Sun Bulb Fert Vs. Balanced Vs. Non-Orchid Specific

[Dalton]

Hey everyone,

I had a question I was hoping you could help me out with. I'm sure it's been answered on here, but I probably just can't think of the right thing to search for to get it to pop up.

My issue is choosing a fertilizer. I've been using the same stuff for quite some time. I've got a bag of Sun Bulb, no-urea orchid fertilizer.

Amazon.com : Sun Bulb 8303 Better Gro Orchid Plus, 16-Ounce : Soil And Soil Amendments : Patio, Lawn & Garden

I've been using it for years, but I don't know that I couldn't be getting better results from a different fertilizer. I haven't been fertilizing as much as I probably could or should have until the last year. Now I try to fertilize about once a week with the 4th week being the flush week.

This does vary from orchid to orchid, because some of my orchids need water almost daily, being in the house, and others have enough water retention that they only need to be watered about 1-2 times a week. So I can't just fertilize at every feeding and flush every fourth or some orchids would be getting huge doses. Hence why I try to just fertilize once a week and water regular the rest of the time.

I may even fertilize less or not at all when the plant seems dormant and pick it up when it seems to be putting out new growth or roots. That makes logical sense to me, but you guys can correct me if I'm wrong.

So I'm about out of this bag of fertilizer. It recommend ~1 tsp per gallon. I try to feed at half that strength since I may fertilze more often. Again, if I need to change this, let me know.

My real question here is will I get better performance out of my orchids if I stick with this, which I noticed was 20-14-13, or would I be better off with a balance fertilizer and if so, which level would be good for my feeding schedule?

Lastly, do I need to use an orchid specific fertilizer at all? I bought a 1.5lb container of Maxsea Grow 16-16-16. I believe, though, that it has nitrogen through urea. I actually bought it for my regular house plants as well as to make a weak solution for my carnivorous plants.

Currently, the indoor carnivorous plants will get an even weaker solution of my orchid fertilizer. If I have a half strength solution of the Sun Bulb and use half a container, I'll fill it back up to the top and water my CPs with that. I'll just pour the rest in regular house plant pots.

So if anyone can help me out with these fertilizer questions and let me know if I seem to be doing it right, I'd greatly appreciate it. I really just started using fertilizer in the past year, regularly. Before that, it was sporadic and I was mostly just watering. We're on well water and I'll try to use my PPM meter I bought to tell you what level I'm sitting at, but I'll have to try to find it tonight. Thanks for the help.

[bil]

TBH, fertiliser isn't the most important thing. It's kind of like the final polish.
If you haven't got the light, air to the roots, medium etc all correct, no amount of fertiliser fiddling will do anything to help.

Ray of First Ray's has a very good section on fertiliser, and I suggest that you read it all. In there you will find a excellent nitrogen calculator. That will tell you what amount to fertiliser to use to give you the right dose.

I use about 25ppm nitrogen at every watering, and I use the K Lite, which is a high nitrogen fertiliser.

[Dalton]

Thanks. I'll definitely check out Ray's page. I have read most of the S/H stuff, but didn't look at the fertilizer stuff.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Dalton

Thanks. I'll definitely check out Ray's page. I have read most of the S/H stuff, but didn't look at the fertilizer stuff.

It's really well worth reading.