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Old 14-02-2004, 06:02 PM
Just Nice
 
Posts: n/a
Default Fertiliser question: Esp. for Ray

Thank you Ray, nice sharing with you.

"Ray" wrote in message
...
Excellent humidity and lots of sun!

Personally, I don't believe in "bloom boosters" as necessary for blooming

or
for improvements in blooms, but a lot of folks do.

My more recent approach is to control my feeding by pH for nutrient
availability, and the nitrogen concentration if the final solution. I

have
previously believed in weak dosage all the time, likening that to the
nutrient availability in nature, but base this thinking upon lots of

reading
and discussions with the pro's at Blackmore (the folks that made the MSU
fertilizer) and J. R. Peters.

If I was in your geography and climate, I would probably target about 200
ppm nitrogen. in your 21-21-21 formula, that's achieved by adding about

3/4
teaspoon to a gallon of water. With the other blend, that level is

achieved
at around 1.25 teaspoons. Of course, I am presuming that you grow stuff
like phals and vandaceous plants, and would possibly adjust the
concentration for some others.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

. . . . . . . . . . .
"Just Nice" wrote in message
...

"Ray" wrote in message
...
My opinion: use them whenever you want, but in different

concentrations,
based upon the amount of nitrogen you want to apply. As you didn't

include
the actual makeup of those nutrients or the trace elements, I really

didn't
have the options of "always" or "never."


Basically, all the three formulae contain all the basic trace elements

as
claimed by the manufacturers. I feed my orchids weekly, always half

strength
of the recommended dosage. As most of my plants are now approaching

their
"puberty" stage (so to speak), I am begining to switch from the N21 P21

K21
to N13 P27 K27, to prepare (majority of) them for blooming towards the
second half of the year. Of course I do drenching every other week.

The reason I enquire is that prior to this, I have a few phals. and

cats.
which grow and bloom beautifully only on organic feed applied every
tri-monthly but the downside is pest control. Enlighten me further,

please!
BTW, I am living in Malaysia, a tropical country with an excellent

humidity.

Thank you.