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Orchid ferts

aliclarke86

aliclarke86

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21 Mar 2013
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I have a nice orchid growing in my bathroom. When I bought it from my local nursery I got a little drip feeder free with it. Now I am wondering if anyone can tell me the npk dosage that would go into one of these feeders? I have all sorts of houseplant feeds and dry salts so I am hoping I can find a nice cheap refill :)

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Oh bummer that must have been a bit of a let down.

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So the other 45 should be micro I assume? And in relation to h2o where about would I start?

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personally i just soak my orchids for an hour or two in old tank water once a week. Seems to keep them in flower most of the year. My mum even comes over once a week now for old tank water as she was struggling to keep flowers going for more than a months or so at a time.
Saying that they do tend to be the easier/common varieties.
 
Well me mine are £10 from local nursery so nothing special. I will try tank water and see if it helps. I had two stems flowering but came home one day to all 8 flowers dead on one of the stems.

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Be that as it may if you are getting flowers all year round I will take your advice as sound and give it a go

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Hi all,
aliclarke86 said:
So the other 45 should be micro I assume? And in relation to h2o where about would I start?
Click to expand...
The 35:10:10 is the content of N: P2O5:K2O, so it just means that it is a high nitrogen fertiliser when compared to phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) content. It won't contain any of the other micro-nutrients unless it says it does on the packet.
You can basically use any fairly dilute liquid feed, if you use old tank water that should be ideal.
One soak a week then drained is plenty. Flowers seem to last about 4-6 weeks with new ones always popping up before the last drop.
Click to expand...
That is good advice for Phalaenopsis, which tend to flower fairly continually if they are happy. The other common orchids you see are Cymbidium and Dendrobium hybrids, they tend to flower mainly in the winter/spring period. Have a look a this thread: <Orchid Feeding and Watering. | UK Aquatic Plant Society>.

cheers Darrel
 
Thanks Darrel some great links and info in that thread. My Phalaenopsis is currently potted in bark in a clear pot sat on a plate. Would addind water to the plate every couple days to increase humidity and allow for water to be taken up in the bark be a good idea if does this orchid not like being in water?

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Hi all,
aliclarke86 said:
Would addind water to the plate every couple days to increase humidity and allow for water to be taken up in the bark be a good idea if does this orchid not like being in water?
Click to expand...
You're best with a clear pot & bark/hydroleca/perlite etc. for Phalaenopsis. The roots on epiphytic orchids are different from the roots on "normal plants", because they photosynthesise and pick up water/nutrients from the atmosphere, their only traditional "root" role is to anchor the plant. If you have an opaque pot, the roots will tend to grow out, where they are more prone to drying out.

You can stand the pot on hydroleca in the saucer, this has the advantage of adding humidity without constantly water logging the plant, you just keep a small amount of water in the saucer.

I find it is easiest to do the watering of orchids by weight, when the plant is dry the pot is very light, I just pick the pots up every week, if they are very light give them a water, if they aren't don't.

cheers Darrel
 
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