A Variation on K-Lite

[Ray]

I've used K-Lite fertilizer exclusively on my plants for about 12 years. I was recently in a discussion with the fertilizer pro's that suggested that paphs and phrags might do better with a bit more ammonium-based nitrogen.

5% of the nitrogen in K-Lite is ammonium, the balance nitrate. The factory blended a batch for me that's 15% nitrate, and I am experimenting with it.

If anyone else would like to play along, I do have it available.

[Waterdog111]

Id like to give it a try but will it do well with other orchids too?

[Ray]

I don't see why it shouldn't.

[Waterdog111]

Ray, how will I order some?

[Ray]

Go to my website (see my sig)

[Kosmo83]

From my perspektiv, it should be good for Cattleyas too,
because Ammonium brings the water/substrate more to the sour side and the best PH is arround 6.5 ?!

Nitrate allone raises the PH, so from this Aspekt, it is a good choice.

I also noticed that seedlings grow better with ammonium in the fertilizer.

That's why I created my Fertilizer myself, with K-Lite Idea in mind, but not so extreme.

It works fine, but I haven't a longtime-experiance now

11,94 N - 3,72 P - 5,0 K - 4 Mg - 4 Ca - 4,3 S + TE
Arround 40% of the nitrogen is ammonium.

The PH of my RO water with this mix is arround 6,5 to 6,8 , 0,4g/l and a EC arround 400 us/cm

So, If I would live in the US, I would give the new K-Lite formulation a try

[thefish1337]

The other interesting thing about this is that nitrates are/were considered "best absorbed" by academic research. This is really just a remnant of the overly reductive way plants have been studied in labs that is often times completely divorced from how plants live naturally.

Beyond the biophysics of different types of nitrogen like pH, nitrate has to be reduced in order for it to be metabolized by a plant. Based on that alone Nitrate requires more energy to metabolize compared to ammonium and amino acid N. Since high nitrate formulas need more energy to reduce them via nitrate reductase you are highly likely to experience poor plant performance if you aren't making sure your plant is getting the top end of light exposure.

The location of nitrate assimilation can have significant implications for the plant energy budget. For example, if light is saturating, leaf nitrate assimilation will obviously have a lower energy cost than that in the root, because the reducing equivalents and ATP for nitrate assimilation are obtained without any decrease in the rate of CO2 fixation. If light is limiting, leaf nitrate assimilation and carbon dioxide fixation will directly compete for ATP and reductants generated by photosynthetic electron transport (Canvin and Atkins, 1974), leading to a decrease in CO2 fixation. However, this is still energetically more efficient than synthesizing sucrose, transporting it to the roots, and subsequently respiring it in order to generate ATP and NAD(P)H to drive the assimilation of nitrate.

Metabolic and Signaling Aspects Underpinning the Regulation of Plant Carbon Nitrogen Interactions

Excessive nitrates are also implicated in increased susceptibility to disease but that's a whole other conversation... Either way I'm happy with this new formula and will be buying it once my regular klite runs out.