbohydrates: 16900
Nitrogen: 3600
Phosphorus: 8200
Potassium: 7200
Calcium: 800
Magnesium: 200
Cobalt: 0.3
Copper: 0.2
Fluorine: 0.4
Iodine: 8.6
Iron: 13.6
Boron: 0.24
Manganese: 8.4
Sulfur: 0.64
Molybdenum: 0.38
Nickel: 0.43
Sodium: 80
Strontium: 0.4
Zinc: 4.2

Amino Acids
Serine: 208
Phenylalanine: 8
Methionine: 72
Aspartic acid: 316
Hydroxyproline: 36
Glutamic acid: 20
Alanine: 280
Tyrosine: 332
Valine: 150
Ornithine: 20
Glycine: 140
Lysine: 272
Isoleucine: 92
Threonine: 152
Leucine: 180
Proline: 184

Vitamins
B1: 0.908
B2: 0.08
C: 20
E: 0.68

[Amanda L]

Ray, out of curiosity do you prefer K-L-N or SuperThrive. From what I understand they do about the same thing? I will be buying some soon and just wonder if I should switch to K-L-N from SuperThrive?

[Orchid Whisperer]

Thanks for sharing that Ray. That is helpful.

For comparison purposes, and to show the range of variation across kelp extract products, I thought it might be useful to post a link for the Growmore brand I use: http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/ms...nformation.pdf

Many of the same components are in both products, but with some variation in concentration. I would not be surprised if the variation is related to where the kelp is harvested, or kelp species, but don't really know.

Originally Posted by Ray

Sorry! I missed this post.

So far, the only statements out of the manufacturer are that the product "has been shown to contain a large number of auxins, cytokinins and polyamines, abscisic acid, and concentrated gibberellins and brassinosteroids, which have been shown to elicit a wide range of physiological responses including cell division, stem and root growth, flower and fruit development, seed yield and protection from stress."

The SDS says nothing about the exact chemistry. Otherwise, I only have the following contents (ppm):

Growth Stimulants
Auxins: 11
Cytokinins: 0.031

Nutrients
Proteins: 3000
Carbohydrates: 16900
Nitrogen: 3600
Phosphorus: 8200
Potassium: 7200
Calcium: 800
Magnesium: 200
Cobalt: 0.3
Copper: 0.2
Fluorine: 0.4
Iodine: 8.6
Iron: 13.6
Boron: 0.24
Manganese: 8.4
Sulfur: 0.64
Molybdenum: 0.38
Nickel: 0.43
Sodium: 80
Strontium: 0.4
Zinc: 4.2

Amino Acids
Serine: 208
Phenylalanine: 8
Methionine: 72
Aspartic acid: 316
Hydroxyproline: 36
Glutamic acid: 20
Alanine: 280
Tyrosine: 332
Valine: 150
Ornithine: 20
Glycine: 140
Lysine: 272
Isoleucine: 92
Threonine: 152
Leucine: 180
Proline: 184

Vitamins
B1: 0.908
B2: 0.08
C: 20
E: 0.68