Are food sticks any good?

[Jenascrich]

Good morning! I saw miracle gro orchid plant food spikes on Amazon. They have a lot of good reviews. Does anyone use these? If so, what type of orchids would you use them on? I have phals, catts, dendros, epidendrums in and out of the ground, and Vandas. I imagine the Vandas are not applicable because they are bare root.
If you use food spikes but not this brand, please let me know.



Thanks!!!


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[Orchid Whisperer]

With food (fertilizer) sticks or spikes, I would be concerned about too much fertilizer in some parts of the pot and not enough elsewhere in the pot. I know some people that have used slow-release fertilizer (in granular "prills") with some success, but you have to have prills that release the right amount of fertilizer over an extended time period, and which do not suddenly "dump" too much fertilizer at one time.

I prefer a water soluble fertilizer formulation that includes the essentials N, P, and K. You need the least P for any plant, including orchids. N and K are usually needed by orchids and other plants in similar amounts. All of the common forms of nitrogen (nitrate, ammonia, and urea) are directly used by orchids.

Supplement with Ca, Mg, S and other mineral nutrients if they are not supplied by your water supply.

[Jenascrich]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

With food (fertilizer) sticks or spikes, I would be concerned about too much fertilizer in some parts of the pot and not enough elsewhere in the pot. I know some people that have used slow-release fertilizer (in granular "prills") with some success, but you have to have prills that release the right amount of fertilizer over an extended time period, and which do not suddenly "dump" too much fertilizer at one time.



I prefer a water soluble fertilizer formulation that includes the essentials N, P, and K. You need the least P for any plant, including orchids. N and K are usually needed by orchids and other plants in similar amounts. All of the common forms of nitrogen (nitrate, ammonia, and urea) are directly used by orchids.



Supplement with Ca, Mg, S and other mineral nutrients if they are not supplied by your water supply.

Thank you. You are correct. I did not think about the Stick sitting in one spot and not covering the whole plant.

Is there a brand of water soluble fertilizer that you like, that I can order or buy at a store? Preferably one that I can use on all or most of my orchids.


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[Ray]

While I honestly think that formula isn't all that important - other than the need for the minor-, and trace elements - the Greencare Orchid Special (aka "MSU" fertilizers) are huge sellers for me.

[Becky15349]

MSU fertilizer is awesome, but expensive and comes in small portions unless you buck up and buy a huge bag. It really is great though; it has a proprietary concentration of calcium that really seems to make the plant into growing beasts!! I've had some of my best cattleya blooms while using MSU. Since my life has changed and I can no longer fork out $5 for a cup of that fertilizer, I usually just use miracle grow bloom blooster...any water-soluable fertilizer. If you can, soak the plants in the fertilizer water so they absorb as much as possible - but you can't share water between plants because you could spread viruses or other nasty things between the plants. So, long story short, any fertilizer really will do - just don't overfertilize too often - I would say no more than 1 time a month, or else you will just grow big huge plants with glorious leaves and no blooms. Good luck! ~Becky

[Orchid Whisperer]

I mostly use orchid fertilizers from big box stores like Lowes or Home Depot. I've used the Miracle Gro water-soluble orchid fertilizer (N-P-K ratio of 30-10-10) when I was mostly growing younger plants. I liked it just fine for the purpose of growing young plants into bigger plants. I am now using Better Gro (can't recall numeric formulation but N is lower relative to P and K, P is highest number). That product works well too.

Ray is right, exact formula is not critical. You do want to supply Ca and Mg, which I get from gypsum (pellets for lawn; plaster of Paris is also gypsum) and Epsom salts (plain unscented kind from the drug store). These supply S as well. If you use tap water at least part of the time, you are likely getting the other micronutrients, though they are also added to orchid fertilizers.

Beckycis also right. Infrequent fertilizer doses are better than supplying too often. More frequent application at low concentration is OK too.

[Jenascrich]

Sounds great! I will look up the msu. It sounds like the same price as my coffee habit anyway.


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[Jenascrich]

Sounds great! I will look up the msu. It sounds like the same price as my coffee habit anyway.


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