can you over-fertilize a catasetum

[Jmoney]

so I would say I have been "seriously" growing catasetinae for the past year, previously dabbling. I use sphagnum moss and fertilized the bejeezus out of them during the growing season. 1 tsp/gallon dyna-gro 795 every watering during the growing season; no time release fert. [I did reduce to 1/2 tsp/gallon starting in August or so, thinking I was overdoing it]. Plants grew like weeds though, without any signs of leaf tip burn and some of these bulbs are club-sized.

I did bloom several cycnoches and a smattering of other types but I seem to have missed the boat on all of my catamodes. These are large beyond-BS plants. I'm starting to wonder if my fertilizer regime could have resulted in too much nitrogen? Just curious as to what people have been using...

[Clawhammer]

I can't say for sure, but as long as they were getting enough light, the excess nitrogen would be the most likely culprit imo.

[estación seca]

SVO has detailed seasonal fertilizing information on their Web site. Also if you sign up for the E-mail newsletter you get seasonal growing information with photos.

[Subrosa]

You'd have to try pretty hard, but I suppose it's possible. I grow mine in cow manure and fertilize regularly with liquid fertilizer. I've even thought about adding some Osmocote to the manure, although I haven't yet.

[Dorchid]

Mormodes and the like may be finicky?

[Jmoney]

estacion, I have been reading Fred's info and that is where I got the 1 tsp/gallon fertilizer dosing. I would never do anything near that for my other orchids. They seem to love it and have grown giant bulbs. One of them looked like an azalea bush with 7 new growths. I'm going to email Fred as well. They have been getting a ton of light under the LEDs, much more than the levels that were burning some of my cattleyas.

I think they missed their bloom window, and some of them even put out small 2nd new growths when I was hoping for spikes. Either its too warm (mid 80s summer, but that seems fine for these genera), or too much nitrogen. (I didn't have any other theories. or maybe they don't always bloom every year...)

[Dimples]

How would you end up with excess N if you’re using a 7-9-5 formula?

---------- Post added at 09:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:18 AM ----------

Does moss hold onto N more so than other nutrients?

[Jmoney]

I was wondering if the sheer amount was too much. Im not a fertilizer expert. I thought the ratio concept was kind of debunked.

[isurus79]

I doubt very much excess nitrogen caused them to skip blooming. I suspect it would be something else. Do you have photos of the plants? What type of light do they get?

[Dorchid]

Which catamodes is it? My Mo. Painted Desert x John C. Burchett has been super tough to flower. It bloomed very nicely last year for the first time with 2 bulbs that were 17-18" and couple smaller bulbs. This year, it put on another 16" bulb (I didn't feed as hard this year) and it didn't bloom again. I too grow in a tent under super strong LEDs that flower everything...all my other catasetinae reliably flower hard. This plant and my Mormodes species do not. Likely a cultural issue but also could just be they are finicky. Just a thought.