"Compost",
"Coco Husk",
"Sphagnum Moss",
"Orchid Focus Feed",
"Superthrive vitamin-hormone",
"Mineral Magic clay powder organic matter",
"Diamond Nectar Fulvic Acid",
"Bio Essentials micro nutrients",
"Clonex rooting gel",
"Hydroton Clay Pellets",
"Superdrive natural additive",
"Humic Acid Concentrate Liquid"

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!"... I read orchids were easy to grow; this
list I've found complicates it all... My idea of growing plants was
'seed/bulb', 'dirt', 'water', 'light' & 'time'...

Is the above list necessary? What are their merit?

wrote in message
...

I have three fertilizers for my Orchids and they thrive.

"Compost",
"Coco Husk",
"Sphagnum Moss",
"Orchid Focus Feed",
"Superthrive vitamin-hormone",
"Mineral Magic clay powder organic matter",
"Diamond Nectar Fulvic Acid",
"Bio Essentials micro nutrients",
"Clonex rooting gel",
"Hydroton Clay Pellets",
"Superdrive natural additive",
"Humic Acid Concentrate Liquid"

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!"... I read orchids were easy to grow; this
list I've found complicates it all... My idea of growing plants was
'seed/bulb', 'dirt', 'water', 'light' & 'time'...

Is the above list necessary? What are their merit?

On 11/22/2007 12:30 PM, wrote:
"Compost",
"Coco Husk",
"Sphagnum Moss",
"Orchid Focus Feed",
"Superthrive vitamin-hormone",
"Mineral Magic clay powder organic matter",
"Diamond Nectar Fulvic Acid",
"Bio Essentials micro nutrients",
"Clonex rooting gel",
"Hydroton Clay Pellets",
"Superdrive natural additive",
"Humic Acid Concentrate Liquid"

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!"... I read orchids were easy to grow; this
list I've found complicates it all... My idea of growing plants was
'seed/bulb', 'dirt', 'water', 'light' & 'time'...

Is the above list necessary? What are their merit?

For feeding, use any commercial orchid food that has equal N-P-K numbers
and that dissolves easily in cool water. For each use, mix per the
instructions. Be careful not to make the mix too strong, or you will
burn the roots. I feed my Phalaenopsis and Cymbidium every other
weekend. On the weekends that I don't feed them, I water them; I also
give the Cymbidium extra water mid-week.

Tropical orchids are generally epiphytic, growing in the leaf debris
that accumulates on tree branches. In flower pots, they are usually
planted in either something fibrous (e.g., tree fern bark) or chunky
(e.g., small pieces of fir bark). In any case, the medium should absorb
water but have perfect drainage, allowing air to reach the roots.
Sphagnum moss in strands is okay, but don't use screened sphagnum
because it holds too much moisture and blocks air.

Temperate orchids are generally terrestrial, growing in the ground. But
they too need excellent drainage. My do-it-yourself potting mix (see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_potting_mix.html) with an equal
amount of partially composted wood chips and without added nutrients
would be a good medium.

Most orchids need strong indirect light without direct sun shine. They
also prefer high humidity. I meet that need by setting their pots on
top of pebbles in saucers and keeping water in the saucers up to the top
of the pebbles. The bottoms of my pots might touch the water, but
they're not sitting in water. Humidity is also provided by having my
orchids surrounded by other house plants.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

In article ,
Phoon Hencman wrote:

On 2007-11-22 15:30:10 -0500, said:

"Compost",
"Coco Husk",
"Sphagnum Moss",
"Orchid Focus Feed",
"Superthrive vitamin-hormone",
"Mineral Magic clay powder organic matter",
"Diamond Nectar Fulvic Acid",
"Bio Essentials micro nutrients",
"Clonex rooting gel",
"Hydroton Clay Pellets",
"Superdrive natural additive",
"Humic Acid Concentrate Liquid"

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!"... I read orchids were easy to grow; this
list I've found complicates it all... My idea of growing plants was
'seed/bulb', 'dirt', 'water', 'light' & 'time'...

Is the above list necessary? What are their merit?


You don't need any of that stuff. You could use Miracle grow to feed at
half strength every other watering or 2 during the growing season.

Superthrive isn't fertilizer, as a matter of fact it's snake oil.

Since orchids are epiphytes, you don't need to worry about dirt.
--

Billy

Bush & Cheney, Behind Bars

"Jangchub" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 22:16:29 -0500, Phoon Hencman
wrote:


[snip]

it depends on what
kind of orchids you have and there is an entire library in every
imaginable form on the Internet. I recommend you visit on of the
thousands of websites which give explicit instruction on growing
orchids. They are very easy to grow if you have all the right
conditions.

Or -- Orchid care is overstated. Don't obsess over the "right"
conditions -- orchids are incredibly easy to grow and VERY forgiving,
especially in Florida or Hawaii. You just go out and buy some inexpensive
orchids and give them some water/orchid fertilizer mix every once in a
while. When I see one that I like (both price and color) I'll buy it, stick
it in with the others I've bought in a shelter I've made, and
water/fertilize them whenever it occurs to me. After four years I've got an
oncidium that's 3' around with flower stalks 5' long, a garden full of
epidendrum radicans "ground cover", a vanda terrete that's 10' tall growing
in a Royal Poinciana, a couple of Cattleyas that flower twice a year that
I've tied into the trunk of Australian tree ferns, some Cymbiums that have
naturalized in the ground, and others. The Phaleonopsis ("Moth Orchids")
don't seem to like this routine -- probably too much water during our rainy
summers. My solution -- I don't buy them any more.

Orchids here take a lot less care than roses or most other landscape plants.
It's only when you decide you want the perfect blooms or want to do some
hybridizing or you decide to make it a really serious hobby that it starts
to take up your time, so start with cheap and easy, keep them out of the
cold and don't let them get direct sun. They'll tell you what they need
after that.

wrote in message
...
"Compost",
"Coco Husk",
"Sphagnum Moss",
"Orchid Focus Feed",
"Superthrive vitamin-hormone",
"Mineral Magic clay powder organic matter",
"Diamond Nectar Fulvic Acid",
"Bio Essentials micro nutrients",
"Clonex rooting gel",
"Hydroton Clay Pellets",
"Superdrive natural additive",
"Humic Acid Concentrate Liquid"

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!"... I read orchids were easy to grow; this
list I've found complicates it all... My idea of growing plants was
'seed/bulb', 'dirt', 'water', 'light' & 'time'...

Is the above list necessary? What are their merit?

Good info at http://www.gardeners.com/Growing-Orc...ault/5072.page