Ray's fertilising regimen

[Anca86]

Hi everybody,

I adopted Ray's fertilizing in January 2021:
-K-lite at each watering (25 ppm)
- every 2 weeks probiotics
- 1/month kelp
- clean water once per month
All my orchids are doing great. The most impressive are my bellatulum. I have 2 and they have like 3 4 new growths each. Roots are also impressive.
I also moved all my paphs and phrags in a mix of wool rock and LECA 50/50. They seem to like it.
I am very happy with my decision.
Thanks @Ray for all your precision advice.

 

[Ozpaph]

glad its working for you

 

[Ray]

Thank you, but the 250 ppm fertilizer at every watering is a bit of a potential concern.

Feeding concentration and frequency should be tied together - lower concentration with greater frequency being preferred, as it mimics nature - with the provision of about 75-100 ppm N over the course of a week appearing to be a reasonable amount.

When I fed at every watering - 3-4 times a week - I used 25 ppm N. Since moving out of a greenhouse, I feed once ever 7-10 days, using 100 ppm N.

Then there’s the measurement aspect. If your 250 ppm is TDS, and you use a TDS meter to determine that, I’d question it, too. I imagine you mixed your own “knock off’ K-Lite, so the EC/concentration relationship would have to be evaluated, but the Greencare-made product has a true TDS of 770 ppm @ 100 ppm N. I have two TDS meters, and they tell me the TDS at that true concentration is 375 and 425 ppm. Knowing the true target TDS for 100 ppm N, if I used those meters, I’d really be applying closer to 200 ppm N.

 

[Anca86]

Thank you, but the 250 ppm fertilizer at every watering is a bit of a potential concern.

Feeding concentration and frequency should be tied together - lower concentration with greater frequency being preferred, as it mimics nature - with the provision of about 75-100 ppm N over the course of a week appearing to be a reasonable amount.

When I fed at every watering - 3-4 times a week - I used 25 ppm N. Since moving out of a greenhouse, I feed once ever 7-10 days, using 100 ppm N.

Then there’s the measurement aspect. If your 250 ppm is TDS, and you use a TDS meter to determine that, I’d question it, too. I imagine you mixed your own “knock off’ K-Lite, so the EC/concentration relationship would have to be evaluated, but the Greencare-made product has a true TDS of 770 ppm @ 100 ppm N. I have two TDS meters, and they tell me the TDS at that true concentration is 375 and 425 ppm. Knowing the true target TDS for 100 ppm N, if I used those meters, I’d really be applying closer to 200 ppm N.

25 ppm. Don't know why I always add a 0. I used a 25 ppm solution.

 

[JimNJ]

Thanks. How many tsp / gallon of K lite does 25 ppm translate to?

 

[dodidoki]

There is a little confusion about measuring cc of fertilizer solution.Every measurment based on conductivity, uS/ cm.Every fertilizer have a so called beta ratio.Eg. Na Cl beta ratio of 0,5 , if ppm of nacl solution is 300, ec is 150 uS. I can t imagine how to measure only N ppm ratio within a solution if there is no more information about N ???( urea, ammonia, nitrate or what????)

 

[dodidoki]

The other confusion is about measurment standards....in eu there is a comperable system, gram, kilogram , litre, ml, etc. Gallon, tsp????Teaspoon??? Flat tsp , what kind of gallon? Just a nightmare....

 

[Ray]

Thanks. How many tsp / gallon of K lite does 25 ppm translate to?

As ppm is a mass-to-mass measurement, g/gal is a more accurate way to dispense fertilizers...BUT 2/%N of any fertilizer is a reasonable approximation for teaspoons/gallon for 25 ppm N. So... for K-Lite @ 12.9%N, 2/12.9=0.155 teaspoons/gallon. That means that 1/8 tsp/gal would be 25 x 0.125/0.155 = 20 ppm N and 1/4 tsp would be 25 x 0.25/0.155 = 40 ppm N.

There is a little confusion about measuring cc of fertilizer solution.Every measurment based on conductivity, uS/ cm.Every fertilizer have a so called beta ratio.Eg. Na Cl beta ratio of 0,5 , if ppm of nacl solution is 300, ec is 150 uS. I can t imagine how to measure only N ppm ratio within a solution if there is no more information about N ???( urea, ammonia, nitrate or what????)

Good fertilizer manufacturers tell you the EC versus ppm N data, and considering they usually contain no urea, nitrogen is nitrogen. For example, Greencare, who makes the two MSU formulations and K-Lite, says that a 100 ppm N solution of MSU WW, MSU RO, and K-Lite will have EC values of 680, 800, and 710 µS/cm, respectively (plus the base water conductivity).

The other confusion is about measurment standards....in eu there is a comperable system, gram, kilogram , litre, ml, etc. Gallon, tsp????Teaspoon??? Flat tsp , what kind of gallon? Just a nightmare....

Naaah. It's all a matter of conversion factors, and unlike TDS meters, the conversions are constant. Metric is decimal, (which is superior in my mind) and English/US/Imperial are not, but still have fixed ratios. 1 teaspoon/gallon in the US and in England are both ratios of 1:768, even though an Imperial gallon is about 20% larger than a US gallon.

Having said that, if the label says "X" grams/gallon, you need to know which gallon.

 

[SlipperKing]

Why are we posting orchid culture under the Paphiopedilum photo folder and not in the Slipper Culture folder?
This forum is designed to have order to it so if someone wanted to search out culture information they would open up the Slipper Culture folder and find it. If they wanted to see pretty Paphiopedilum photos they would open that folder or Phrags photos and so on. Someone reaching culture information a month from now will never find your thread because it will be lost in a pretty picture folder.
Please folks follow the unwritten rules.