Bloom Booster???

[PaphMadMan]

Another voice for limited fertilizer use. Until you have perfected nearly every other aspect of orchid culture it will not be the thing that limits your success. Assuming your potting media is mostly organic material (bark, moss, coconut husk, etc.) just use any water soluble fertilizer intended for orchids or general potted plants. Make sure it has micro-nutrients, and use it at no more than 1/4 the rate instructed on the package.

Bloom booster is mostly marketing hype. It makes sense in large scale commercial production of greenhouse crops, but isn't broadly effective otherwise. The best timing is not what most people think it is, and the products for non-professional use usually give instructions that mirror the popular misconceptions because that is what people expect and what sells. If you want to use bloom booster the best thing you can do for healthy mature flowering size plants is use it as your primary fertilizer most of the year, with the recommendations in the previous paragraph. Or just follow the instructions on the package and it won't really hurt anything, just won't really he helpful either.

[NeonKraken]

Originally Posted by bil

The best advice I can give is relax. TBH, fertiliser is the least of it. It's a bit like vitamins in humans, Far less of it is needed than you think, and too much does way more damage than too little.
In orchids it seems that the less attention you give them the better.
As advised above, go to First Ray's site. He sells a very good, balanced fertiliser that is very low in potassium and other so called 'boosting' chemicals. His logic, backed up by observation in the wild and many years of use is that they do do better with less fertiliser, because they get so little in the wild.
Anyway, go to his site and read, read, read.

Thanks, everyone. I think I am getting the just of things now. So just water w/ bloom booster until buds form?

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by NeonKraken

Thanks, everyone. I think I am getting the just of things now. So just water w/ bloom booster until buds form?

I think you need to re-read the earlier posts. Bloom booster is mostly hype. While not harmful, or a bad fertilizer, it will not boost blooming.

Any water-soluble fertilizer with the three macronutrients, N, P, and K, should be an adequate orchid fertilizer, assuming your water supply provides some of the elements that are needed in smaller amounts. Plants use mostly N and K, less P (per bil's posts, some folks have different opinions than me regarding K requirements - decide for yourself what works best for you).

Apply low concentrations of fertilizer (weak) frequently (some say weakly/weekly, but my plants seem to prefer fertilizer less often, once every 1 to 2 weeks when actively growing, once a month, or less, when growth is less active, or not at all during dormancy, for those plants that go dormant).

[bil]

Originally Posted by NeonKraken

Thanks, everyone. I think I am getting the just of things now. So just water w/ bloom booster until buds form?

As we say, read Ray's page and use his nitrogen calculator to see what sort of strength of fertiliser to use.

Also, if he is right, and the evidence would suggest that he is using bloom booster is a bit like OD-ing on vitamins. Sounds good, but it really isn't wise.

To give you an idea, I put about 1.4 grams of fertiliser in 6.5 litres of water. That's about a fifth of a gram per litre.

---------- Post added at 01:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:59 PM ----------

Originally Posted by PaphMadMan

Until you have perfected nearly every other aspect of orchid culture it will not be the thing that limits your success.

Bloom booster is mostly marketing hype.

There you are. Elegantly and simply put.

[AnonYMouse]

Different approach:

A bloom booster use is not detrimental but also not particularly useful. You can use it and our recommendation is to use doses calculated for N for regular use at FirstRay's.

If you have not opened it, get a refund or exchange it for a balanced formula. If you still insist on using it as a bloom booster, read the directions on the label.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by AnonYMouse

Different approach:


If you still insist on using it as a bloom booster, read the directions on the label.

And then use about 1/4 of what it says on the label. The larger amount sells more fertilizer, but does not help - and may harm - your orchid

[NeonKraken]

Ok. Thank you so much everyone, I really, really appreciate it.