Flower after care?

[Lagoon]

Hello Everyone

My 3 Dend /phals have finished blooming.Flower stems have been cut back and now I have new growth comming up from the bottoms.Since they were siting in pots that were much too big for them and with Sphag (Which i'm not good with) the other day i decided to pot them up in more suitable clay pots with a mix of bark and lava rock.
I need some advice on the use of fertilizers - I have Dyna-gro *7- 9- 5* - *10 -5 -5* and ProTekt.I know these orchids dont need a rest period per say but, when do i feed them and how much

Thanks for any advice

Regards,
Gloria

[jerrymeola]

Dens poted in bark can take extra nitrogen. All orchids like balance fertilizers, but a bark decomposes it removes Nitrogen from the potting medium. As such it is common to use extra Nitrogen.

Your 10-5-5 is fine for this purpose. 30-10-10 is also a common packaged ratio. When pots use Sphag, hydroponic rocks or other mixtures without bark always use a balanced fertilizer. The 7-9-5 you have is close enough. That said I use 20-20-20 for all my orchids in bark, sphag or hydroponic rock. I have not noticed a problem with the bark using up nitrogen. Probably because I repot early and try not to have any decomposing medium. I personally do not like Bloom Boost fertilizers but other people do like them.

Then you water "Weakly weekly" a weak solution once a week. Now weak solution can be misleading. All purpose fertilizers recommend one tablespoon per gallon but this is too strong. Use a teaspoon per gallon. Now packages called "Orchid Fertilizers" are the same ingedients in the package but the instructions will already say to use 1 teaspoon per gallon. Do not weaken it again.

I would fertilize year round. If the plant seems to be stopping to grow during the winter you can slow down the fertilizer but I would not stop completely.

[Lagoon]

OK thanks alot Jerry!
Well i'm see'ing new pseudobulbs so i guess all 3 are growing. So are you saying i should hit with full strengh every week as long as i'm seeing growth or add the fertilzers only every few weeks and flush inbetween?
And where does the Pro-Tekt or does it?
Sorry for all the questions, i'm just trying to get this all down in the ole head.

Thanks again!

Regards,
Gloria

[jerrymeola]

It is not necessary to flush any more than every couple of months but more often will not hurt anything.

I have never seen ProTech. If you want to list the ingedients and suggested use I will give you an opinion. Many products in the United States are sold more for the good of the manufacturer than any good for the stated purpose.

The only product I use for growing other than regular fertilizer is Super Thrive which is great for rejuvenating dried roots. Since I buy a thousdands of seedlings for growing, I find the product useful. It is recommended for general use on orchids but I have never used it that way. Bascially it is hormones and some micro-nutrients not found in fertilizers. It is actually very similar to liquid baby vitamins, which can be used as a substitute.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Jerry, are you suggesting that babies are being fed hormones? I know you probably don't mean that, but that is how it sounds.

Personally, I have found that the warm growing Den hybrids seem to like to dry out very well between waterings. Recent reading suggests that most Dens can be kept wetter while growing. This sounds like a form of rest to me, very dry between waterings when not in growth. I have a bigibbum that has done very poorly over the last 2 years. I am going to keep it completely dry at the roots, but mist regularly over winter. Can't get any worse than it is. This will be an interesting experiment. Cynthia

[Lagoon]

Right, I believe jerry was referring the Homones & super thrive and comparing the baby vitamins to the micro-nutrients .
The pro - tekt is actually not a fertilzer .... http://dyna-gro.com/

Cynthia, I dont know what ur using as far as media go's but mine are in lava rock with some bark also inside clay pots. The take about 5 days to dry up. Then i wait another 5 days and water lightly. I do find these dend type rather tricky even tho' you dont have to spend alot of time watering then .... you still have to spend alot of time looking them over to see what there needs are. Also too mention this is a new type of orchid for me.
My dends are not in the brightest light they SHOULD be in so easy does it for the the water and the ferts in my case anyways.

I'm planing on building a stand with T8' lights over the next few weeks for my dend and catts. Looks like we both have some projects in the works.
Please lets us know how the new growing method does for you

Regards,
Gloria

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I would like to hear how your light stand goes. I will probably be getting one of the shelving units from Costco and adding lights, but I would like to get full sizeed pans for the racks, and prefer not to buy the ones from Hydrofarm, too expensive. I think one of our members of the Prescott OS made his. I'll have to check with him. I think he started with sheet copper. I know he has them plumbed to the outside world, so he can water his plants in place. Cynthia

[phal]

Hi everyone,

I am new to orchids, and I just got a couple of phals. I heard that I have to use different fertilizers during different seasons. Is that true? If so, which kinds/what ratios should I use for the different seasons?

I have also been told that I should not fertilize the phals when they are in bloom. Is that also true?

Thank you very much!

[janet_a]

when and what with to fertilize can be a religious discussion at times.

short answers are: you can use the same fertilizer year round if you like. and you can (and should) fertilize while in bloom.

the only thing to watch is not to over fertilize--personally i fert every other time i water; everybody gets watered once a week whether they like it or not. i fert half the strength it says on the container. i switch back and forth between schultz orchid, jack's orchid special, and that green house plant stuff in the bottle with the eyedropper.

at the moment there are three phals in bloom, and 2 phals and a howeara in high bud, so i must be doing something sort of right...

[phal]

Thank you very much Janet!