Heck, Dave. I consider MYSELF a newbie, too. Not a day goes by that I
don't "discover' something new.

And you're dead-on about the apparently "incredibly conflicting" advice. I
attribute that to a number of things:

1) What's great for one is terrible for another, hence the reason one must
analyze their own situation so thoroughly, and experiment to find the right
combination of cultural features.
2) Sadly, folks often repeat "old wives' tales" as gospel, when they really
don't know what they're talking about.
3) Sometimes how people SAY they're doing something isn't true to the
reality of the situation, but is just their perception of it.

More often than not, I find that if you did deeply enough into those
disparities, you'll find some common ground at the level that is really
important to the plants.
--

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


"Dave Gillingham" wrote in message
...
And, when all is said & done, I still regard myself as a newbie,
simply citing some of the things that seem to work, & offering them
for consideration. I can still get totally confused by the incredibly
conflicting techniques used by others in our society whom I regard as
far more knowledgeable than I. Thanks for the discussion. I wonder
how well we've succeeded in confusing poor boothbay?

On Fri, 20 May 2005 06:21:20 -0400, "Ray"
wrote:

Agreed Dave, we're not trying to totally duplicate nature, but improve
upon
it.

The part I was gleaning from nature was the constancy of nutrition, not
the
level of it, and I find it easier to attribute your den's display to
higher
levels of nutrition more than any particular pattern of its application.

I've been growing orchids for over 30 years, and in that time, my feeding
regimen has changed a great deal. I have gone from newbie
overenthusiastic
poisoning to benign neglect to diligent application of differing formulas
at
different times of the year, plus many other variations, and I have
observed
better overall growth since moving to constant feeding several years ago.

Then, two things happened that improved things further: I started to learn
more of the science behind plant nutrition from folks who make a living
from
it, which has allowed me to find fertilizers that are designed more with
the
plants in mind, and less on the marketing, and I increased the
concentration
of the nutrient solution even further. I'm still experimenting...

Please understand that when I make comments like "following nature's
lead,"
I don't necessarily mean it literally, but may be trying to make a point
that makes the thought easier to remember. One of the adages I've
remembered most clearly was taught to me by the man who gave me my first
orchid, and was related to avoiding repotting while a plant is in bloom:
"Blooming is a plant's expression of its sexuality. How would you like
being
dumped out of bed while expressing yours?" We all know that the advice
has
nothing to do with sex or the plant getting its feelings hurt, but
that sure is a more vivid, easy-to-remember description than the details
about root cell functionality in the environment of the new medium and
what
physiological stresses may come from changes in that functionality!

Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.