Fertilizing

[justatypn]

Thanks doc for sharing, had the general concept from my hort class but not as indepth ... ahhhh now it makes sense ... appreciate your thoughts...

[Ray]

In the floraculture industry, particularly in large crops like poinsettias, there is some well-established science related to pH, formula, etc., and exactly how much food one must give a plant in order to get it to fully develop in X days.

My guess is that in orchids, because of the extremely wide range of plant needs among the various species, and because of our individual cultural condition differences, we'll always have to settle for some "middle ground" that is "OK" for our collections.

The big phals growers in Taiwan probably
have that science nailed, and if they were to share, it might help those who grow phals, but it still doesn't cover all of the bases...

[mjr092]

Hey, thanks for the responses. I'm sure I know the difference between organic sources and in organic source or manmade vs naturally occurring. That was not really my question, though. Semantics aside, my question is really about finding out the efficacy of using naturally occurring fertilizers on orchids. I don't have a beef with using MiracleGro, DynaGro, Schultz or whatever is out there -- I bought some in fact, or some semblance thereof. I do find that organic ferts really work for my other plants, and never need diluting because the plants use what they need and nothing more. Maybe because I have those plants dialed in. Are guano sources less efficient or not recommended for some reason, does anyone know of any articles? It is fairly easy to adjust NPK for organics with a little bit of math. Some say the plant doesn't care where its N P or K come from, to some respect it does not, but certain forms of elements are more easily accessible to certain plants. The whole synergy thing. So is using naturally occurring/organic sources less recommended? Is urea harmful to orchids in general? And I have some around and I want to use it but I want my plants to thrive and not die.

[littlefrog]

In reverse... Urea is not harmful to orchids in rational concentrations (don't put concentrated urea on your plants, or let your dogs pee on them). It also isn't particularly useful to orchids.

I'm kind of glad Scott jumped on the semantics, it bothers the heck out of me too. But that is not really relevant. As to whether 'synthetic' or 'natural' fertilizers are better, I don't know, really. For me, I like the science of knowing. But there is also an art to orchid growing. One thing that isn't usually considered (Mahon made a stab at it a few weeks ago for paphs), is the biotic environment in the root zone for orchids. We don't pay much attention to that, in fact the big push (for me too) is to move to almost entirely rock based (inert) media. Some of the products you discussed (worm castings, manure, etc) would probably have a more beneficial effect on the root zone ecology than 'synthetic' fertilizers, at least in a potting mix which isn't completely inert.

Anyway, don't stress too much. The fun of orchid growing is learning the hard way. And, if it works for you, don't let anybody talk you out of it. What works for you is entirely dependent on your environment, and you are the only person who can figure that out.

[mjr092]

Intriguing response. I am not a scientist but I too am curious to know the mechanics or processes of how the plant metabolizes. To a point, anyway. I really just want to help the plant 'become' and bring it to its full potential. One of my potted dendro is going to get light guano/mollasses/worm casting tea with every water. The others will be control group with the Dyna Grow weekly weakly ferted. They are all in the same space and get the same light. This will be my unscientific scientific method see if there's a difference in growth and expression.