Misting with Kelpak Daily?
 

Hi everyone, I currently soak my Phalaenopsis orchid in Kelpak every fourth watering and mist its aerial roots daily with tap water. Would it be beneficial to also spray the aerial roots with Kelpak daily? I rather enjoy their appearance and want to promote more growth.

Applying any hormones to any organism too often causes problems. Ray recommends using Kelpak once per month. He has mentioned using it more often might cause problems with developing buds.

I think ES has confounded several of my recommendations in the past.

With synthetic hormones, excessive application will definitely lead to flower deformities, but that does not appear to be the case with Kelpak. Part of that is due to the fact that hormones are but a small part of the chemistry. An analysis showed 11 ppm auxins (0.031 ppm cytokinins), compared to something on the order of 1000-2000 ppm in products like KLN and Superthrive.

I recommend monthly application, as he said, as that seems to be very effective and economical. The producer recommends applying it no more often than every two weeks.

That said, I have misted flower spikes, buds, and blossoms daily to prolong their life, as phlorotannins in the product slow senescence, but that was only for a week or so.

I cannot knowledgeably recommend misting the roots daily, but I cannot say it would be bad, either. DO keep in mind that any application affects more than just the part of the plant misted...