Fertilizer

[cytojo]

This may open a can of worms, but what is the preferred brand of fertilizer to use? I have a Phal, a zygo and a cutting of a vanilla bean orchid.

Thanks!

Joanne

[Andrew]

Fertilizers are largely over rated. Most large scale and professional growers have preferences for particular formulations but realistically unless you have every other aspect of culture nailed you probably won't notice a difference between fertilisers. Given your 3 orchids vary in their flowering time it's probably not worth alternating between growth and bloom fertilisers. Any good quality complete fertiliser should suffice. Take note of the micronutrients in the fertiliser. Many lack Mg and Ca. Tapwater in most areas will supply these missing micronutrients but if your water is soft you may need to consider supplementing your fertiliser with epsom salts (Mg) and/or lime (Ca).

[Tobi]

Hi Joanne,
I try to use a high quality complete fertilizer. I have found that MSU (Michigan State
Univerisity) fertilizer works the best for me. It contains the neccessary Macronutrients:
Nitrogen 19%, Phospate 4%, Potash 23%, and Calcium 2%. Along with these, it also
contains the following Micronutrients: Iron, Zinc, Boron, Copper and Manganese.

There are many good fertilizers around and I'm sure others will recommend the ones
they use. Some growers don't fertilize at all. Several here use 'worm tea' with and
without another fertilizer. You will have to experiment with a few and find out what
type (or lack of any) suits your growing conditions and types of orchids.

[Hummer344]

You will get as many opinions as there are members on the forum. I have used a number of them but last year I started using Grow More products. I used the growth fomula in the spring when new growth was showing then the balanced formula the rest of the year. It seemed I got more new growth than I had before. Could be my imagination of course. Since I have a real motely collection of orchids I don't use bloom formula at all. They all bloom at different times. Then there is the question on when to fert them. You will get LOTS more opinons. I usually fert. weakly every 10-14 days through good weather and never more than once a month during the winter. There will be others that say that fert is not necessary with orchids.
SOOOOOOO what does one do. Gee's I don't know. Talk with the venders, and orchid clubs in your area and see what they do then put all the opinions in a basket and pick one. LOL Good Luck
P.S. Don't forget the Worm Tea group. They are adament about using Worm Tea.

[articuno75]

Well I don't fertilize, but I think I'm going to start. I did at first, but was told it was pointless. I went to the Franklin Conservatory and seen Phals that had blooms the size of my head. Yes, no exaggeration here! I told the lady working I didn't fertilize. She said pretty much in a summary that I was nuts for not doing so. So I'm going to give it a go for awhile and see how things adjust. Now I'm one of those adament wormtea users. The best stuff on the planet it is!!! I seen results within 24 hrs of use, so I am convinced. I'm going to implement both fertilizer and wormtea into my weekly regiment and see what I come up with. The fertilizer that I have is left over Miracle Gro for Orchids.