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I'll drop in a couple of points here.1) None of us actually knows what a plant requires. It's all conjecture based upon incomplete data, and that data is particularly sparse when it comes to orchids.2) I don't think we should underestimate the array of chemicals exuded by the forest canopy-producing vegetation. Most minerals are, indeed, in the soil. Their roots draw them in and spread them around the terrestrial plants, and I have no doubt that they ultimately get exuded and end up in the solutions the epiphytes see. (For example, Alan Koch mentioned that rupicolous laelias are common to areas where the soils are particularly high in iron, so it should be enhanced in their feeding regimen.)3) "Concentrations mattering less than ratios" is crap. (Forgive me, Mike. I'm trying to make a point.) An insufficient supply of the "ideal dietetic ratios" will still result in starvation. Considering the extremely dilute nature of those solutions the epiphytes see, I suppose one might conclude that in the case of orchids, ratios might be of more import, but I think the general statement is too broad to be valid.
I'll drop in a couple of points here.
1) None of us actually knows what a plant requires. It's all conjecture based upon incomplete data, and that data is particularly sparse when it comes to orchids.
2) I don't think we should underestimate the array of chemicals exuded by the forest canopy-producing vegetation. Most minerals are, indeed, in the soil. Their roots draw them in and spread them around the terrestrial plants, and I have no doubt that they ultimately get exuded and end up in the solutions the epiphytes see. (For example, Alan Koch mentioned that rupicolous laelias are common to areas where the soils are particularly high in iron, so it should be enhanced in their feeding regimen.)
3) "Concentrations mattering less than ratios" is crap. (Forgive me, Mike. I'm trying to make a point.) An insufficient supply of the "ideal dietetic ratios" will still result in starvation. Considering the extremely dilute nature of those solutions the epiphytes see, I suppose one might conclude that in the case of orchids, ratios might be of more import, but I think the general statement is too broad to be valid.
