How to fertilize Cymbidium tortisepalum and prevent diseases? A detailed guide to the methods

Growing in the wild,orchidsare like hardworking men raised in the mountains: strong in body, able to endure hardship, with especially strong resistance to disease and an extremely high adaptability to harsh living environments. Because to adapt to their surroundings they must constantly struggle against the sky and the earth, and through redoubled toil they extract what they need from poor, barren soil; in this process their physique is tempered. So I believe that growingorchidsshould be more natural, more relaxed. Repotting and changing the soil once a year, along with a reasonable growing-medium ratio, is enough, plus spraying 3-5 times with a multi-element compound fertilizer during the peak growing season (I am against using organic fertilizers, which are both troublesome and pollute the air), and spraying 2-3 times with phosphorus and potassium during the bud stage (be sure to follow the ratio, and never be greedy for more) - that is quite sufficient. Too many fertilizers and nutrient solutions for forcing shoots, forcing roots and boosting growth may bring you a moment of delight, but they can also lurk with no small number of hidden risks. Of course, if you have professional knowledge and equipment, that is another matter. But whoever buysorchidsgrown by you in that way will have a real headache. So I believe that to grow orchids well you should pay more attention to their growing environment; doing a good job with the temperature, humidity, light and ventilation in that environment is the real skill, and only then can your beloved orchids grow strong and healthy, with every shoot that sprouts counting as one; even if there are a few fewer spring shoots, they will repay you by sending up autumn shoots. Even the strongest young man cannot avoid getting sick. The same goes for orchids: when southerners go to the north, they too may suffer from unfamiliar soil and climate, let alone when you move an orchid from the green mountains and clear waters of the high mountains into your environment, which is at least mildly polluted, and plant it in a tiny pot. In the process of growingorchids, for insect pests you should focus on broad-spectrum prevention; when you spot a particular pest, take targeted action with the "three-kill policy": first kill, second clean kill, third total kill, so as to avoid leaving future trouble. For diseases, you must distinguish serious from mild and carry out strict, scheduled, diversified, course-based prevention. That is to say: divide the year into two periods, with April-September as the heavy period and October to March of the following year as the light period. In the key prevention season, spray a preventive fungicide once every 7 days, with 3 sprays as one course, using one product. After an interval of half a month, begin the second course with another preventive product, and so on. Once the light prevention period arrives, after one course you can relax a bit. If, despite strictly following this prevention, something unexpected still happens, there is nothing this old man can do either; only, upon discovery, immediately lift the plant out of the pot, cut off the diseased shoot (along with one shoot that is not yet infected - this is very important) and throw it far away, then disinfect and sterilize the uninfected part, plant it well, and put it in a cool, well-ventilated place in isolation, leaving it to fate. The three major factors that cause disease are: high temperature, high humidity, and poor ventilation. I think poor ventilation is the most fatal of all. Excerpted from "Orchid Treasure Classic" Author: Wu Yongcai, Tonghai, Yunnan