Noot Fertilizer

[Ray]

MT-Phal emailed me the analysis, and from what I can tell, NOOT is a VERY weak fertilizer with a standard N-P-K of 0.244-0-0.046. It also has 0.0035% Ca, 0.008% Mg, 0.007% Na, and 0.00002% B.

The MSU RO fertilizer, by comparison, is 13-3-15, with 8% Ca, 2% Mg and 100X the boron content.

It’s hard to make an “apples to apples” comparison about the biological content, but NOOT has about ¼ that of Quantum Total, if I assume a bacterial mass of 1 x 10-12 g. They also don't say what the species are.

Quantum-Total's data sheet lists the following "guaranteed analysis" (I took cfu - colony forming unit - to be equivalent of 1 live bacterium):

Rhodopseudomonas palustris 900,000 cfu/mL
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 20,000,000 cfu/mL
Bacillus subtilis 10,000,000 cfu/mL
Bacillus licheniformis 10,000,000 cfu/mL
Bacillus megaterium 5,000,000 cfu/mL
Bacillus polymyxa 5,000,000 cfu/mL

If there is someone who has more of a microbiology background that cares to take a stab at it, here's the PDF.

[estación seca]

Face it, fertilizer is the least important factor in growing orchids, even less important than the skill of the grower. Plenty of people manage to keep them alive with no fertilizer. Improving the light, humidity, air flow and temperatures in the growing area is 1,000 times more important than fertilizing. With poor growing conditions fertilizer will not help.

Use whatever fertilizer is cheapest per unit of nitrogen, and has nutrient proportions you like. Use a fertilizer calculator to decide how to mix it.

Spend money on improving the growing area's light, humidity and air movement, and water purity. Spend time looking at plants, and reading about the climate and growing environment of orchids in habitat. Travel to see plants in habitat. Once there, pay attention to the ambient air, light and temperatures, and ask locals what the weather is like through the year. A trip to wild areas in Florida will teach more about growing orchids than any book, if you pay attention to the environmental conditions around you. If you can afford to travel outside the US, even better.

[Ray]

I don't disagree with any of that, but I am quite certain I have seen improvement since adding biological probiotics and KelpMax to my regimen, both of which apparently add/supplement something the plants aren't getting from their fertilizer.

[thefish1337]

Originally Posted by Ray

I don't disagree with any of that, but I am quite certain I have seen improvement since adding biological probiotics and KelpMax to my regimen, both of which apparently add/supplement something the plants aren't getting from their fertilizer.

I think you can make a pretty strong argument that microbes are an essential component to a healthy, vigorous orchid. I would go so far to say that orchid roots are probably also physiologically adapted to host growth promoting bacteria and fungi and are a requirement for an epiphytic orchid to exploit their ecological niche and survive.

In this study, they took plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) isolated from C. walkeriana roots, which were assessed by HPLC for their indole acetic acid producing ability. The researchers found 23 different strains of PGPR on C. walkeriana roots. When aseptically grown C. walkeriana seedlings are deflasked and reintroduced to the wild they fail to thrive, however, single isolated strains inoculated into these seedlings results in high survival rates and larger plants. Absolutely beautifully done experiment.

Its clear to me why orchids respond so well to kelpmax and microbial inoculants- its because orchids rely on auxin production and enhanced nutrient uptake which are provided by microbes living in the roots/root zone.