Kovachii

[dodidoki]

Few measurments.
Tap water here, EC 522 uS, pH 7,2, hardness 22 Nk
Contained rain water here, EC 46 uS, pH 7,02
Fertilizer solution, Peters Excel CalMag + rain water, EC 600 uS, pH 3,66 (!!!!)
Same solution 2/3 part + tap water 1/3 part, EC 535 uS, pH 6,5, i will use this last recipe in the future.

I think everybody should check the fertilizing solution before using and if nessesery, should correct its pH!!! Unfortunately there is no any word mentioned about that by factory.

 

[Phragper]

I am so jealous of your kovachii

 

[KateL]

Congratulations! What’s not to love about blooming one’s kovachii? Sweet victory is yours.

 

[Remember Hadley]

Lovely kovachii bloom

 

[awesomei]

Gorgeous kovachii! I use only pure rainwater collected from my roof into 1500 gal. cysterns. I adjust my kovachiis and their hybrids to ph 7.8 and there other phrags and most paph to 6.6ph

 

[NYEric]

Yay besseae!

 

[Tom-DE]

Yay besseae!

You must be older than I am now.

 

[richgarrison]

Yay besseae!

Hahahahahahahhaahah!!!!!!

 

[Heather]

Was using a formula designed for tap water and not pure water. I use exclusively rainwater off the roof. But I didn't think to check my pH for far too long when I switched fertilzers (trying to use up old stuff). Dumb.

Phrags were more affected than anything else. Leaves were more yellow and just plain slower growing. Didn't seem to affect the paphs much.

Thanks for this info…I have tap but am using primarily filtered water so I should probably switch that up. I use Kelpak more than my msu tho because I’ve been all about roots this year!

And the color on that pouch…swoony….

 

[Heather]

I've always relied on adding oyster shell to the media for the same reason. But now realize that the shells mixed in the media don't buffer the fertilizer water that hits the roots at the time of application. To solve this problem recommended to apply powdered oyster shell to the media surface a couple times per year. The powder will faster buffer the irrigation water before it contacts the roots. Kovachi and it's hybrids respond well to the surface powder applications. Credit to Alfredo Manrique for this suggestion.

I’ve always done the top dressing for my Mexipedium and now all my phrags…usually quarterly.

 

[Heather]

My water source is RO, I add a bit of fert every watering or else the RO strips the plants of nutrients and everything turns yellow. I also have been adding an application of epson salts at 100ppm, it’s about 1tsp per gallon. At least twice a month, sometimes more in the summer. The magnesium sulfate really helps green everything up.

I also add oyster powder. Well it was sold as Oyster shells under the brand ‘Down to earth all natural fertilizers’ comes in a large cereal box. And I was surprised to find how fine the shells were grounded up. It’s basically a powder. I use this generously quarterly over the year, hitting the solstices and equinoxes. Probably a teaspoon and a half for the 1 gallon pots and a bit more for the larger baskets.

Sounds like the change in fert fixed your ph and slid that window so the plants could get access to the micronutrients needed. I rotate fertilizer for this fear, trying to cover all the bases incase I missed something.

Thanks for sharing!

Pete, what is in your fertilizer rotation? I’ve been doing this as well but would like to try something new next year in the mix. Right now I have MSU for tap and Kelpak and some organic houseplant stuff and I flush the fourth week. Plus quarterly oyster top dressing. I like your solstice/equinox idea... Stealing that! Easy to remember!

 

[PeteM]

Pete, what is in your fertilizer rotation? I’ve been doing this as well but would like to try something new next year in the mix. Right now I have MSU for tap and Kelpak and some organic houseplant stuff and I flush the fourth week. Plus quarterly oyster top dressing. I like your solstice/equinox idea... Stealing that! Easy to remember!

Heather, I’m all over the place. I’ve been targeting more balanced fertilizers. I’ve found MSU for pure water to be very aggressive, even diluting it into a gallon sprayer, it carries more TDS than other ferts I have in rotation. But I still use it in the summer. Others on the list include Jacks classic all purpose 20-20-20, this is probably what I use the most year round.. I can really dial in the lower TDS (25-30 ppm) and it’s not nitrogen heavy (it won’t blast the buds). I’ve also started using miracle grow plant food for tomatoes 18-18-21, just this past year and have had good results with the summer and fall blooming cattleyas. My main workhorse for the past few summers has been Peters excel 15-5-15 cal/mag with black iron. It’s been recommended for vandas through mote’s. So I’ve incorporated it into the rotation. I also have K lite for the summers but honestly the numbers scare me (12-1-1) and I’ve previously felt I have not had the best results with this. I should give it another try now that I’ve learned to drive my grow room a bit better. I also have Maxsea 16-16-16, I this is a urea based fert (lots of back and forth on urea, so I cover the bases), and it’s been recommended for use with carnivorous plants in ‘The Savage Garden’ so again I use this mostly in the summers as it also has seaweed and from what I’ve read, fert with kelp can cause bud blast if provided at the wrong time. I also have kelp max as well which I use in the summer.. some other items include Great White Premium Mycorrhizae, also I use Recharge in the summer for Mycorrhizae and trichoderma fungi.. but it also has kelp and a bunch of other stimulants so I use it strictly in the growing months.

Ontop of all this, I also pepper some plants with slow release fert in the early spring, especially after repotting nutricote 13-11-11.

I have a few more ferts that I’ve tried to use on a schedule someone gave me from a vanda nursery, who swears by the table to get the vandas to bloom in a 12 week cycle.. which, I was skeptical of and still am.. I also don’t have their temps. It was handed to me by a senior member of my society years ago. it includes a 12-61-0, 18-16-39 and a 11-36-24 fert at different intervals. I’ve been somewhat successful with this but it’s so difficult to stay on schedule for a particular genus when everything else in the collection won’t benefit from this regiment. Only so much time I can spend tinkering with this.

Really it sounds like a lot and it is. But the application is minimal, we are talking 25-30ppm of balanced fert in the winter and nothing over 50-80ppm at each watering in the summer. I believe in a constant low feed. I need buffer in the water at every watering in order to keep the RO water from stripping the plants.

From what I’ve been presented, orchids are very efficient at taking up nutrients, I want to provide them with small amounts of what they need.. just make everything available so they can grab what they need when they need it.

My main rule is to lower the nitrogen in the periods of slower growth by switching to balanced fert at lower concentrations. And this varies by genus, vandas and phrags right now are getting larger concentrations of balanced fert compared to the rest of the collection because vandas never stop growing and phrags grow the most for me in the fall through spring when the temps are cooler.

Apologies for the long winded response.

 

[Heather]

No apologies; I appreciate the long winded-ness! I seem to have some plants that started sheaths (in their lives with other growers) which did not materialize and I’d like that to stop. I have been using Kelpak, maybe too much this fall but usually I cycle something different every week and flush the fourth.

I was all about roots my first year back to growing but now I should be seeing more action than I am so…will pick up some Jacks at work to add into the mix.

I’m really approaching growing more experimentally this time around so it’s kind of exciting to learn what everyone is using and some new things to incorporate. Thank you so much!

Heather, I’m all over the place. I’ve been targeting more balanced fertilizers. I’ve found MSU for pure water to be very aggressive, even diluting it into a gallon sprayer, it carries more TDS than other ferts I have in rotation. But I still use it in the summer. Others on the list include Jacks classic all purpose 20-20-20, this is probably what I use the most year round.. I can really dial in the lower TDS (25-30 ppm) and it’s not nitrogen heavy (it won’t blast the buds). I’ve also started using miracle grow plant food for tomatoes 18-18-21, just this past year and have had good results with the summer and fall blooming cattleyas. My main workhorse for the past few summers has been Peters excel 15-5-15 cal/mag with black iron. It’s been recommended for vandas through mote’s. So I’ve incorporated it into the rotation. I also have K lite for the summers but honestly the numbers scare me (12-1-1) and I’ve previously felt I have not had the best results with this. I should give it another try now that I’ve learned to drive my grow room a bit better. I also have Maxsea 16-16-16, I this is a urea based fert (lots of back and forth on urea, so I cover the bases), and it’s been recommended for use with carnivorous plants in ‘The Savage Garden’ so again I use this mostly in the summers as it also has seaweed and from what I’ve read, fert with kelp can cause bud blast if provided at the wrong time. I also have kelp max as well which I use in the summer.. some other items include Great White Premium Mycorrhizae, also I use Recharge in the summer for Mycorrhizae and trichoderma fungi.. but it also has kelp and a bunch of other stimulants so I use it strictly in the growing months.

Ontop of all this, I also pepper some plants with slow release fert in the early spring, especially after repotting nutricote 13-11-11.

I have a few more ferts that I’ve tried to use on a schedule someone gave me from a vanda nursery, who swears by the table to get the vandas to bloom in a 12 week cycle.. which, I was skeptical of and still am.. I also don’t have their temps. It was handed to me by a senior member of my society years ago. it includes a 12-61-0, 18-16-39 and a 11-36-24 fert at different intervals. I’ve been somewhat successful with this but it’s so difficult to stay on schedule for a particular genus when everything else in the collection won’t benefit from this regiment. Only so much time I can spend tinkering with this.

Really it sounds like a lot and it is. But the application is minimal, we are talking 25-30ppm of balanced fert in the winter and nothing over 50-80ppm at each watering in the summer. I believe in a constant low feed. I need buffer in the water at every watering in order to keep the RO water from stripping the plants.

From what I’ve been presented, orchids are very efficient at taking up nutrients, I want to provide them with small amounts of what they need.. just make everything available so they can grab what they need when they need it.

My main rule is to lower the nitrogen in the periods of slower growth by switching to balanced fert at lower concentrations. And this varies by genus, vandas and phrags right now are getting larger concentrations of balanced fert compared to the rest of the collection because vandas never stop growing and phrags grow the most for me in the fall through spring when the temps are cooler.

Apologies for the long winded response.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Gorgeous kovachii, color and shape! Let us know if it expands bigger.

Good cultural discussion too!

 

[sergeharvey]

My kovachii opened a few days ago and am pleased with it: 17 x 12 cm spread, good color and flat.

 

[monocotman]

That’s very very nice! Great form.

 

[GuRu]

My kovachii opened a few days ago and am pleased with it: 17 x 12 cm spread, good color and flat.

A stunner ..... well done.