S/H Watering/Fertilizing

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[marcmaubert]

Originally Posted by Ray

For watering twice a week, I would recommend about 35 ppm N - divide 3 by the %N of your fertilizer to get the amount to use in teaspoons/gallon - and apply it at every watering, flooding the pot each time. If you end up only watering once a week, I would use twice that amount of fertilizer. Measure your TDS after mixing a known amount of fertilizer, that will vary with fertilizer choice.

I would not add any stimulant (kelp, Superthrive, or KLN, and never use them together) to that more than once per month. Once the plant's systems have been excited by the auxins, it undergoes a series of deminishing "waves" of alternating cytokinin and auxin production, and that gets back to a normal level in about three weeks. Over-exciting the plant by too frequent stimulation can lead to deformed flowers and/or stunted growth.

Is 25 ppm of N per week too little? On Sundays I completely flood every orchid, and I wait until Wednesday or Thursday to just refill the reservoir. On Mondays and Fridays, if it's been hot and dry, I spray the top of the media until the top layer of the LECA looks wet. All of this spraying and refilling is done with the same fertilized water I prepared on Sunday. Now I'm not sure if I'm under-watering and under-fertilizing my orchids, but I don't want to waste excessive amounts of water. Do you flood every orchid everyday? what do you do with all of the excess water?

[Zoren]

estacion seca, waiting for your call or reply...Zoren...

[Ray]

Originally Posted by marcmaubert

Is 25 ppm of N per week too little? On Sundays I completely flood every orchid, and I wait until Wednesday or Thursday to just refill the reservoir. On Mondays and Fridays, if it's been hot and dry, I spray the top of the media until the top layer of the LECA looks wet. All of this spraying and refilling is done with the same fertilized water I prepared on Sunday. Now I'm not sure if I'm under-watering and under-fertilizing my orchids, but I don't want to waste excessive amounts of water. Do you flood every orchid everyday? what do you do with all of the excess water?

An orchid in nature gets fed every time it rains, and analyses of that has shown it to be typically under 10-15 ppm (rarely up to 25) Total Dissolved Solids, not just nitrogen. Fresh, flowing (aerating) water is far more important.

For a plant to add about 500 grams of mass - maybe a month for corn, a couple of years for a cattleya, or a lifetime for a little pleurothallis - it must absorb and process about 100 liters of water, but only about 5 grams of fertilizer nutrients.

You should flood the pot (which I define as "fill the rapidly pot to the top, and let it drain") at every watering, and never just "top up" the reservoir. As the LECA dries, the minerals precipitate in the pores, and don't quickly redissolve when rewetted. Repeated soaking/drying cycles concentrates the mineral residues, and if you have only topped-up the reservoir, rather than flushing the medium, it accelerates the process.

I did water some plants daily for six months as an experiment, but usually only get them 2-3 times a week. I just let the water drain.

The name of the technique implies a lot of water; if water usage is a concern that takes a higher priority than the care of your orchids, you might want to consider a different technique.

[Zoren]

Good morning marcmaubert, I've just started S/H growing recently , so I'm experimenting and taking in ALL the advice, good/bad and any criticism so that I can learn more. I will be flooding my plants at every watering to see how effective this type of scheduled watering/feeding works for me, as long as all my plants are healthy I will use the fertilized water that I've mixed on all my plants. I will also try to remember not to add root stimulator only once a month or as needed and not mix the different stimulators in the same mixture. I'm guessing that I would still add fertilizer the the once a month mixtures. If I'm wrong I'm open to other suggestions. Thank you marcmaubert for your comments, we'll talk again

---------- Post added at 09:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 AM ----------

Good morning Ray, sorry I missed your reply on how you water/feed your orchids, I will be trying this way of watering I can see the logic behind this method. I also have to thank you for explaining that I was over stimulating my plants by mixing different root stimulants with my MSU fertilizer at every watering. I should have realized that this mixture wasn't correct and it would cause me problems in the near future of plant growth. Thank you again..Zoren...

[Ray]

Hey! The more we share, the more we ALL learn.

[Zoren]

As usual Ray you are correct...I'll use Tiger Woods answer to almost every thing 'It's a process' (before you ask--No, not a golfer--but I do like Tiger).
I just got in some hydrocorn LECA (well 32 lbs.). I rinsed some and put it into a plastic bucket with 2 gallons of water with as you have suggested 2 teaspoons of Epson Salt--I will let it soak probably till Wendsday morning---and then I will rinse it again and leave in the bucket with water till I'm ready to use it. Should I put any root stimulant in the water with the soaking LECA? Ray, I'd like your opinion about adding Hydrogen Peroxide to the rinsing and soaking process. If you think it is a good idea how much should be added per gallon of water?
The manufacturer has instructions on the bag for cleaning the Hydrocorn . Looking forward to you answers and your opinions...Zoren...

[marcmaubert]

Originally Posted by Ray

An orchid in nature gets fed every time it rains, and analyses of that has shown it to be typically under 10-15 ppm (rarely up to 25) Total Dissolved Solids, not just nitrogen. Fresh, flowing (aerating) water is far more important.

For a plant to add about 500 grams of mass - maybe a month for corn, a couple of years for a cattleya, or a lifetime for a little pleurothallis - it must absorb and process about 100 liters of water, but only about 5 grams of fertilizer nutrients.

You should flood the pot (which I define as "fill the rapidly pot to the top, and let it drain") at every watering, and never just "top up" the reservoir. As the LECA dries, the minerals precipitate in the pores, and don't quickly redissolve when rewetted. Repeated soaking/drying cycles concentrates the mineral residues, and if you have only topped-up the reservoir, rather than flushing the medium, it accelerates the process.

I did water some plants daily for six months as an experiment, but usually only get them 2-3 times a week. I just let the water drain.

The name of the technique implies a lot of water; if water usage is a concern that takes a higher priority than the care of your orchids, you might want to consider a different technique.

Ok, I'll try to flood twice a week during the growing season instead of just once. I'm thinking on reusing all of the excess water on a small container garden I want to start on my roof, so it doesn't all go to waste.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Zoren

As usual Ray you are correct...I'll use Tiger Woods answer to almost every thing 'It's a process' (before you ask--No, not a golfer--but I do like Tiger).
I just got in some hydrocorn LECA (well 32 lbs.). I rinsed some and put it into a plastic bucket with 2 gallons of water with as you have suggested 2 teaspoons of Epson Salt--I will let it soak probably till Wendsday morning---and then I will rinse it again and leave in the bucket with water till I'm ready to use it. Should I put any root stimulant in the water with the soaking LECA? Ray, I'd like your opinion about adding Hydrogen Peroxide to the rinsing and soaking process. If you think it is a good idea how much should be added per gallon of water?
The manufacturer has instructions on the bag for cleaning the Hydrocorn . Looking forward to you answers and your opinions...Zoren...

Again, as been suggested several times already, the "KISS" principle applies here.

LECA is fired at about 2500F or higher, so certainly is sterile. I see no use for hydrogen peroxide. Rinse to remove dust, soak to remove soluble salts use daily in the manufacturing process. Adding Epsom Salts to the soak accelerates that process and leaves nutrients behind.

Adding a root growth stimulant helps get a plant established faster, so I always use it at transplanting.

Originally Posted by marcmaubert

Ok, I'll try to flood twice a week during the growing season instead of just once. I'm thinking on reusing all of the excess water on a small container garden I want to start on my roof, so it doesn't all go to waste.

Good idea! Just don't use it n on their orchids, as that's a great way to share pathogens.