How to kick phal into root growth mode?

[NYCorchidman]

Yep, as long as it is very warm and bright, most phals will continue to grow.

[ridethespiral]

I didn't see anything about seaweed/kelp extract on the Canadian Tire website.. Then again I don't think their site is so modern heh. I'm guessing they carry a lot of stuff that isn't on their site. I'll see if I can pop in today to see what they have.

As for fertilizer, I have some Miracle Gro 20-20-20.. I think it's all purpose, but I'm pretty sure most of the nitrogen is coming from urea and ammoniacal nitrogen. Is Schultz any better in this regard? I've been thinking of just getting the dry fertilizers used for planted tanks because I can mix up to custom ratios with the calculators online. The nitrogen used for fish tanks is nitrates which is readily available for orchid use correct?

The micro ferts (CSM+B) contains:

Guaranteed Analysis:

Total magnesium - water soluble chelated magnesium 1.5%
Copper - chelated 0.1%
Iron - chelated 7.0%
Manganese - chelated 2.0%
Molybdenum 0.06%
Zinc - chelated 0.40%
Boron 0.04%
EDTA - minimum content 55%

The NPK consists of:

◦Potassium Nitrate (KNO3)
◦Mono Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4)
◦Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4)


Sounds like this would be a good way to go since it's very cheap to get these dry ferts.

I may just let these orchids bloom and see what happens. It would kind of be a shame to cut off the spikes and have to wait again.

[silken]

Originally Posted by ridethespiral

I didn't see anything about seaweed/kelp extract on the Canadian Tire website.. Then again I don't think their site is so modern heh. I'm guessing they carry a lot of stuff that isn't on their site. I'll see if I can pop in today to see what they have.

As for fertilizer, I have some Miracle Gro 20-20-20.. I think it's all purpose, but I'm pretty sure most of the nitrogen is coming from urea and ammoniacal nitrogen. Is Schultz any better in this regard? I've been thinking of just getting the dry fertilizers used for planted tanks because I can mix up to custom ratios with the calculators online. The nitrogen used for fish tanks is nitrates which is readily available for orchid use correct?

The micro ferts (CSM+B) contains:

Guaranteed Analysis:

Total magnesium - water soluble chelated magnesium 1.5%
Copper - chelated 0.1%
Iron - chelated 7.0%
Manganese - chelated 2.0%
Molybdenum 0.06%
Zinc - chelated 0.40%
Boron 0.04%
EDTA - minimum content 55%

The NPK consists of:

◦Potassium Nitrate (KNO3)
◦Mono Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4)
◦Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4)


Sounds like this would be a good way to go since it's very cheap to get these dry ferts.

I may just let these orchids bloom and see what happens. It would kind of be a shame to cut off the spikes and have to wait again.

I've never seen seaweed at our Canadian Tire. I'll have to look again. I think Schultz uses urea as well. I have heard some of the Plant Prod products don't. That's the nice thing about MSU and it is nice that you can get the different formulas for either tap and well water or for R/O and rain water since they are quite different formulas and are suited to the somewhat large difference between these types of water. But lots of people just use a balanced fertilizer and do fine.

If you can't find seaweed at Can Tire, the one hydroponics place I was at in Edmonton last was All Season's Garden Centre. They had several types to choose from. The other was a place ran by a fellow from Thailand I think and it was good too. Don't remember the name tho. A little goes a long way and the instructions say to only use it for a while and then stop for a while, so it isn't really expensive to use.

[ridethespiral]

edit: oops thought I was replying to a newer post haha.

Originally Posted by Joyorchid

One other suggestion is to place the phals on a seedling mat. The bottom heat can encourage root growth.

That would block out a lot of light going into the fishtank though

I think eventually I'm just going to get a desktop lamp with an LED light so I could do that, but for now they'll have to do without. I could try put them over the opening at the back of the tank for now, which would probably stabilize temperatures and humidity a little bit


I appreciate your help everyone.

[Edward Brookes]

go for the seaweed, it can really do wonders for root growth

[naoki]

Originally Posted by Bill U.

Something that is good for helping to induce roots as was suggested to you is watering with a kelp/seaweed extract solution. These solutions have some of the minerals and hormones that help induce growth in your plant- roots and general health. The thing to be careful of with Superthrive or any other growth-hormone solution is that when used too often, it can cause mutations in your flower spikes and flowers themselves due to a very confusing level of growth hormone (to the plant) during a time when it's primary "thought" is spiking, not rooting.

Good point, I agree with potential problems with too much hormones (same things for human). A minor terminology problem here is that overdosing of hormones does not cause "mutation", which implies changes in genetic material. It is unlikely that hormones causes changes in DNA. Overdosing can cause developmental abnormality. Unlike mutation, the problem will disappear, once you stop overdosing.

Auxin (the "rooting" hormone) is involved in many other physiological processes of plants. It is extremely important in the shoot (in addition to root), too. Indeed, auxin is mostly produced in the shoot apical meristem (growing region), and transported to roots. For example, the tip of the flower shoot is making this hormone, and it diffuses into the lower part of the shoot. The concentration gradient of this hormone determines how cells differentiate, and orientation of leaves, flowers etc. are determined by this gradient. So if you mess up the concentration gradient by applying lots of KLN or other hormones, the plant cells develop into something abnormal.

[Jayfar]

What fertiizer is this and what are the NPK proportions? For one thing that 7% Iron sounds like a fatal dose for plant life generally. I think the chelated Iron should be about .1% (one tenth of a percent) at most.

Originally Posted by ridethespiral

The micro ferts (CSM+B) contains:

Guaranteed Analysis:

Total magnesium - water soluble chelated magnesium 1.5%
Copper - chelated 0.1%
Iron - chelated 7.0%
Manganese - chelated 2.0%
Molybdenum 0.06%
Zinc - chelated 0.40%
Boron 0.04%
EDTA - minimum content 55%

The NPK consists of:

◦Potassium Nitrate (KNO3)
◦Mono Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4)
◦Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4)


Sounds like this would be a good way to go since it's very cheap to get these dry ferts.

I may just let these orchids bloom and see what happens. It would kind of be a shame to cut off the spikes and have to wait again.

[ridethespiral]

Thanks for that excellent description Naoki. I had a general idea of what happened with too much hormones, but now I know exactly!

The NPK is separate from the micros. I was just curious if doing it that way is feasible. The insanely high amount of iron is probably due to how fast it breaks down in an aquarium setting.

I would have to blend up a custom ratio using:

◦Potassium Nitrate (KNO3)
◦Mono Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4)
◦Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4)

It would be a bit of math and research to figure out.. I know it's do-able but I'm sure it would be a lot easier to get something premixed. There was a link posted earlier for the MSU orchid fertilizer and they ship within Canada for $14. Might bite the bullet on payday.

There's a hydroponics store by my work that I called and they carry General Hydroponics BioWeed. $18.99 for 1L which isn't so bad I suppose. Anyone have experience with this stuff?