Homemade fertilizer

[rogerman]

Believe me, I have absolutely no need for mail order shopping as i regularly use NPK 21.21.21.... I use the fish pond water as an extra during the week to reuse it rather than putting it down the drain. In fact i'm living and working right in the middle of the city.

[POLKA]

I think I read someplace -- maybe Howard Garrett in Dallas -- that ammonia causes the plants to take up more water while elongating; ammonia = floppy (I think) while the nitrate doesn't do that.

[vanda man]

In malaysia orchid growers tend to use overnight tea to water the orchids.
I personally drink tea every day,so i just use the tea that i can't finish to water the orchids the next day.Using tea to water the orchids will help in flowering because of the tannic acid in the tea,it is also good for killing bugs in the orchid mix.
Hope this helps

[StephanJoe]

Egg shells and used tea remains are the best costless homemade fertilizers.

[thakshila smith]

1. Raw rice washing water. (daily )
2.. sprats washing water.
3. cow dung liquidized.
flowers get bigger.

[Maryanne]

Hi-
Yes, bat guano is good, use sparingly, sprinkle on near roots, take care not to inhale it. I sweep mine off the barn floor under the palce the bats roost. Coelogyne seems to like it a lot.
Chicken manure in very small doses, dilute in water, use several times in the summer while plants are outside. Yes, onthe egg shells - crush and add to Paph/Phrag mixes for the calcium loving species.

Lobster - not kidding. Buy a lobster or big crab, boil it, eat the seafood. Cool the boiling water, dilute 50/50 with plain water, treat your plants. Do not use salt in the cooking water. Do this when plants are outside in summer. Fish fertilizer is great stuff, but smells too much to use indoors.

As our orchid society president says" Stop scaring the beginners!"

Cheers~
ML