Worries for a bacterial infection on 3 orchids

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

No more water and no more fertilizer for the Bifrenaria.

Not even misting.

Keep it dry.

When spring starts in a few weeks, slowly water again. After the third week of spring keep the media moist. It only gets a brief dry out between waterings.

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[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Do you know what the concentration of dissolved minerals are in your tap water?

If you don't, I recommend either testing for it, or using RO/DI, distilled, or rainwater instead.

What kind of nitrogen does the fertilizer use? Urea? Ammonia? Nitrate?

What is the concentration of the fertilizer you're using when you fertilize the plants?

What is the N-P-K?

[Viperalus]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

Do you know what the concentration of dissolved minerals are in your tap water?

If you don't, I recommend either testing for it, or using RO/DI, distilled, or rainwater instead.

What kind of nitrogen does the fertilizer use? Urea? Ammonia? Nitrate?

What is the concentration of the fertilizer you're using when you fertilize the plants?

What is the N-P-K?

Thanks for the replies.
Here it's raining often, I will collect rainwater. Btw, what is "RO/DI"?

The fertilizer is the appropriate for orchids with NPK: 5+6+7.

Here you can see product.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

RO/DI = reverse osmosis/distilled

I guess, the N-P-K can work. I think it's a bit low. But if it works it works.

But that doesn't answer the question about the kind of nitrogen it uses. Does it say in the back of the bottle? The website doesn't say much. It does give the N-P-K, but it doesn't say urea free or not.

There should be a chart with the percentage breakdowns of all the elements it contains.

Here's what it looks like:

Nitrogen: 5%
- urea: ? (this should not be on there)
- ammonia: ?
- nitrate: ?

Phosphorous: 6%
Potassium: 7%

[Viperalus]

Reverse Osmosis? I had all kinds of animals from childhood but never liked fishes that's why I don't have any idea about this one. How one can have this kind of water?
I am thinking... "At the start, I just wanted to have a couple of orchids, now as things are going I will soon gonna study Biology"



You are right about the N-P-K, here is what's written at the back of the bottle:

5.0% total nitrogen (N)
2.0% nitrate nitrogen
1.8% ammoniacal nitrogen
1.2% urea nitrogen

6.0% water-soluble phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5)

7.0% water-soluble potassium oxide (K2O)

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

That small of a percentage of urea seems very negligible to me. So I'm not sure if that is a cause for problems.

Normally, for epiphytes, it's better not to use fertilizers that use urea.

You can get RO/DI by buying a reverse osmosis filtration system for the home. They shouldn't be very expensive.

[Viperalus]

I see. I have heard in a Greek forum where I am member, about the Miller fertilizer.

As for the R/O water I guess it would also be great (purified) as drinking water for me.

Edit: I have found these notes:

Another downside to reverse osmosis as a method of purifying drinking water is the removal of healthy, naturally occurring minerals in water. The membrane of a reverse osmosis system is impermeable to natural trace minerals. These minerals not only provide a good taste to water, but they also serve a vital function in the body’s system. Water, when stripped of these trace minerals, can actually be unhealthy for the body.

Reverse osmosis also wastes a large portion of the water that runs through its system. It generally wastes two to three gallons of water for every gallon of purified water it produces. Reverse osmosis is also an incredibly slow process when compared to other water treatment alternatives.

source

If Natural minerals are filtered-out in this process, which are of benefit for us, I guess then they would also benefit plants.
:-S

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The article isn't entirely wrong.

However, tap water is no good either. There are all sorts of things in there that can cause problems for you and your plants and animals.

You don't have to use a reverse osmosis system.

You don't have to use distilled water.

There is rainwater and there is also the multimedia filtration thing that the article talks about.

I recommend against using tap water. Tap water causes too many problems for a lot of sensitive orchids.

[Viperalus]

I believe the best method for purifying water is through magnetizing it.
link to the article

I was searching about water after seeing documentaries and reading about Dr. Emoto approach. I was searching to use it for me as drinking water, but until I obtain a system like that, rainwater is the best solution.

Hey, thanks for your contribution.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You're welcome.