Feed Me!

[charlesf6]

Originally Posted by u bada

i love how the only tag for this post is "feed" lol

Yeah, I'll fertilize things weekly, weakly year round, but i give a little more fert ratio in spring and summer... and take it down around now. still pretty warm here, so i may keep fert a bit higher for a couple more weeks or this whole month.

That said, there are plants that grow year round (many pleurothallis) and also those that grow mainly in all (some sophronitis for instance) so those you can keep on a regular fert or sure year around...

those that go dormant, (some dendrobiums, catasetums), you can cut off fert, and reduce watering fairly soon, when leaves or shed, etc.

Mine are Phal's only at the moment.

---------- Post added at 05:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:58 PM ----------

Originally Posted by silken

Your plant food is not a balanced one. It is often called a bloom booster with the large middle number. It will do, but it would be better to buy something like 20-20-20. I do use bloom booster sometimes when new growths (on Catts or Oncidiums) have just started to induce flower production. But some say it doesn't work and it is the lower presence of the nitrogen that actually stimulates bloom. This won't kill the plants or anything. May have less leafy green growth tho.

Oh I like to have leafy green growth so maybe I should never use this stuff?

[estación seca]

I just posted a link to a new video on Vanda growing by a Florida Vanda nursery owner, Martin Motes. He discusses fertilizing, and how to tell whether the plants are getting enough, but he doesn't give amounts to add to the water. I wrote to him for clarification.

[charlesf6]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

I THINK that translates into: A new package of fertilizer costs just a few bucks. Problem solved.

Yes

---------- Post added at 05:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:10 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Luizacft

Talked to an orchid grower recently and he told me to use all types of orchid food during a month. It means growth, rooting and blooming interpolated. Flush every few weeks. I. Case you've got Vandas he told to use a very weak dosage sometimes a day / everyday)


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Now I am confused all over again !

[AnonYMouse]

For me, feeding is nearly every watering or never (I don't keep good track). I used Ray's calculator (the site is 500ing me right now) to get to 50ppm N. Then I dilute further out of measuring convenience.

With so few plants, you might want to mix according to the label and dilute according to feeding frequency using a smaller container. I do this instead of measuring 1/10 tsp/gal (or whatever the math might be).

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by charlesf6

Now I am confused all over again !

The orchid grower in Brazil probably has excellent conditions for growing orchids, and the only thing missing is supplemental fertilizer. In these circumstances it hardly matters what be used. Under other circumstances the type of fertilizer may matter.

---------- Post added at 02:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:15 PM ----------

Originally Posted by charlesf6

Mine are Phal's only at the moment.... Oh I like to have leafy green growth so maybe I should never use this stuff?

Do you mean you don't want flowers? I can't remember where you live. Many Phal hybrids are triggered to bloom by several weeks of average temperature drop during the fall or early winter. If there's adequate fertilizer and the proper trigger they will bloom. If there's insufficient fertilizer and the proper trigger they will probably still bloom, but not so magnificently. If there's insufficient fertilizer and insufficient trigger they probably won't bloom.

[Ray]

Does an orchid in nature get its food changed, ever?

No.

If you look at what they DO get, it's almost all nitrogen, with very low levels of everything else. The Huntington Botanical Gardens has been getting tons of awards lately, and they feed almost exclusively calcium nitrate.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by Ray

Does an orchid in nature get its food changed, ever?

No.

If you look at what they DO get, it's almost all nitrogen, with very low levels of everything else. The Huntington Botanical Gardens has been getting tons of awards lately, and they feed almost exclusively calcium nitrate.

Do they add the calcium nitrate to pure water, or tap/well water that also contains things plants need? I also noticed they pot some orchids in mixes containing granite chips, which likewise will add small amounts of inorganic salts to the water in the container.

[bil]

I run Klite at about 25ppm N every watering, 3 tims a week pots, every day mounts) except for resting plants.
Stans I do 1,000 ppm each week, ie about 150 a day.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Do they add the calcium nitrate to pure water, or tap/well water that also contains things plants need? I also noticed they pot some orchids in mixes containing granite chips, which likewise will add small amounts of inorganic salts to the water in the container.

I don't know about their water supply, but I'd guess it's pure.

If I'm not mistaken, the chemistry of granite, which is variable, is all oxides, making me wonder just how much it adds, if at all, to the nutrition.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by Ray

I don't know about their water supply, but I'd guess it's pure.

If I'm not mistaken, the chemistry of granite, which is variable, is all oxides, making me wonder just how much it adds, if at all, to the nutrition.

Decomposed granite substrate is often considered by gardeners to be an acidic medium. A lot of plants growing on granite are acid lovers. I haven't measured, though.

---------- Post added at 09:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 AM ----------

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

...Parts Per Million.... How does [an] amateur grower... translate such terms into useful measurements we can use when measuring fertilizer in our kitchen using scoops provided in the fertilizer package?

We have a secret weapon:

First Rays Nitrogen Management Calculator

which I use frequently. Thanks, Ray!