Jim's Orchid Feeding Page

ORCHID FEEDING & FERTILIZERS
(This page is currently under construction)

STANDARD ORCHID FEEDING

Began 7/12/01
Thursday AM - (Basic Feeding Day)
Determined that my "Green Can" was only 2 litres, which did not equal one gallon, which probably explained brown leaf tips on the smaller plants...
Dug out a marked 5 gallon water jug and mixed a large amount:
8 x 1/4 tspn (my measuring spoon) Dyna-Gro "Liquid Grow" +
4 x 1/4 tspn Dyna-Gro "ProTekt"
into 4 gallons of tap water for "Basic Feeding Mix"

If you do the math, this should be:
1/2 tspn "Liquid Grow" +
1/4 tspn "ProTekt" for "Basic Feeding Mix" per gallon of water -
which is then halved in strength for use with non-cymbidiums.

for Cymbidiums:
Add 2 x 1/4 tspn Dyno-Gro "KLN" into "Green Can" (2 Litres) +
fill from "Basic Feeding Mix"
Pour over a pair of potted plants

for Root RX Orchids:
Add 1 x 1/4 tspn Dyno-Gro "KLN" into "Green Can" (2 Litres) +
fill halfway with "Basic Feeding Mix" +
fill halfway with tap water
Pour over a pair of potted plants

for Standard Orchids:
Using "Green Can" (2 Litres)
fill halfway with "Basic Feeding Mix" +
fill halfway with tap water
Pour over a pair of potted plants

Began 6/01
Thursday AM - (Basic Feeding Day)
1/4 tspn Dyna-Gro "Liquid Grow" +
1/4 tspn Dyna-Gro "ProTekt"
into 1/2 gallon tap water - Pour over a pair of potted plants

Monday AM - (Optional Feeding Day if weather has been hot)
Repeat Thursday's Feeding

Each AM - Mist leaves & visible roots with tap water from spray bottle. Continue to mist periodically until 1 pm.

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CYMBIDIUMS

Cymbidium "Out Front" Plant

Repotted 6/27/01 - Began 7/01
Thursday AM - (Basic Feeding Day)
1/2 tspn Dyna-Gro "Liquid Grow" +
1/4 tspn Dyna-Gro "ProTekt" +
1/2 tspn Dyna-Gro "KLN" into 1/2 gallon tap water - Pour over the single plant

2-3 times a week - Spray leaves with water in a similar fashion to below.

Cymbidium Repotting Project Plants

Began 7/01
Thursday AM - (Basic Feeding Day)
1/2 tspn Dyna-Gro "Liquid Grow" +
1/4 tspn Dyna-Gro "ProTekt" +
1/2 tspn Dyna-Gro "KLN" into 1/2 gallon tap water - Pour over a pair of potted plants

Monday AM - (Optional Feeding Day if weather has been hot)
Repeat Thursday's Feeding

Each AM - Spray leaves with water from "Rain Shower" nozzle. Don't worry if a bit goes into pots, but aim for leaves to keep things happily humid.

I plan to continue this until 8/01, at which time, I will reduce the "KLN" to a monthly time frame, except for the "Root RX" group, which will recieve "KLN" until 9/01.

Cymbidium Back Bulb Project

Began 7/01
Bulbs were soaked for 24 hours in a solution with 1 tspn "KLN" in about a 1/2 gallon of water.

They were then placed in a ziplock bag with a handful of moss that had been dipped into the same solution.

They are on the floor of my outside "atrium", receiving direct sun for about 1 - 2 hours a day.

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SOURCES OF MORE INFORMATION

Dyna-Gro

SCREW-UPS

Jim's Ill-Advised Potting Medium

When I first was asking about orchids in the local nursery, the person I spoke with told me that orchids grew in the crooks of trees, and lived off of the nutrients & soil that had gotten stuck there, and washed down into the plant. As I repotted my first orchids, I figured that there couldn't be any possible way that a plant could live in just chunks of bark. Armed with my recollection of that first conversation, and no other references yet, it struck me that I should add some layers of potting soil, with its healthy dirt, so that the roots would dig down and find some nourishment.

Well, by July of 2001, I finally repotted the last of the plants that benefitted from that particular approach. To the one, the roots in that medium were either rotted through or had stayed healthy only by avoiding the soil. The best example can be seen in Orchid #001 (close this window first), where the Oncidium Gower Ramsey threw down all of its healthy roots on the outside of the pot. Everything in the pot was ready to be snipped away.

Of course, it is a tribute to the orchid that it can be mishandled in this manner, and still manage to grow and bloom.

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If it starts with a "T" and ends with an "n", it must be...

...a teaspoon, right?

Unfortunately, this was not the case... While in the first 30 days of the Cymbidium project, it occurred to me that mixing a dozen or so 2 litre batches wasn't an effective use of my time. So, I dug out a 5 gallon water tank and found that there was a "big" spoon in another bag of fertilizer (I think it was from my Miracle-Gro for Tomatoes). A quick glance confirmed that the big end of the spoon was a teaspoon, while the other end could be used for "fine" work, as it was a quarter teaspoon.

On July 19th and 23rd of 2001, I used the "big" spoon. Actually, on the 23rd, I had realized that for some brain-dead reason, I had used 5 spoonfuls for 5 gallons of water. Tsk, tsk, thought I. Shouldn't be doubling the amount. After correcting down to 2 1/2 spoonfuls for the 5 gallons, the orchids received their feeding, KLN and happy morning goodness.

As I was cleaning up, the morning sun caught the bottom of the spoon. It was then that the actual imprinted "Tblspn" was easily and incredibly visible, contrasting from the bottom of the spoon like a range of mountains.

After shaking my rattly brain, I took a moment to see how many teaspoons fit into the tablespoon. It took 3. Which meant that I had used Dyna-Gro Liquid Grow at a ration of 3 teaspoons per gallon the first time and 1 1/2 teaspoons per gallon the second time. All of which was quite above the desired ratio of 1/2 tspn/gallon

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