Peter Nigra wrote:

I remember reading somewhere that plant food that uses urea to suppy
nitrogen is bad for orchids but I can't find that literature any more. Can
anyone confirm this or is my memory just playing tricks on me?

Thanks,


That is a question sure to invoke a variety of heated responses.
Short answer (in my opinion). Urea not bad. But, urea probably not
best, either. You won't kill your orchids fertilizing with a urea based
fertilizer. They may not be getting quite as much nitrogen as you
intend. Short reason is that urea is typically broken down into plant
munchable bits by soil bacteria. You have few soil bacteria in your
potting mix. So, the prevailing wisdom is that since plants can't
utilize urea directly, you are wasting your time fertilizing with it.

That said, it isn't at all true. You can grow good orchids with a
urea based fertilizer. But you have to use a lot more nitrogen to get
the same result. Most of the people I know have switched to non-urea
based fertilizers for that reason, but any fertilizer is better than no
fertilizer. So, don't worry about killing your plants with the urea,
but you may want to consider switching at some point.

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit