Jacks Classic Fertilizer
 

I just picked up a bottle of Jack's Classic Liquid Orchid food and was wondering if anyone has used this. On the website I saw several other products to use in conjunction with this bottle and wondered how necessary they are. The bottle itself has a 7-5-6 NPK value. Any input would be great.

Thanks
Pete

Try it out, see if it works.

If it's urea free, go for it.

Never used this one. I don't generally bother with other products or with bloom boosters.

7-5-6 is fairly balanaced but fairly week. Orchids need weak fertiliser but it tends to be more expensive to buy weak stuff as you will use it up more quickly. I like to buy strong then dilute it more.

Using Ray's calculator (you can find that here) and assuming watering weakly with a flush once every 4 weeks it suggests you would need to use that at 1.9 teaspoons per gallen or 2.48 ml per liter. If you water on a different frequency (in general always go by if the plant needs, not a set frequency) or flush a different number of times then have a look at Ray's calculator. Just enter the N number (7 in this case) and the number of times you flush and water and click calculate.

I've been using Jacks Classic and the Bloom Booster for the 2 years I've been growing orchids, with good results. I realized recently (thanks to rays calculator) that the recommended mixing ratio is very weak. I don't have that many orchids (75 or so) so the cost isn't too bad. I prefer the liquid for mixing- just easier.

Jack's Classic and Bloom Booster are good stuff. Lots of macro and micro nutrients. The Classic is best when the plants are growing, the booster is best near blooming time.

I used Jack's Classic for two or three years and always had good results with it. I've used the liquid and the dry. Both seemed to work fine.