Thanks for jumping in, Kenneth.

Even GreenCare - the folks that make the original "MSU" fertilizers -
have to resort to more-expensive raw materials for the tap water
formula.

The whole "dissolved solids" level discussion is hard to deal with,
which is why EC or going with the nitrogen loading is more manageable.

For example, using the MSU RO formula, for 125 ppm N, adding up the
weight percentages of all of the cations present gives a dissolved
solids level of about 355 ppm. However, as one must add 3.55 grams of
the powder to a gallon of water for 125 ppm N, that is an addition of
938 ppm.

Now I'm quite sure that all of the constituents of the mineral molecules
don't contribute to the dissolved solids content - some of those are
water, after all - so that suggests that the TRUE dissolved solids
content is lower than that last calculation would imply, but how do you
determine that?

TDS meters really are of little value, as they are just cheap EC meters
with a built-in conversion factor to ppm. Unfortunately, the factor
should change with the make-up of the ionic species dissolved, so it
technically cannot be a single factor for all fertilizers and solutions.
Let's also not forget that different manufacturers use different
conversion factors! I have two - at a 125 ppm N solution, one tells me
the TDS is about 480 ppm, the other 610. About all TDS meters are good
for is assessing whether the solution you made up this time is different
from the last time.

Ray Barkalow - First Rays LLC - www.firstrays.com
Orchid Plants, Supplies, Equipment, Books
Artwork, Free Services & Lots of Info!


-----Original Message-----
From: Kenneth ]
Posted At: Thursday, August 20, 2009 9:22 AM
Posted To: rec.gardens.orchids
Conversation: Jungle Feed
Subject: Jungle Feed

On Aug 19, 6:11*pm, "keith kent" wrote:
Jungle FeedThanks for that Ray , i did see the orchidboard post
after doing a search.
I am going to buy the Akerne orchids feed which is basically the MSU i
thinkhttp://www.akerne-orchids.com/index.htmas it is the only one
available in the EU .
As the feed is 13 -3- 15 does this mean that less feed will be
required compared to the 1-0-1 .
If so this is just what i am looking for ,as i mix up at 160lts a time
sometimes and liquid feeds ,i just use too much of the stuff even to get
the mix to 350ppm .
Regards Keith *

Keith,


Yes, "Akerne's RAIN MIX" is the MSU fertiliser for rainwater etc.
Our TAP MIX version is not there yet as we have trouble getting all
the ingredients, let us just say that one of the ingredients needed
can be used for other purposes.... making it very hard to near
impossible to get hold of.

Have a chat with my father at the BOGA fayre end of the month
concerning your concentration.
We go up to 550ppm for ALL our orchids (no exception) and this
includes, amongst others, anything from Disa, Cyrpipedium,
Paphiopedilum, Masdevallia over to Cattleya and Cymbidium.


kind regards,

Kenneth Bruyninckx
Akerne Orchids, Belgium

http://www.akerne-orchids.com