Fertilizers …….
Plants in the wild rely on organic material for fertilizing:
- Bird and animal droppings
- Decaying bird and animal bodies
- Leaves and for some minerals from the soil
- Plus the main ingredient, rain.
It is a slow growing process and yet the plants do well in their natural environment.
They cannot compete with the growing of plants in orchid houses/nurseries, with regular watering, air movement, humidity, repotting and the feeding by so many different types of fertilizers.
The man made organic fertilizers, are better than what is found in nature that orchids use, also there is a bigger variety. Sea Weed extract, fish, blood and bone, manures, molasses, all made to a very high standard. The orchids are slower to respond to these fertilizers, but if used in excess, they will not damage the plants, not make them grow faster, it just costs you more and is wasteful.
Then there are the In-organic fertilizers and there are so many available today, that it is difficult to choose which ones to use. I have put a list that I use in the heading FERTILIZERS.
All these fertilizers will grow orchids.
Over-use will create problems such as:
- Burning the green root tips
- New growths and leaves
- Can cause soft growths
- Excessive number of new growths
- Soft and excessive numbers of flowers
- Can cause deformities in flowers and new growths.
Have a few different makes and types of fertilizers, rotate them around, this will help to balance the N.P.K. and the minerals, which vary in most fertilizers. REMEMBER; A LITTLE OFTEN IS THE BEST WAY TO USE FERTILIZERS.
