My Phalaenopsis regimen - Orchid Board

chris1948 · #1 03-22-2016, 07:12 PM

I'm really new to growing orchids, I picked up most of the leftover Mothers Day orchids at our local Walmart last June for pennies on the dollar as I wanted to give orchids a try. I started with 23 and am down to 15 which seem to be doing very well and currently have quite a few in bloom. But what I really wanted to find out was am I taking care of them right. I water about every 8 or 9 days using Better-Gro 20-14-13 orchid food mixed with distilled water. As time comes around for the 4th watering cycle I use just plain distilled water on all the orchids to flush them out. I mist my orchids twice a day using Ultra Clean Potassium Nitrate 13.7-0-46.3 1/2tsp mixed in 1gal of distilled water. When repotting I've been using Rexius Orchid bark and 6 1/2" clear pots. I have them all sitting on my homemade humidity trays which seem to work pretty well out in my greenhouse. The greenhouse is covered with 60% shade cloth which I've just put on this year so I'm hoping it will cut down some on the heat inside. I've also figured out a way to run power to it so I can get some fans going. The attached photo is of my humidity trays.

Leafmite · #2 03-22-2016, 11:55 PM

If you are using distilled water, be certain that your fertilizer has Calcium. All plants need Calcium. There are some other nutrients that a plant needs, too, but often a plant food has them in small amounts. For some reason, it is rare to see Calcium added.

chris1948 · #3 03-23-2016, 12:06 AM

Thank you, I'll check the ingredients on the fertilizer and see what all is in it.

gngrhill · #4 03-23-2016, 12:49 AM

Keep an eye on that aluminum humidity tray. In time it will develop small pin holes in it and it will begin to leak.

chris1948 · #5 03-23-2016, 10:29 AM

Thanks, good thing to note, I'll keep an eye out. I also use a little bit of algae killer such as is used in swimming pools to keep algae out of them.

Triffid · #6 03-23-2016, 11:23 AM

Thinking about what gngrhill said and having seen what another grower on this forum has done (sorry, I can't recall exactly who), you may want to consider eventually replacing the aluminium trays with cat litter trays or similar plastic trough.

chris1948 · #7 03-23-2016, 04:41 PM

Thank you, that is a great idea. I don't know why I didn't think of it. I guess I was going for cheapest as possible.

chris1948 · #8 03-25-2016, 01:17 PM

Adding a bit more to my thread. I checked my Better-Gro food, no calcium listed at all. So, what I did was ordered some calcium nitrate the other night. Since I'm misting the orchids once in the morning and once in the mid-afternoon w/distilled water and potassium nitrate would it be ok to add 1/2tsp of the calcium nitrate to the gal of distilled water that I mix the potassium nitrate into for misting? Would misting with this combination be too much for the plants? Or, should the calcium nitrate be mixed into the distilled water I use when feeding/watering which is about every 8 or 9 days currently.

gngrhill · #9 03-25-2016, 06:49 PM

I personally would not add anything to water I used for misting because it will eventually leave sediment spots on the leaves. I would add any supplements to the water I water with. Also, It's not really known how much the plants can absorb/use from foliar sprays.

chris1948 · #10 03-25-2016, 07:07 PM

So your suggesting that I just mist with plain distilled water and any supplements I'm going to add I add when I feed them. Then it would be ok to add 1/2tsp of the potassium nitrate and calcium nitrate to the 1/2tsp of fertilizer I'm mixing into the distilled water?