paphio fertilization

[thegruppy]

Hi everyone, sorry for my bad English. What type of fertilizer do you use for your paphios and at what time of year?

 

[Ray]

Type of fertilizer, in my opinion, is not as important as feeding them regularly, all year, at dilute concentrations.

 

[Ozpaph]

many people use K-Lite. Check 'First Rays' website.

 

[thegruppy]

all the year?

 

[littlefrog]

I fertilize with a very dilute fertilizer all year.

 

[Ray]

Yes, all year. While I don’t grow all of the paphs out there, the ones I have grow continuously, with no distinct “rest” period.

 

[Brabantia]

That's very imprecise information! All year round with a dilute solution, it could be once every 2 weeks with a solution containing 20 ppm nitrogen. This question deserves more precision. Please specify the exact nitrogen concentration (or specify the weight of fertilizer per gallon and the NPK ratio in it) and the frequency.

 

[Ozpaph]

N=100ppm/week

 

[Ray]

To be more precise, I shoot for and recommend applying a 75-125 ppm N solution every week.

When in had a metering pump that fed the fertilizer with every watering, which could be 3 or 4 times a week, that was a 25 ppm N solution.

 

[big923cattleya]

I water roughly twice a month with fertilizer at half strength. 20-20-20. The second time I add a little cal/mag to it.
I do increase the frequency a bit in early spring through mid summer as they emerge from the dull winters. As it warms up, without rain showers, the dry heat makes me water a little more.
My plants go out May 1st.

 

[Brabantia]

I water roughly twice a month with fertilizer at half strength. 20-20-20. The second time I add a little cal/mag to it.
I do increase the frequency a bit in early spring through mid summer as they emerge from the dull winters. As it warms up, without rain showers, the dry heat makes me water a little more.
My plants go out May 1st.

And how ppm or mgr/L nitrogen for full strenght ?

 

[big923cattleya]

I use Jacks fertilizer and I never test for anything. I just use it right out of the container without analyzing anything. Too old to worry about that.
I use tsp. Per gallon as my concentration. Grow 8 months underlights. I figure if they look really good, then they are happy enough. I keep track of bloom size, number of flowers and dates. If those numbers are staying the same, or increasing a bit, I am happy.
Either I am old school or lazy, pick one!

 

[Ray]

For twice a month application, I think about of 3/4 tsp/gal (0.5ml/L) is appropriate for a 20%N formula.

 

[big923cattleya]

I will keep it in mind.

 

[Brabantia]

Pour une application deux fois par mois, je pense qu'environ 3/4 cuillère à café/gal (0,5 ml/L) est approprié pour une formule à 20 % d'azote.

A tsp = ~ 4gr ( P..ers 20-20-20 measured and weighed) 3/4tsp --- 3gr /3.75L ---> 0.8 gr/L at 20% N ---> 160 ppm N /2W ---> 80 ppmN /1week You are right Ray.

 

[Ray]

I shoot for 75-125 ppm N weekly.

If you divide 8 by the %N in the formula, the result is teaspoons/gallon for for the middle of that range, so there’s room for measurement rounding.

Dividing 9.2 by the %N gives the result in ml/L.

Yeah, there is some bulk density assumptions for powders, but they’re not that far off, and we’re talking some minuscule concentrations here, so a little error really isn’t much to be concerned about.

 

[Nelson Wong]

I use some generic Schultz orchid fertilizer 19-31-17. it says 1 tsp per gallon, I use about 0.8 tsp and water once a month
I also have a small pinch of slow release 13-13-13 on all my orchids.
For regular watering, I just use regular water. For larger and more established orchid I would randomly, once every 2 months? 3 months? use the water from rinsing rice to water my some of my orchids - usually during the summer months when it is hot because I don't want to waste the nutritious water by dumping it in the drain

 

[Ray]

A "small pinch of slow release 13-13-13" probably doesn't add appreciably to your nutrient supply.

If it was a full teaspoon, which is about 5 grams, meaning it's 0.8g N. Spread that over the roughly 26 weeks of release and it's about 30 mg/week, but release from granules does not spread the nutrients throughout the container.

That's one of the quandaries of orchid growing - terrestrial plants put out a lot of fine roots and lots of root hairs, so get essentially all of the nutrition applied to the very absorptive medium. Orchid roots, on the other hand, are sparse and limited in extent, with the root hairs being microscopic, which greatly limited water and nutrient uptake from the coarse, non-communicating media we use.

 

[Nelson Wong]

I usually do a pinch in the media when I repot. When I say a pinch it is about half to 3/4 of a teaspoon. The media I use also has potting mix which already has some earthworm casing and slow release, which last for about 2 to 6 months depending on moisture level. I think the active bacteria in the potting mix also accelerate media decomposition. Which is why I usually have to repot around 2 years to 2.5 years regularly
So far my paphs are growing very well. I I could use fertilizer a little bit more often