How long before KLN leaves an orchids system?

[magicatt]

I have been using KLN these past few months and to my extreme joy I have been given enormous root systems (for me anyway) and vigorous growth.

Now my phallies usually bloom in February or so, so I need to know when to stop the KLN so that I don't get deformed blooms? I would just die if I got deformed blooms...

Also, my fertilizer (urea free) has 30 for the nitrogen. Should I stop using that as well? What about "bloom booster" formulas? Do they really work? Should I just cut out all fertilizer?

My orchids bloomed for me before without any fertilizer at all so this year should be spectacular. Advice?

[WhiteRabbit]

How much fertilizer do yo use per gallon?

I don't know about the KLN ...

[naoki]

Stephanie, are you using lots of KLN? I use only 1-2 drops per gallon for almost every watering, and I haven't had any problems with flowering etc. I'm starting to use another plant hormone now (KelpMax which I got from Ray). Are you using crazy amount of KLN? Auxin can influence quite a few aspects of plant physiology, so it could cause a problem. But at a lower dosage, I've heard that most people don't have problems.

[magicatt]

I'm using a quarter tsp kln per gallon of water and a half tsp of 30-15-15 fertilizer.

I use the kln per instructions (not a drop more) usually less. I'm thinking I should stop now and also the fertilizer since it is heavy on the nitrogen.

I've gotten great growth and plenty of roots this way but I don't want deformed flowers or worse yet, no flowers because of the fert.

I also dropped my lights down by two hours to simulate the outdoors.

Any suggestions? Anything new I could be doing? (I will be ordering Kelpmax from ray once my KLN is gone.)

[DelawareJim]

Stephanie;

No need to stop using the K-L-N. I've been using it for years at the recommended rate with no ill effects. For ferts, some people switch to a bloom booster fertilizer to help with flowering. I never have, but I do stop fertilizing by October. Lastly, you do not need to reduce the lighting period. As most orchids come from the tropics, day length is constant at 12 hours or pretty close to it, so you should be good with 12 on and 12 off year round.

Cheers.
Jim

[magicatt]

Thanks Jim! That helps a lot! Guess I'll put my lights back up two hours and enjoy my KLN! I'll stop the fert though because I think it stimulates leaves more than blooms. And this year I want blooms!

[DelawareJim]

Yes, high N stimulates growth. Here's a basic primer on ferts 101:
Fertilizer Basics : Gardener's Supply

Cheers.
Jim

[magicatt]

Thanks for the link! I'm thinking I will give a bloom booster a try and see what happens. You never know I might just get lucky.

[magicatt]

Oh yeah, one more thing, do powdered fertilizers ever go stale, you know, become ineffective?

[DelawareJim]

No, but if you let them get really old they will melt together into a lump that is a mess to work with.

Cheers.
Jim