"Johnny Borborigmi" wrote in message
...
On 2008-01-15 21:03:45 -0500, "symplastless"
said:


Please click the link to read article about Light, Humidity, Feeding
and Tempature : http://www.worldofflower.net/worldofflower.net/Care
tips for your orchid.htm

I know very little about orchids. What kind of food do you feed a
orchid?
Do they store their food? In what form and where? I thought they were
autotrophs. Shows how much I know.
BTW the ghost flower is a heterotroph.
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT20...st_flower.html


You can use regular miracle or any 10-10-10 food. No "special" ferti;izer
is needed.

Oh, so you really are not feeding the plant. Just applying N-P-K. BTW
there are 14 other essential elements. Some more important than others in
different amounts for different plants. 14 From the soil.
They are C; H; N; O; P; K; S; Mg; Ni; Fe; Ca; Zn; Mo; Mn; B; Cl; Cu
I guess that the orchid must be an autotroph. Autotrophs manufacture their
own food and we do not feed them. That is the case for most plants. I say
most because of exceptions like Ghost Flowers. They have no chlorophyll to
trap sunlight energy and manufacture food. They are more like a
heterotroph. Humans are heterotrophs. The chemical companies trick you to
believing their product is food.
Food is a substance that provides and energy source, mostly. Nutrient is a
substance that provides an energy source, elements, and other substances
essential for life, in types and amounts that can provide a healthy life.
Fertilizer is a substance that provides elements, as salts mostly, or in
bonded forms, that require microorganisms to alter to forms that can be
absorbed or taken in by plants. They are not absorbing in the sense of a
Bounty paper towel.


--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.