Gastrochilus japonicus (Project 12 - Spring 2011)

[Call_Me_Bob]

looks good!

[Paul Mc]

WOW! Stunning flowers!

[Amanda L]

YAY!!! I love looking at everyone's blooms. Mine are SLOWLY opening up. They are torturing me!! I figure another week and I will have fully open flowers. This waiting is killing me!!!

[Paul Mc]

So what kind of water is everyone using? Tap or distilled? What about fertilizer and fertilizing schedules?

[Zoi2]

tcrane congrats on the blooms, they're beautiful!
Joann

[Zoi2]

I use rain water. I've been spraying the mount pretty much evey day with water and fertilizing with MSU once or twice a week.
Joann

[Jennyfleur]

I've been using distilled which is all I have available at the moment (no clean rain water at the moment - the warm weather and drought has left my water butt in a not nice state!)

Since I've been using distilled, I've been adding fert every other watering and flushing with clean in between.

[RosieC]

I use tap water on mine. We have quite good water although it IS hard water. Doesn't seem to have objected to the water.

[lund0682]

I'm using distilled water too (like Jennyfleur), but I'm fertilizing every time at about 1/4 strength. I've wondered if maybe the distilled water might be a bad idea - like maybe some fundamental ingredient is missing from the distilled water, but the plant seems happy (now that I seem to have found the optimum place for it in my apartment).

[RosieC]

If you use distilled water then you need a fertiliser formulated for distilled/RO/rain water.

There are a couple of issues, one is that some things are missing. The other is that without the disolved solids the PH can be drastically changed by the fertiliser as the dissolved solids would usually 'buffer' that effect. Fertiliser designed for purer water should help with both those issues.