I use the same fertilizer year round, but it is 20-20-20. If they are fed on a regular schedule orchids will take what they need and the rest is lost. The element balance matters more for under fed plants.

I agree with richard 100%. Its not the biggest deal in the world, you can do it since it does have the NPK, BUT:

1. orchids aren't the biggest phosphorus consumers (phosphorus being the key element for blooming). So all that extra phosphorus you're dumping on them is just washing away (and if, by your zone, you are where I think you are, right into the chesapeake).
2. Orchids aren't the biggest feeders by nature. I'd rather you look for something that has lower numbers, like 7-9-6, instead of up in the 20's/30's, since orchids aren't the biggest feeders to begin with. All that extra stuff is going to just wash away, OR
3. Salt build up! The higher numbers will create salt build up in your media faster than the smaller numbers, since theres more salts packed into the same sized container. Maybe not if you dilute it like is recommended, but if you're using it at full strength, definitely.

Is urea free worth it? Makes any difference? Does it prevent salt build up?

I have two urea frees right now, please tell me if I should still use them! Or which one if I should if any of them.

GROW MORE Bloom 6-30-30 http://www.clanorchids.com/store/osg06.html

GROW MORE Urea Free 20-10-20
http://www.clanorchids.com//store/osg07.html

?

I would think that a 10-30-20 would build up as terpguy says if you used it full strength. But I'm wondering if you cut it back to say 1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon, if you'd get the same result. Terpguy, in his answer #3, indicates that this may not happen if you dilute it.

Urea wont have much to do with salt build up in and of itself since its just one of MANY salts in the fertilizer. You'll get salt build up either way. You're asking for an answer to one of the biggest issues in orchiddom: urea or urea free. I'll avoid that debate like the plague and suggest instead you get more orchid-centric ferts with weaker percents and more micronutrients, such as DynaGro (which I swear by), or MSU products. If you aren't interested in that at this time, then the 20-10-20 will work at half strength.

Isn't salt build up actually due to improper watering? If one is really giving the plant a good rinse through at watering time, salt build up shouldn't occur, should it? I use High N and High P ferts regularly and have never experienced salt build up. I use tap water that is fairly hard on some plants.

Clara

No disrespect, clara, I have a personal admiration for you, but I personally would avoid that kind of culture. I wouldn't knowingly use heavy ferts with hard water on sensitive plants like orchids. But hey, it works for you, so I'll leave it there :) I could see salt build up being of particular consequence if someone constantly lets their plants get too dry, but a heavier fertilizer would only contribute to the problem. And with newbies, who rarely water correctly, a heavier fertilizer would serve to handicap them farther. I think you might not see it because you generally keep your plants properly hydrated.

Should I invest in a salt flusher product? I don't have great humidity.

I did, recently, mix my chc and dynarocks with some sphag because the plants were getting too dry.

Does that sound like a solution that would allow air passage but not keep them sopping wet or too dry?

Terpguy -understood. Thank you and ditto.
Agreed. Not advise I would give a Newbie either. The better the water quality the less risk of damage. Doing it right from the beginning is something I foster. However, some can't invest in an RO system or buy distilled water by the case. Others simply don't know unless they read the back posts. Just threw it out there.

I should have added in my previous post, that I use a de-chlorinator bought at the local pet shop and age the water/fert for at least a day or more. The ferts are in 1/8 tsp or less/gallon . During summer season, ferts are regular, frequent but very very weak. 1/8 tsp /2 gallons. Doesn't matter the media or potting style (Traditional or s/h), everything gets a good flow through at each watering. I never experience salt build up, fert burn.

At this time of year, ferts should be reduced and/or illiminated.

Clara

For all the years I have grown orchids, I have used a balanced fertilizer, such as 10-10-10 or 30-30-30. About a year or more ago, I got a hold of a whole batch of brand name supposed 'bloom booster' fertilizer on a clearance table and, being lazy and cheap started to use it.

At first, everything was going fine. But then something peculiar started to happen to my monopodial orchids (about 100+ plants) -- Phals, Vanda, Neos, Angraecums, etc. The new leaves started to get smaller and smaller and bunch up in the crown. Hmmmm, what could be causing this? I mean leaves that were previously 8" long were now 1" long, and so forth.

Well, they can't all be virused or diseased, so what is it?

My eyes focused on this bargain fertilizer I was using and, eureka! I realized it was loading down these plants with stuff they didn't need or want and starving them of what they did need: nitrogen for growth.

I switched to a high nitrogen formula, and within a couple months saw a reversal of the trend in all of them, with longer and longer leaves being formed, and finally back to normal size on most of them (some are way slower growing to begin with and haven't gotten all the way back yet). I am now switching back to a balanced fertilizer like I have always used.

Why it didn't appear -- or at least not so noticeably -- in sympodial orchids, I don't know. Perhaps because their roots were in media which buffered the effect unlike the vast majority of my monopodials which are growing bareroot in baskets and on mounts.

I don't have time to do any extensive research on this and my old learnings on plant chemicals from college are rusty anyhow. Maybe somebody wants to experiment.

As for urea-free fertilizers, orchids don't get that in nature and are content to grow with urea nitrogen.

What do you guys think of this? http://www.orchidsupplies.net/site/1540127/product/425-9853717

I'm going to try to find out how much nitrogen it has but maybe some one knows already?

The numbers are there minnamouse. 7-8-6 This version of Dyna-grow is a low dosage balanced fertiliser. The 1st # is N. If you are looking for High N or High P Peters is one to check. But again at this time of year, I'm not sure you want to be using any fertiliser

Clara

I have well water.

What's the breakdown on your well water, minnamouse? Have you had it tested? For most of us, well water is what we all have, whether from our own well or from the municipal wells into the aquifer which supply our city water. What's the difference with your well?

Thanks for the observations about bloom boosters, CJ. Very compelling, experiment or not.

My old genetics professor always maintained that if you have a powerful effect, you don't need statistics to prove it. Just your observations will do. His graduate students weren't allowed to use stats.

You bet it was a powerful effect! I've grown Angs and Neos for about nine, ten years now, and have grown Vandas and Phals for 40 years. I have never seen this happen before, but then again I have rarely over the years used anything but a balanced fertilizer, and when I have used others, I never used them long term.

Interesting CJ. Just today I was watering and noticed some new growths on Catt hybirds growing oddly. The leaves are very small with sheaths inside these tiny leaves. Most bizarre thing I've seen. Was thinking the room is too cool, not enough light, etc. Now you have me wondering.....

I used Miracle Grow for Roses last month because it has a high P and I am also cheap & lazy. Only used it twice diluted, but who knows? You might be on to something.

I have to get a photo of these growths. Their are so strange...

Jane

Thanks for warning about bloom-boosters on monopodials CJ. I seem to be the only one here using fish fertilizer 2-4-1 (Neptune's Harvest) exclusively - and CJ's observations has me a little worried since the phosphorus is 2x nitrogen. The newer leaves on my phalaenopsis do not appear to be smaller than the older ones that were on the plant when I first got them. Then again, I've only been using fish fertilizer exclusively for ~6 months. I use distilled and R/O water only.

Is there anything negative about using fish fertilizer exclusively on orchids that I've missed? alvin

I am not saying it was positively the bloom-booster fertilizer that did it, in and of itself. It may have been combination of factors even if that doesn't seem obvious now. My water itself is very pure, about 43ppm, so it is unlikely to have been a combination of the fert with my water. The plants were growing in different areas around the yard and in the GH, even on a light shelf, and exhibited the same symptoms pretty much without exception. And I was using that fertilizer for over a year before I noticed the changes in the plants.

So at this point, it's just an observation and can be interpreted in many ways, which is what I meant about someone needing to experiment further under more controlled conditions.

But lots of people have used bloom booster fertilizers for short periods of time without this happening -- that they have mentioned at least -- so I wouldn't toss it out. But what I would not do is use it all the time. It may have turned up in the monopodial orchids because they grow year round rather than just seasonally, whereas seasonal growers would get enough nitrogen by proportion during their much shorter growing season and the bloom booster during their mostly dormant period wouldn't matter.

Another orchid growing mystery.

I found that fish fertilizer gave me very poor roots. When I went to repot I found a lot of bad roots. Once I stopped using it the roots improved tremendously, and now I have hardly any bad roots anymore. Now I use liquid seaweed (which is a vegetable product, not animal like the fish emulsion) and have no problems at all.

Thanks for heads up about poor roots in conjunction with fish fertilizer orchid126! I really have to check my root, and shop around for an alternative. alvin