Paphiopedilum Sanderianum

[CharlesD]

I don’t have experience using super pure water and just buffering with lime on the mix. Sounds like you are going to try that. I can’t say if it will be successful or not. Tony mixes large percentage of his mix as chicken grit like 10-20% not like a little sprinkling so it’s a big component of his mix.

Most of the people on here on RO use Peter’s Cal Mag or Rays K Lite with ammonia. That’s probably what I would recommend based on seeing people’s plants on here. Or mixing one of those with 30-10-10 50/50.

That is super so hard makes sense not to use it but if the Ca and Mg are much higher than the Na you may be fine just adding back a small percentage of the tap to your RO when you make the fertilizer (say 50-100ppm total before fertilizer)

 

[Russ1992]

I don’t have experience using super pure water and just buffering with lime on the mix. Sounds like you are going to try that. I can’t say if it will be successful or not. Tony mixes large percentage of his mix as chicken grit like 10-20% not like a little sprinkling so it’s a big component of his mix.

I see this is helpful to know regarding the percentage grit in the mix.

Most of the people on here on RO use Peter’s Cal Mag or Rays K Lite with ammonia. That’s probably what I would recommend based on seeing people’s plants on here. Or mixing one of those with 30-10-10 50/50.

Yes what has been working the best for me is Jacks 30-10-10 all Urea Nitrogen with MSU which is mostly Nitrate. It's a 50/50 mixture of both ferts.

That is super so hard makes sense not to use it but if the Ca and Mg are much higher than the Na you may be fine just adding back a small percentage of the tap to your RO when you make the fertilizer (say 50-100ppm total before fertilizer)

This isn't a bad idea to add in a bit of the tap back to the RO/Rain to get some buffering in there.
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For the time being my experiment is looking like such:

Set 1: CONTROL with Rain Fert* -----

Set 2: Liming with Rain Fert* -----

Set 3: Slow release No3 / Nh4 (50/50) with Rain Fert* -----

Set 4: Liming + Slow release No3 / Nh4 (50/50) with Rain Fert* -----

*All sets are using the 30-10-10/MSU (50/50) liquid fert in Rain Water equating to 100ppm of N

 

[CharlesD]

I see this is helpful to know regarding the percentage grit in the mix.

Yes what has been working the best for me is Jacks 30-10-10 all Urea Nitrogen with MSU which is mostly Nitrate. It's a 50/50 mixture of both ferts.

This isn't a bad idea to add in a bit of the tap back to the RO/Rain to get some buffering in there.
--------------------------


For the time being my experiment is looking like such:

Set 1: CONTROL with Rain Fert* -----

Set 2: Liming with Rain Fert* -----

Set 3: Slow release No3 / Nh4 (50/50) with Rain Fert* -----

Set 4: Liming + Slow release No3 / Nh4 (50/50) with Rain Fert* -----

*All sets are using the 30-10-10/MSU (50/50) liquid fert in Rain Water equating to 100ppm of N

Sounds like you have a good handle on what's going on now you just need see what works. I will say the slow release is mostly just going to add more macronutrients so would probably be similar to just increasing your fertilizer content. You can always play around with how much NPK but I think the buffering is the issue you should play with. I would maybe do control, one with lime, and one with no lime but some tap water added just for mixing fertilizer. But again since you understand the concept there are several different ways you can strike the right balance. will just take some testing.

 

[Russ1992]

Sounds like you have a good handle on what's going on now you just need see what works. I will say the slow release is mostly just going to add more macronutrients so would probably be similar to just increasing your fertilizer content. You can always play around with how much NPK but I think the buffering is the issue you should play with. I would maybe do control, one with lime, and one with no lime but some tap water added just for mixing fertilizer. But again since you understand the concept there are several different ways you can strike the right balance. will just take some testing.

Dude this is a great idea. Thanks for all the help! Trying to get my plants as good as yours. Hopefully I get some nice results!