Roots

[justagirlart]

What causes the hairs on the roots to die? If it does is whole root dead? I grow in all inorganic media. Water daily. Fertilize weekly. Peter's excel15-5-15 at 300ppm. Fairly high light 3000 foot candles. Fan on them at all times. Grown in a greenhouse in florida. They do well for months then roots just start dying. Or/And get brown spots on leaves near base. They aren't soft like erwina. One has interior leaf turning brown. No odor like phytophthora. No ring like fusarium. Why?

 

[Ozpaph]

can you post some pictures of the plant and roots?

 

[SouthPark]

Doing well for months is good. Maybe need to then take a look at temperatures, weather, media type, watering schedule etc during particular seasons. See if you can spot patterns ----- such as whether the issue always develops around the same seasonal time each year. Also - take a look into growing conditions - humidity, air-movement (none, light, moderate etc).

And whether the weekly fertilising is getting fertiliser build-up in the media to a point where ------ after several months, becomes enough to take out the roots and the plant.

 

[Ray]

Water daily. Fertilize weekly. Peter's excel15-5-15 at 300ppm.

Is that the TDS, measured with a TDS meter? What is the TDS of the water?

 

[richgarrison]

Is that the TDS, measured with a TDS meter? What is the TDS of the water?

Same thread of thought as Ray slightly different approach to get at the same info.

What does " Peter's excel 15-5-15 at 300ppm " actually mean.

For example, you measured the applied solution with some meter, or you mixed at label rates (was that the rate of 'N' in ppm, or ...).

 

[Ray]

TDS meters are notoriously bad. Read this.

 

[SouthPark]

What does " Peter's excel 15-5-15 at 300ppm " actually mean.
For example, you measured the applied solution with some meter, or you mixed at label rates (was that the rate of 'N' in ppm, or ...).

That will be it. Some info was missed out for sure before. It'll be 300 ppm nitrogen concentration.

 

[Ray]

We still don't know that...

 

[Elite Orchids]

when we used peters excel, we had to adjust the PH - what ph are you at? i appreciate you are at 300 ppm - how many teaspoons per gallon do you do?

 

[richgarrison]

That will be it. Some info was missed out for sure before. It'll be 300 ppm nitrogen concentration.

Great so we can ask some more questions now...
300 ppm N implies that you mixed based on the label to attain that concentration... Can you comfirm that?

If so, then we can move to what your water actually measures before adding the fertilizer. That would be something that most of us get done through an external lab, unless you have tooling to do the analysis yourself. If you are using an RO filter, then that helps narrow things down a lot (assuming again that it is functioning as expected)...

The one thing i'll go out on a limb and say immediately is that 300 ppm N typically results in a very high concentration of dissolved solids, leading to a salt build up. (but you can see how all the assumptions above drove to that 'observation')...

We await your updates... (these are always fun discovery journeys)

 

[SouthPark]

Great so we can ask some more questions now...
300 ppm N implies that you mixed based on the label to attain that concentration... Can you comfirm that?

It is relatively a high concentration. Hopefully the original poster confirms it. Applying that concentration each week will very likely lead to issues with roots. The Peters Excel information says something about 1 TEAspoon per gallon of water gets around 200 ppm N. I would just change that to maybe a rate of one-third TEAspoon per gallon or so. In the tropics here, with paphs and phrags growing in 100% scoria, I put in the fertiliser just once a month.

 

[Ray]

300 ppm N implies that you mixed based on the label to attain that concentration...

It is relatively a high concentration.

We don't know either of those things!

The statement was "300 ppm", not "300 ppm N", and could have been a target that has been recommended by someone, and controlled by using a TDS meter. In my experience with two TDS meters I have since thrown away, a 300 ppm TDS reading with that formula could be anywhere from 50-100 ppm N, with a true TDS as high as 550. I shoot for about 100 ppm N applied weekly, so that's not that highly concentrated at all.

If, on the other hand, that IS 300 ppm N, we're looking at about 1500 ppm TDS or more, and that would be a problem.

 

[SouthPark]

J.A.G.A ------- there's uncertainty about your meaning of 300 ppm. Could you please clarify that one?

 

[richgarrison]

We don't know either of those things!

The statement was "300 ppm", not "300 ppm N", and could have been a target that has been recommended by someone, and controlled by using a TDS meter. In my experience with two TDS meters I have since thrown away, a 300 ppm TDS reading with that formula could be anywhere from 50-100 ppm N, with a true TDS as high as 550. I shoot for about 100 ppm N applied weekly, so that's not that highly concentrated at all.

If, on the other hand, that IS 300 ppm N, we're looking at about 1500 ppm TDS or more, and that would be a problem.

DOH! i lost track of the actual poster and read " It'll be 300 ppm nitrogen concentration " as a confirmation from @justagirlart not an open question from @SouthPark

My Bad !

I'll go back to being a reader and not a poster ;-)

 

[SouthPark]

DOH! i lost track of the actual poster and read " It'll be 300 ppm nitrogen concentration " as a confirmation from @justagirlart not an open question from @SouthPark

That's ok rich! My 'prediction' is that JAGA really does mean 300 ppm of nitrogen, as in I'm predicting she really did go for the 1 tablespoon per 2 gallon rate (or something). It'll be my bad if wrong prediction heheheh. I'm 99% confident. But naturally would all go out the window if JAGA says otherwise hehehe.

 

[Ray]

Susan is a customer, so I emailed her, asking that she come back here and respond.

 

[justagirlart]

That's ok rich! My 'prediction' is that JAGA really does mean 300 ppm of nitrogen, as in I'm predicting she really did go for the 1 tablespoon per 2 gallon rate (or something). It'll be my bad if wrong prediction heheheh. I'm 99% confident. But naturally would all go out the window if JAGA says otherwise hehehe.

What causes the hairs on the roots to die? If it does is whole root dead? I grow in all inorganic media. Water daily. Fertilize weekly. Peter's excel15-5-15 at 300ppm. Fairly high light 3000 foot candles. Fan on them at all times. Grown in a greenhouse in florida. They do well for months then roots just start dying. Or/And get brown spots on leaves near base. They aren't soft like erwina. One has interior leaf turning brown. No odor like phytophthora. No ring like fusarium. Why?

J.A.G.A ------- there's uncertainty about your meaning of 300 ppm. Could you please clarify that one?

Susan is a customer, so I emailed her, asking that she come back here and respond.

 

[justagirlart]

I have not been able to upload pictures on this forum. Any advice or tricks. Yes I do use a TDS meter. I was told it was supposed to be 600-700. The pH of my water is 6.5. I have had it professionally tested twice.

 

[SouthPark]

Susan ----- does the 300 ppm refer to 300 ppm of nitrogen? Or does it refer to something else? Either is ok ...... we just need to be certain about it ------ in order to help determine whether or not it's possible that your orchids are getting affected negatively by too much fertiliser (salts) in and around the roots.

 

[Ray]

If the 300 ppm is a measurement from the TDS meter, it is likely not very accurate, but does suggest that the overall fertilizer concentration is low enough to not be the source of the problem.