Making my own liquid fertilizer?
 

Hi gang;
Another dumb(?)question so do not laugh and no snide comments please. I
take a Centrum vitamin (silver) each day and I noticed that it contains
scads of the trace elements. IE: copper,manganese nickel etc. if I
dissolved this tablet in water and used that water for my orchids will,
the plants make use of the trace elements? It seems so simple, to good
to be true.
Thanks for any serious responses..Also what if any effect would the
Vitamins have on the orchid? Dumb huh??
Bob

bob wrote:
Hi gang;
Another dumb(?)question so do not laugh and no snide comments please. I
take a Centrum vitamin (silver) each day and I noticed that it contains
scads of the trace elements. IE: copper,manganese nickel etc. if I
dissolved this tablet in water and used that water for my orchids will,
the plants make use of the trace elements? It seems so simple, to good
to be true.

Probably would work. At least a little bit. I think you would have to
use a lot of vitamins to get enough of certain micronutrients. But I
haven't done the math, perhaps it would work.

Thanks for any serious responses..Also what if any effect would the
Vitamins have on the orchid? Dumb huh??
Bob


Probably not much effect at all. Supposedly some of the B vitamins are
used by plants.

Dumb? No, actually it is an interesting question. But at the price of
multivitamins, it is far cheaper to just buy a good complete fertilizer.
Plus I don't think those tablets are easy to dissolve in water. It is
far easier to use a little Dynagrow (a complete, hydroponic fertilizer).
You were going to fertilize anyway, right? *grin*

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

While vitamin supplements may contain elements that are of
nutritional value to plants, they're *expensive*. Pick up a few ounces of
trace element supplement at a hydroponics store. Not only will it be
tailored to plant nutritional needs, it'll be cheaper.

It is also worth noting that unless there is a deficiency, it
won't help the plants grow any better. Trace element nutrition in orchids
is rarely the cause of poor growth- except, perhaps, for iron. The use of
a chelated iron supplement may be of benefit to all orchids- either as
Fe-EDTA, or Fe-EDDHA. Calcium is also occasionally a problem, affecting
the youngest, fastest growing parts of a plant- turning them jet black. A
touch of calcium nitrate or calcium chloride will help.

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Cheers,

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ