Has anyone ever used Rose food on orchids

[Dollythehun]

Happy dance! I remembered my other question!

I found a bottle of granulated Bayer 3 in 1 Rose Food in the garage. I used to use it on my roses. Now, I can't use it because it's toxic to pollinators. But, I also have very pitiful roses because I can't use the Bayer.

Is there a reason I couldn't use it on the orchids? No pollinators in my sunroom. Has anyone tried it? It has a fungicide built in.

[Leafmite]

I would be interested to see if it works well for orchids. Years ago, I used the six-week formula for most of my houseplants every autumn before bringing them inside. Now I am contemplating it again...tired of battling Mealies every winter.

Growing roses without systemic is really challenging. What you might consider doing is using the systemic but cutting the roses when they are in bud and bringing them inside to enjoy.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Can you post a pic of the break down (if it is on the bottle) ?

I would only be concerned that a terrestrial and an epiphyte would have different uptake needs and conditions.

[Dollythehun]

Good idea, leafmite. My roses are skeletonized otherwise. Interestingly, I read an article on flower thrips lately that said not enough systemic reached the flowers to kill thips. Which seemingly contradicts other articles about harm to pollinators.

DC, I'll photography it when it gets light.

[Roberta]

The "fertilizer' part makes it a no-no for orchids. Too strong, I'm sure.

[Dollythehun]

Hmm. I recently switched to time release. I'll have to look at that formula.

[Roberta]

The rose fertilizer, even if it has some "time release" capability, isn't designed to feed over the time of productes like Osmocote or Nutricote - which release the fertilizer over a period of months (likely faster than rated if it is hot, but then the plants are growing faster too). But roses are much heavier feeders than orchids. (They grow a lot faster) So while the systemic pesticide part may "translate" I'd be really, really cautious on the fertilizer part.. what feeds a terrestrial rose bush what it needs will likely burn an epiphytic orchid.

[rbarata]

Also, some pests get immunity after a certain number (usually 2 or 3) of pesticide. That's why it is recomended to switch pesticides. If it's a slow release, I think it will make things worse over time.