Ammonium Sulfate

[SwTLaDYy16]

Hi guys,

Recently I went home to visit my parents (Central Coast/Monterey, CA area) and my mom told me start giving ammonium sulfate diluted in water to my orchids. She said that in addition to the fertilizer, this will help them bloom. So far she's got about 20 of her cymbidiums reblooming. I've tried to look up information about the effects of ammonium sulfate in my orchid books, but haven't found anything. Does anyone know anything about this?

[prisana]

Hi, I'm new at orchids too. All I've heard of Ammonium Sulfate is that it's an artificial manuer, used to raised pH balance in soil. It has a quality to absorb water from it's surrounding. It's high in nitrogen from ammonia, I thought too much nitrogen would inhibit blooming..according to what I've read, I'm guessing it's pretty much a form of fertilizer, high in ammoniacal nitrogen,instead of nitrate nitrogen or urea.

[atcrosby]

Personally, I would stick to the commercial orchid foods available in most garden centers. They contain all the minerals necessary for healthy orchids. DynaGrow is what I use for mine. I feed them weakly weekly meaning if the directions say feed once a month, I use 1/4 of that each week so the plants get a continuous stream of food.

[SwTLaDYy16]

Thanks, I was thinking of getting dynagrow. Have any of you guys used SuperThrive? Or is it a bad thing to use on orchids?

Originally Posted by atcrosby

Personally, I would stick to the commercial orchid foods available in most garden centers. They contain all the minerals necessary for healthy orchids. DynaGrow is what I use for mine. I feed them weakly weekly meaning if the directions say feed once a month, I use 1/4 of that each week so the plants get a continuous stream of food.

[atcrosby]

Supershrive contains vitamins and minerals plants love. I use it weekly along with regular orchid food on my orchids and they just love it. TSuperthrive is also good for your other plants and your trees. I use it each month on all the large plans outside as well.

There is also KLN from the DynaGrow folks and it is similar to Superthrive.

Big Thumbs up ..

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Lots of orchid growers swear by it (Superthrive). It's a witches brew of hormones besides vitamins. Cynthia

[SwTLaDYy16]

thanks so much for the info....I think I'll grab some on my next trip to Home Depot...was afraid to get it last time

[Daniel S. Barrett]

ammoium Sulfate is an acidfier, it also has human health risks... go to google, and type ammonium sulfate, & pick a few websites & read from there! your moms plants probably have a trace element need, tell her to go buy some Centrum silver vitamin tablets with minerals, crush them up, and add them to her fertilzer water. stop using the ammonium sulfate, or the acid will eventually lkill her plants!

[chapala]

We don't have orchid-specific fertilizers available to buy here in Mexico. I'm using Peters 20-20-20, and just started adding Super Thrive, tiny bit. Most of mine seem to be happy with this regime.

Reta

[aussie]

helo ..ya all.
wel iam using a comersal orchid food+ charlie carp.its a liquid concentrate.
with trace elements. + a dash of left over beer. i have been reading books ..you see. so far my 40+ orchids ar haply talking to me.

[Daniel S. Barrett]

Hi Aussie,
I remember a Master gardener here in the States by the name of Jerry Baker, he has a paper back book out called; "Bakers Dozen" with dozens of tips on home remedies, and recipies for fertilizers, bug erradication, etc, & he suggested using old beer as a plant foliar feeding for the B vitamins. I used to have a copy of it (until I lent it out & never got it back), & I found it very interesting... it had a lot of useful tips although some seemed humorus & unorthidox!(like beer). you might want to look up a copy for your (bathroom) library. I believe you can still order it online.
G'Day Mate!! ~Daniel~