Amazing New Fertilizer

[Ray]

First, as a Ga Tech grad, I am honor bound to disregard ANYTHING coming of of U of GA! (Just kidding.)

I am very wary of leaf tissue analyses for nutrient assessment, as the plants assimilate and hold things in proportions that differ from what they may need. Not only that, but the stored nutrients are a reflection of what they have been getting, again, not necessarily what they require.

I also have to question the applicability of work with tomatoes to orchid growing - terrestrial versus epiphyte being only a single differentiating factor.

I suspect that the organic versus inert media thing may be a very big comparison between the cation exchange capacities - soils can have a huge CEC, while inert media like LECA have almost none, by comparison. That is something Rick and I disagree on - I don't feel that any orchid media have a significant CEC. Yes, bark and CHC may have more than LECA, but they're both minuscule due to the large particle sizes and low surface areas, compared to a rich soil.


Ray Barkalow
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[ALToronto]

Imagine if someone tried to come up with perfect nutrition requirements for people by analyzing the macro- and micronutrients stored in their bodies as well as the food waste they produce. Supersize me!

[galgoa]

Is there anybody who still use the mentioned K-lite formula?
May I ask any long-term experience?
Thanks in advance.

[RosieC]

I'm pretty sure Ray still talks about using it in various threads. He's probably the one to ask.

[ALToronto]

I still use it, but not exclusively. I also use Dyna-Gro Grow, Neptune's Harvest and Plant Prod 25-10-10. All of these are low in K, although not as low as K-lite.

I think what's most important is to keep the concentration very low and to feed steadily with every watering. I'm beginning to think that most problems are due to overuse of fertilizers, doesn't matter what kind. As long as N is the highest number, and its concentration is below 20 ppm, use whatever is handy. And a varied diet is not a bad thing.

[Joseia]

Originally Posted by galgoa

Is there anybody who still use the mentioned K-lite formula?
May I ask any long-term experience?
Thanks in advance.

I am glad you brougt up this old thread, because I have also been wondering about K Lite lately. I would also like to hear from anyone who has tried it. My plants seem to be doing fine with the MSU fertilizer, but I am wonderingif the K Lite would work even better.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by The Orchid Boy

I'm not too scientific but the stuff in Ricks article seemed convincing to me, about the tests in nature with N-P-K-Ca-Mg. Until someone can point me to a science article that proves there is more K in nature, I'm going to except this as fact. And as Naomi said, articles in the Orchids magazine are hobbyist essays. And remember scientist and astronomers of old who were thought of as crazy when they said the earth was not the center of the universe. So maybe this K-lite will prove to be crazy, maybe not. I'll take the risk.

Old thread, but this one tempted me…

If you really dug deep and researched how Disas grow, there is evidence that points to the fact that in most of the environments these orchids grow in they are lower in N and higher in K and P.

Guess what…

A lot of our favorite spring-time bulbs are from South Africa, and there are fertilizer formulations for them that have a lower N ratio than K and P.

I know we're talking about a group of "terrestrial" orchids here, (it's complicated, these orchids behave more like lithophytes than a true terrestrial in most cases), there is no scientific article on this, but there definitely are books on the pedology of South Africa as well as books about mineralogy.


It's really difficult to make wide sweeping claims without putting them through rigor. Although, I'm pretty curious as to what has come of K-Lite use on certain orchids.

[billc]

I've been using K-lite since it was first introduced and my plants are just fine. I use it every other watering at 30-50 PPM. One thing I've come to realize is the fertilizer you use is nowhere near as important as the rest of your culture. Air flow, humidity, temps, water and light all have to be in some sort of balance for the plants you are growing to do well.
One real benefit I've seen from using K-lite at somewhat low doses is no more erwina rot on my paphs.

Bill

[Ray]

I have used the K-Lite formula exclusively at every watering (35-50 ppm N) since late November/early December 2011. Starting in April of 2012, I began supplementing with KelpMax at 1:256 once a month.

I have seen absolutely no indication of nutritional deficiencies, and am seeing much better blooming, but I primarily attribute that to my lower dosing of nitrogen. This spring, however, I am noticing a marked increase in the number of new growths emanating from my plants.

My paphs have always been typically one new fan per growth cycle, occasionally two, rarely three. This year, I'm seeing 3,4, and 5. I happend to look into a pot of Encyclia phoenecia (pyriformis) that I put into Orchiata in an air-cone pot about a month ago, and it has 4 new growths from last year's front, and a new growth from a back-bulb.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Ray

I have used the K-Lite formula exclusively at every watering (35-50 ppm N) since late November/early December 2011. Starting in April of 2012, I began supplementing with KelpMax at 1:256 once a month.

I have seen absolutely no indication of nutritional deficiencies, and am seeing much better blooming, but I primarily attribute that to my lower dosing of nitrogen. This spring, however, I am noticing a marked increase in the number of new growths emanating from my plants.

My paphs have always been typically one new fan per growth cycle, occasionally two, rarely three. This year, I'm seeing 3,4, and 5. I happend to look into a pot of Encyclia phoenecia (pyriformis) that I put into Orchiata in an air-cone pot about a month ago, and it has 4 new growths from last year's front, and a new growth from a back-bulb.

A lower N than K and P is what I notice in nature with Disas, and it may be true for certain orchids as well. It sounds consistent with what I understand to be true in certain environments.

If growing lush and healthy orchids is the goal, maybe there should really be a true experiment done with this.

That's what I've always thrown out from the beginning of the mention of K-Lite on the OB.

It's not that I'm against K-Lite, but I want to separate the hype from the truth. And from the info I've been looking at, (which are anything but directly orchid related), the origins of certain orchids may just be a low N and slightly higher K and P environment, (this info is coming from pedology books and mineralogy books). But I think that even the K and P might be slightly less than what a lot of fertilizer formulations have made available. My reasoning is, I believe that epiphytic orchids share some common ancestors to a lot of the terrestrial orchids, and that is probably the best place to start understanding orchid nutrition to some degree. At least with Disas, I see the lower N and the slightly higher K and P, but all three nutrients are generally not that highly available, (compared to areas with high organic matter in the soil, of course).

With certain Paphs, (particularly those that are lithophytic), the same may be true. Those environments may be lower in N, (because of the limited organic debris that gets caught between the rock crevices), and slightly higher in K and P, which would probably be able to balance out how certain Paphs can grow in areas that are high in CaCO3, with Mg being the other balancing factor.