fertilizing paphs the "grower" way

[weederwoman]

I have read numerous times that paphs should be fertilized lightly. Few say exactly why they recommend this. Is it only fear of burning roots? Often growers give as much fertilizer as possible to optimize growth, and therefore profits. A grower near me foliar feeds, because the strength they use would burn the roots, but they want this strength to grow the plants. Seeing their plants, I would say that paphs are happy to get as much food as they can (while staying undamaged), just like the rest of us.
I have also read that foliar feeding doesn't work on orchids because of the nature of the orchid leaf.Perhaps there is a thin leaf-thick leaf difference.
From my experience growing native flowers, when you give them more food than they might get in nature, you get bigger, healthier, faster growing wildflowers. And neither I nor the flowers seem upset about this.
I use RO water. I fertilize with MSU 1/4 strength every week. I add a smidgen of fertilizer and a dollop of well water into the RO water for watering in between fertilization. I would like to try adding foliar, but want to talk about it first. I grow my paphs and phrags under two T-5 lights, on for about 11 hours average. I grow in non-organic medium cuz I like to water.

[Leafmite]

Many greenhouses do fertilize like crazy but they keep the temperatures high, add artificial lighting in the winter months and keep the plants pretty wet. If keeping the plants long-term, they flush the pots very well, too, and pretty often.
Sometimes, when we have had hot summers, I fertilize heavier and keep the plants pretty wet. I add extra iron, Epsom salts and Calcium, too. Everything really grows like mad. If we have a cooler summer, I use less fertilizer because I am not watering as much. I tend to treat my orchids much like the other houseplants (they are in red lava rock and Aliflor so I cannot over-water them).

---------- Post added at 08:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:14 PM ----------

I should add that I am not currently growing any Paphs but I have in the past and treated them just the same (they do pretty well in red lava rock).

[WhiteRabbit]

I fertilizer my Paphs the same as most of my other orchids - the "average feeders", which is a half tsp of orchid fertilizer per gallon, once a week.

[weederwoman]

Sonya

That's twice what I've been feeding. I'll try increasing. Do you think orchids respond to foliar feeding?

[WhiteRabbit]

I only have a few Paphs, so I am far from an expert, but the one year that I tried reducing fertilizer, the growth just seemed weak to me.
I haven't tried foliar feeding for any orchids.

[Ray]

To answer the first question about why low fertilizer dosing rates, it is intended to better mimic what the plants see in nature. I use RO water and feed K-Lite (a low-P & -K version of the MSU RO formula) at 25 ppm N, which is roughly equivalent to 1/6 teaspoon per gallon. I apply that at every watering, which can be as often as every day or two in the summer, less often when skies are gray this time of year.

25 ppm N may seem awfully low of a concentration, but that's still many times what the plants would see in nature. Since going to that regimen three years ago, my plants are growing and blooming better than ever.

The primary issue with feeding fairly strong fertilizers is the nitrogen application. (It's like eating a lot of sugar - you have lots of energy, but it does little for you nutritionally.) Providing lots of nitrogen will give very fast growth, but can actually stifle-, or even stop, blooming. Large-scale operations need mature plants to maximize their income, and want a high turnover rate, so they feed heavily to get fast growth, then typically stop altogether for a while to let the plants "come down off of that high" and bloom. They also often have to routinely use fungicides, as their plants are simply more susceptible to pathogens.

As far as foliar feeding is concerned, I'm certain is varies plant-to-plant, but you'll find that nitrates and ammonium compounds are poorly absorbed through the leaves, but well-absorbed through the roots. Urea, on the other hand, is poorly absorbed by the roots, and better absorbed through the leaves, which is why the so-called "Green Up" fertilizers intended for foliar application are typically urea-based.

[weederwoman]

Thank you very much Ray. That's exactly the type of info I had hoped to get.

[NYCorchidman]

It's not just paphs, but all orchids need quite low concentration of fertilizer because the way their roots are designed to function.

I think you are talking about Hillsview Gardens??
I think I read an article about them and they foliar feed their plants. Apparently it works.
but I doubt about the concentration being too high for the roots because when you mist the leaves, there will be run off and this will go into the pot and the roots.

Now, some plants respond better to fertilizing than others, and I find orchids do not necessarily respond better due to stronger fertilizing regimen.
I think it's a combination of the entire growing environment plus fertilization, so it's kind of hard or impossible to achieve that level for someone like me who grows plants in the apartment.
Remember fertilizing is just one variable of the whole picture.
Many people have this wrong idea of more fertilizer (or certain type or brand) will give them better plants, but it simply isn't true.

With that said, I can say I do a good job growing and flowering orchids. I had gone very lazy with fertilizing using probably once a year, then I also went fertilizing frenzy going everyweek.
Well, I honestly could not tell any difference.

I now fertilize more like twice per month schedule.

[weederwoman]

NYC
You are right to remind me that environment (and probably genetics) play such a huge role in vigorous plants. I suppose the reason we have to add chemicals at all is that we can't give them a perfect environment. Fertilizer is the easiest thing for us to adjust, so it is the easiest thing to turn to in our quest for success. I wonder if anyone has purposely done a controlled experiment with fertilizing vs not fertilizing for a year?
I wonder why foliar feeding has not been tried more by hobby growers who often mist their orchids with plain water. Bad experiences?

[Ray]

Foliar feeding is less effective than root feeding, and as NYC mentioned, liquids coalesce and drip down to the medium anyway. Another potential negative is mineral buildup on the leaves, which can be damaging, and just plain looks bad.

No fertilizer will "cause" anything. Improper use might, though.

Orchids are very slow growers in the plant world, so their nutritional needs are far lower than other plants. Add to that the fact that most nutrient elements can be translocated from old- to newly growing tissue (Ca and B cannot, but are often in the water supply anyway), and it is no wonder that no effect is seen in a year.

Then there's the question about what the change actually is. The effect of a minor change in anything will be very difficult to observe, except over a very long time span.

Moving away from overfeeding still takes time to show results. In my own case, I am at the end of my third year since making the change, and I'm just now seeing the results pretty consistently.