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- - B. cordata... Why is the baby leaf which it has black on it. (http://www.orchidboard.com/community/pests-and-diseases/81899-cordata-baby-leaf-black.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by wintergirl (Post 722083)

It's a good idea to dry the egg shells first, then boil them. Then let them dry again and crush/grind up. Chicken/eggs have many diseases, I boil the shells.

Thank you sooo much! I will do that... Happy happy... Love learning new...:)

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Quote:

Originally Posted by DeafOrchidLover (Post 722084)

How do you do with dried milk? I'd be glad to. Sprinkle?? Flush it through? (With dried milk or what? Because i did some researching. It says it can flush through with raw water along with calcium... Hmmm I don't know. I'm cattleya newbie and rookie.) do have some egg shells that I just opened today and cooked some scrambled eggs, ha ha! Ofc with hardwood smoke thick bacon and toast. I better stop or someone is gonna get hungry after reading this. Just joking... I do have a new cattleya as early Christmas gift. I did repot it recently. I will post a pic of new cattleya tomorrow, need to take a pic.

Yes the roots do look well but I noticed roots are dried, hard, and flat. I've also felt good alive roots, so I believe that's good news. I hope so.
Thank you very much! :)

Again, I have a question. What is raw water? Is it from tap water or what? I'm not using my water, it's well-spring water, I do drink it. I do have rainwater that I saved for winter.

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I'd say the roots look good. Pot it up in large grade bark and it should be ready to go!

As for the calcium supplements, I use a liquid calcium-magnesium supplement that I purchased at my local hydroponics store. If you don't have this type of store nearby, you can just order it online. I use it every time I water. Don't forget that magnesium is just as important as calcium and helps facilitate the absorption of the calcium. To me, getting eggs, drying them, cooking them and sterilizing them is a lot of work! And since I use large grade bark on my Catts, I'm afraid the egg shells would just wash to the bottom of the pot, so the liquid supplement works well for me and is pretty inexpensive. That's just my personal preference though!

I have no idea what raw water is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by isurus79 (Post 722086)

As for the calcium supplements, I use a liquid calcium-magnesium supplement that I purchased at my local hydroponics store. If you don't have this type of store nearby, you can just order it online. I use it every time I water. Don't forget that magnesium is just as important as calcium and helps facilitate the absorption of the calcium. To me, getting eggs, drying them, cooking them and sterilizing them is a lot of work! And since I use large grade bark on my Catts, I'm afraid the egg shells would just wash to the bottom of the pot, so the liquid supplement works well for me and is pretty inexpensive. That's just my personal preference though!

I agree w/Steve. Plus, w/the Ca/Mg supp added to water you know exactly what you're getting at each dosing and it's easier to gauge the effect...as well as increase or decrease to get the desired results.

It wasn't a lot of work to do the egg shells. They were free and I had them at home. For me it would have been more work to drive to the store and buy the supplement as I live out in the country. It's good to know other alternatives to use and I may try the supplement in the future.

I dry the eggshells but don't boil them. I leave them in larger pieces so that they don't fall through the lava rock, too. :)
Egg shell takes time to decompose enough to begin releasing calcium so it is not an immediate solution. I use it to ensure that there will always be a source of calcium, adding new eggshell periodically to the mix. With new plants, I typically use a bit of some very old pond tablets that are a combination of Calcium and potassium.
In the summer, when the plants are outside, I actually add about a teaspoon of powdered milk to my water. It does the trick, too.
Milk and eggshell are old tricks used in gardening. When I had the problems with my orchids, I realized that it looked just like Calcium deficiency and fell back on these sources of calcium that I used for my herbs and tomatoes. I have not had problems since.

I boiled the egg shells because I used to raise canaries and you have to boil the shells before giving them to the birds. It may not be necessary for plants, but being a nurse I took the extra precaution for the orchids too.

Plants don't really mind unboiled eggs, not like the birdies. Do you still have canaries? We have two parakeets and a very old zebra finch. :)

Here is the picture. Attachment 106791

I did repot new cattleya yesterday and it is looking perky and lit bit more upright which is good news.. Ya ya!

Now, I'm lit concerned about the light needs. I have mostly phals , one paph maudauie. I will be researching about that... I know it requires west light which light comes up. I do have window in kitchen , small kitchen which it has quite bit of electronics. I know it would hurt orchid. I've though of using cfl light bulbs. Thank you and here is the pic.

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Aww someone is talking about pet birds... I'm also bird watcher. Lots of hawk and eagles around , plus all kinds of birds. Plus Monarch butterflies, I've not seen them since I was little living in Newburgh, Maine. It's so good seeing them again. Living in country is so peaceful, almost a year this jan 20 th. :)

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No canaries anymore. No birds in the house, but I feed Humming birds every year. I set up 13 feeders and go through a gallon a day during peak season.