Nutrients Availability in Nature

[kcpi3141]

Hi everyone, I just have a question that has been on my mind for a while and hope that someone may have an answer to it:

All over the net, I keep reading guides on fertilizing orchids that always say something along the lines of "these plants get their nutrients from monkey poop and rotting crap" in the wild. While common sense tells me that that is true (as rainwater has very little dissolved salts), has anyone actually sampled and analyzed the water that flows down from trees that eventually make its way to the orchid's roots? Or from rocks for that matter, for lithophytes?

I am asking because due to limited time and energy, we tend to bomb our orchids with fertilizer once a week or every two weeks to get good growth, yet nature is still able to compete with us---sometimes even outdo us---with the purported bird feces. Factoring in the frequency of watering in nature, which could be more or less than our methods, who actually fertilizes more on average?

Additionally, just how readily available and common are these sources of nutrients? I mean just imagine monkeys coordinating who will poop on which orchid: "Bro c'mon, I told you 5 times since breakfast that it's your turn on that catasetum today. Now please excuse me, this cattleya here needs some attention."

If anyone knows any research done on this subject, please let me know! I had fun typing this haha.

Best,
Kev