I bought thid beautiful orchid ( Phalaenopsis ) with about six buds and
3 already opened. The culture that came with it said to fertilize once a
month. A knowledgeable friend said he does his at every watering and had
no problems. Of course I forgot to ask what strength. I have 15-30-15
and 20-20-20. would too much fertilizer kill it? BTW, i read in this
group some people mentioning "sheath". What is a sheath?

boothbay schrieb:
I bought thid beautiful orchid ( Phalaenopsis ) with about six buds and
3 already opened. The culture that came with it said to fertilize once a
month. A knowledgeable friend said he does his at every watering and had
no problems. Of course I forgot to ask what strength. I have 15-30-15
and 20-20-20. would too much fertilizer kill it? BTW, i read in this
group some people mentioning "sheath". What is a sheath?

A sheath is the "envelope" in the leaf axil that protects the buds of
orchids as they are developing like on members of the Cattleyas. (Can
anyone tell me if other orchids have them too?.)

A sheath can form and turn brown and papery, and just when you think it
is time to cut the ugly thing off, you will notice buds growing inside,
hopefully before the cutting occurs. (Speaking from bad experience :-( )
A sheath can also produce buds while it is still green, it can also
*never* produce buds, if the conditions are not right for the plant.
Hope this helped.

Someone more knowledgeable will answer the fert question, I hope, but if
you use the PPM calculator on Ray's page that Pat is asking about, it
will also help you. I fertilize at every watering as well, and the
usual recommendation is "weakly, weekly" or half-strength at every watering.


--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

On Wed, 18 May 2005 12:38:42 +0000, boothbay wrote:

I bought thid beautiful orchid ( Phalaenopsis ) with about six buds and
3 already opened. The culture that came with it said to fertilize once a
month. A knowledgeable friend said he does his at every watering and had
no problems. Of course I forgot to ask what strength. I have 15-30-15
and 20-20-20. would too much fertilizer kill it? BTW, i read in this
group some people mentioning "sheath". What is a sheath?


I do 1/4 to 1/2 strength every other watering.

On Wed, 18 May 2005 15:51:41 +0200 in Reka wrote:
boothbay schrieb:

Someone more knowledgeable will answer the fert question, I hope, but if
you use the PPM calculator on Ray's page that Pat is asking about, it
will also help you. I fertilize at every watering as well, and the
usual recommendation is "weakly, weekly" or half-strength at every watering.

The calculator of which she speaks is at
http://www.firstrays.com/fertcalc.htm

Some suggested ppm targets are in ray's semi-hydro culture information,
along with some links to papers on fertilization.


--
Chris Dukes
Suspicion breeds confidence -- Brazil

On Wed, 18 May 2005 12:38:42 GMT, boothbay wrote:

I bought thid beautiful orchid ( Phalaenopsis ) with about six buds and
3 already opened. The culture that came with it said to fertilize once a
month. A knowledgeable friend said he does his at every watering and had
no problems. Of course I forgot to ask what strength. I have 15-30-15
and 20-20-20. would too much fertilizer kill it? BTW, i read in this
group some people mentioning "sheath". What is a sheath?


Definitely more frequently than monthly, following the advice of
previous posters. Regarding NPK ratio:

One of our most successful growers (mainly dens, but also a number of
other popular genera) uses the following:
While actively growing: 14:5:22
Then, in preparation for blooming: 7:11:27

This is fairly easy for spring flowering plants. Use high N to
midsummer, then high K until tapering off the watering for winter.
Our society has quite vigorous discussions on whether you should
continue fertilising with the occasional waterings during the resting
period.

For orchids that flower in autumn it's harder to decide when to stop
the growth fertiliser & start fertilising for blooms. It's too late
when the racemes start budding. So the wisdom for these plants seems
to be to use high N from start of growth in probably mid spring,
through
to early summer, & then change to high K.
Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

I vote for the constant feeding agenda, and to come up with that, I looked
at nature for a clue.

A tropical plant in the wild has a fairly stable, more-or-less constantly
available supply of nutrition. Sure, the concentration may vary a bit,
depending on the level of rainfall, what's decomposing in the immediate
vicinity, or when the latest bird deposit was made, but generally speaking,
it's all there, all the time.

Even if the plant has a definite growth cycle with periods of relative
dormancy, those nutrients are still there, aren't they?

I put some more info about selecting a feeding regimen he
http://www.firstrays.com/feeding_regimen.htm

--

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


"Dave Gillingham" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 18 May 2005 12:38:42 GMT, boothbay wrote:

I bought thid beautiful orchid ( Phalaenopsis ) with about six buds and
3 already opened. The culture that came with it said to fertilize once a
month. A knowledgeable friend said he does his at every watering and had
no problems. Of course I forgot to ask what strength. I have 15-30-15
and 20-20-20. would too much fertilizer kill it? BTW, i read in this
group some people mentioning "sheath". What is a sheath?


Definitely more frequently than monthly, following the advice of
previous posters. Regarding NPK ratio:

One of our most successful growers (mainly dens, but also a number of
other popular genera) uses the following:
While actively growing: 14:5:22
Then, in preparation for blooming: 7:11:27

This is fairly easy for spring flowering plants. Use high N to
midsummer, then high K until tapering off the watering for winter.
Our society has quite vigorous discussions on whether you should
continue fertilising with the occasional waterings during the resting
period.

For orchids that flower in autumn it's harder to decide when to stop
the growth fertiliser & start fertilising for blooms. It's too late
when the racemes start budding. So the wisdom for these plants seems
to be to use high N from start of growth in probably mid spring,
through
to early summer, & then change to high K.
Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

On Thu, 19 May 2005 07:26:09 -0400, "Ray"
wrote:

I vote for the constant feeding agenda, and to come up with that, I looked
at nature for a clue.

A tropical plant in the wild has a fairly stable, more-or-less constantly
available supply of nutrition. Sure, the concentration may vary a bit,
depending on the level of rainfall, what's decomposing in the immediate
vicinity, or when the latest bird deposit was made, but generally speaking,
it's all there, all the time.

Even if the plant has a definite growth cycle with periods of relative
dormancy, those nutrients are still there, aren't they?

I put some more info about selecting a feeding regimen he
http://www.firstrays.com/feeding_regimen.htm

Ray, I guess we're talking about trying to "improve" on nature with
the variation in NPK during the season. ie optimising the growth
requirements during growth, & the components that assist flower
establishment during that phase. If you raised your regime at our
society (& probably most others) you'd start quite a debate, with
comparable numbers for your approach as for what I wrote. I confess
to being a relative newbie, & I listen, learn, & experiment after
hearing the words of those with much more experience. One experiment
has already led to the suggestion my phalaenanthe bud drop was due to
over watering & high N for too long.
But do you remember that *huge* floral display from a D bigibbum I
posted on abpo a while back? You'd never see anything like that in
the wild. That plant was grown by the fellow whose fertiliser regime
I described above.

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

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!

--

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


"Dave Gillingham" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 19 May 2005 07:26:09 -0400, "Ray"
wrote:

I vote for the constant feeding agenda, and to come up with that, I looked
at nature for a clue.

A tropical plant in the wild has a fairly stable, more-or-less constantly
available supply of nutrition. Sure, the concentration may vary a bit,
depending on the level of rainfall, what's decomposing in the immediate
vicinity, or when the latest bird deposit was made, but generally
speaking,
it's all there, all the time.

Even if the plant has a definite growth cycle with periods of relative
dormancy, those nutrients are still there, aren't they?

I put some more info about selecting a feeding regimen he
http://www.firstrays.com/feeding_regimen.htm

Ray, I guess we're talking about trying to "improve" on nature with
the variation in NPK during the season. ie optimising the growth
requirements during growth, & the components that assist flower
establishment during that phase. If you raised your regime at our
society (& probably most others) you'd start quite a debate, with
comparable numbers for your approach as for what I wrote. I confess
to being a relative newbie, & I listen, learn, & experiment after
hearing the words of those with much more experience. One experiment
has already led to the suggestion my phalaenanthe bud drop was due to
over watering & high N for too long.
But do you remember that *huge* floral display from a D bigibbum I
posted on abpo a while back? You'd never see anything like that in
the wild. That plant was grown by the fellow whose fertiliser regime
I described above.

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

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.

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.

You guys have done a spot on job of discussing these issues. I'll add just a
few things, in keeping with Ray's perspective on conditions. Martin and Mary
Motes put out a monthly "In your orchid collection" email newsletter. It is
perfect for us here in south FL, and greatly helpful. However, I doubt it
would serve New Yorkers well.

And even here, there are many differences between the way we grow and, say,
a friend who has a different setup just a few miles away.

As far as knowledge, I think growing orchids is no different from doing
anything else with passion: if you stop learning you stagnate. There is
always someone with a better mousetrap.


Thanks for a good thread.

Diana