phal root system

[catweazle1962]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I have to say that I find the instructions a bit strange, not just because of the dosage, but also the frequency. Many fertilizer packages give high dosages, but with relatively infrequent feeding (once a month usually). You can do it that way, but the general feeling among orchid people is to give low amounts, more frequently.

I'm very surprised that you were advised to use 30-10-10, and also for the chc. Not the best for Phals, it holds too much moisture for too long. Good it hot dry climates maybe, but certainly not in northern Europe.
I did go back through your previous threads and Philip (King of orchid growing) and RosieC did suggest 20-20-20? It's more economical to have to buy only one type of fertilizer (and most plants grow and bloom perfectly well with it), and the bloom vs grow ratio ferts seem to be more of a way to kae you buy more, rather than a true way of increasing blooming.

thankyou for your advice we live in the uk south east area , which medium would best best for these plants i would like to know a product name then i know i am buying the correct one ,i had a look where i bought the other food and saw this 20 10 20 ratio but it still says Grow More 20-10-20 Urea Free 1.25lb size, For Paphiopedilums, Phalaenopsis, and manys more, year round use. 1 teaspoon to I gallon of water,

http://orchidaccessories.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=35&products_id=210

thankyou

[RosieC]

I use that 20-10-20 Urea free one. It's the same brand as the one you use and could still have instructions for a bit high dosage, a lot of them seem to unfortunately. As Camille said it used to be advised to use that sort of concentration monthly, now advise is to go weaker weekly... this brand seems to have mixed up the two methods.

I previously suggested 20-20-20 because a good balanced fertiliser is considered best for orchids, although at the time I last bought some the 20-10-20 was the closest I could find to balanced, and that has been pretty good when used at Ray's recommended ratio.

The branded medium bag in your pictures is probably not the best. Unfortunately that brand has a nice picture of a Phal, on what is actually more of a terestrial orchid mix. Some of the 'big brands' actually do very badly at selling the right things for orchids, which is where I find an orchid specialist to be best.

I actually buy medium from the site that you got the fertiliser from. He is very helpful about what you need to buy if you can get him on the phone, although it's difficult to catch him in. He's an orchid expert and is at many orchid shows and involved with organising various shows.

I can't tell you the brand of medium to buy because most branded ones just aren't the best. I buy medium and fine bark from Orchid Accesories and find it works well. Personally I don't get on with CHC, I tried it for a while on advise of others but for me it just breaks down too quickly.

[RosieC]

The fertiliser you have should be fine, but at a different concentration. I wouldn't waste it if I were you.

To use Ray's calculator enter the N number from your fertiliser. This is the 30 from your 30-10-10 fertiliser, leave the second ppm N figure as it is. Then the average number of times you water, then how often you flush the pot (as I described above).

Click calculate and just below the button you will see the recommended mixing (although note this uses American Gallons which are different to ours and the result needs to be converted.

So let's assume 30N, 4 times a month with one flush a month. You get 0.44 teaspoons per American Gallon. Which is about 1/2 teaspoon per UK Gallon.

[RosieC]

By the way the CHC you have looks good. Many people like to use it, and now you have it I probably would (in fact I used some when potting only the other day mixed in with bark as well). However just be prepared to check it and if necessary repot again next year.

[catweazle1962]

hi thankyou for your advice i am woundering how much food to put into a litre i had a look at Orchid Accesories again and saw the medium bark but not the fine bark ,with the food that i have are you talking about just the grow more orchid food or the green jungle as well , what sort of size pot do you think this should be potted into as it does seem to be leaning thanks

[RosieC]

I don't know the green jungle, it looks like a fertiliser so I wouldn't use both at the same time. Is there an N-P-K number on the green jungle?

Hopefully I've got the calculation right, but I work out that 1/2teaspoon per UK Gallon is equivalent to about 1/2 teaspoon per 5 liters, so 1/10 teaspoon per liter.

I always mix up bigger quantities if I can't get a small enough spoon, I bought some measuring spoons from my supermarket and they have a 1/4 teaspoon measure which I use. For your 30-10-10 fertiliser that would be 1/4 teaspoon per 2.5 liters. It can sometimes be a bit tricky to find the mixing container and measuring spoon that match, don't worry if it's not exact but that should be roughly what you are aiming for.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Don't forget that an imperial gallon (4.5L) is different from a US gallon (3.8L)! But even that into account, you're right, it's way too much fertilizer!

Actually, the ratio of a teaspoon per gallon holds, as an imperial teaspoon is bigger, too.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Ray

Actually, the ratio of a teaspoon per gallon holds, as an imperial teaspoon is bigger, too.

That's news to me... How complicated, everyone should just switch to the metric system, it makes life so much easier for everyone!

[RosieC]

Really!... I've been converting mixing rates from your mixing calculator based on it being US gallon and needing to convert to UK gallons and thinking teaspoons were 5ml the world over.

Hmm, I'll have to re-think that. OK well my calculations are a little off then. However looking at the figures I calculated above it still comes out as as roughly the same as 1/4 teaspoon for between 2 and 2.5 litres for the 30-10-10 fertiliser. Hope I've got that right!

[Ray]

1 Imperial teaspoon = 5.9194 ml
1 US teaspoon = 4.9289 ml

1 Imperial gallon = 4.546 L
1 US gallon = 3.785 L

5.9194/4.9289 = 1.201
4.546/3.785 = 1.201