Very low PK fertilizers. (K-lite)

[tucker85]

Originally Posted by keithrs

I'm really debating about going with a guano tea program full time.... You can make a "K-Lite" program that I think will work well. The problem would be with people that have large collections.... You would need large amounts of tea.

I used Merrill's Compost Tea a couple of years ago and my orchids did not perform well. I think a lot of the nitrogen in compost comes from urea and ammonia and orchids can't readily utilize it. For the past year I've been using fertilizers that get nitrogen from nitrate only and I've seen a big difference in growth rates. A study done by a university in Texas (it might have been Texas A&M) showed that orchids utilize nitrogen derived from nitrate much better than nitrogen derived from urea or ammonia. That study is sited in the 4 part series called 'Growing the Best Phalaenopsis'. You can find it online. In any case I don't feel that compost teas are effective when used alone. Maybe they could be alternated with a chemical fertilizer.