| I mean to cut the spike completely off the plant. You put the flowers into water just like any other cut flowers, which is nothing to do with the plant.
Producing and maintaing flowers is a big energy drain on a plant. You want all the energy of the plant to go into growing new leaves, not maintaining flowers.
Any fetilizer will do if the 3 numbers on the lable are all pretty close to the same (20-20-20, 15-19-12, 20-15-15, etc), or the first number can be a little larger if the plant is growing in a mix containing bark. BUT, you must use the fertilizer at 1/4 to 1/2 of what it says on the label, unless it is orchid fertilizer, where they have already changed the label to reflect this lowered amount. Cynthia |