Soaking Cork-Mounted Orchid with Dilute K-Lite

[Ray]

Soak until the velamen is all saturated - probably 15 minutes, max.

I have often wondered just how fast nutrient ions are absorbed and moved into the plant, and whether a long soak is appreciably better. I recently read a study that showed that, after a single paint brush application to roots, the tagged nitrogen isotope showed the most “penetration” into the other parts of the plant between 4 and 8 weeks after the application.

That suggests that saturating the velamen is the important step, as that provides the “charge” that begins moving into the plant, but that, once it enters the vasculum, it takes a long time to get distributed.