Detailed Guide to Fertilizing Household Orchids and Preserving Edible Mushrooms

In southern regions, where the climate is relatively warm, fertilizing can begin right after the Spring Festival; in northern regions, because of the cold climate, it is best to wait until the third month of spring through early April. Experienced orchid growers use decomposed dry cow dung, mix it with 10 times its volume of potting soil, add a small amount of phosphate fertilizer, and apply this base fertilizer together with the potting soil. For hobbyists living in cities who have trouble finding decomposed dry cow dung, they can instead add various water-fermented cake and meal scraps to the potting soil, such as soybean cake, rapeseed cake, cottonseed cake, and hemp cake; shavings made from cattle and sheep hoof and horn can also serve as base fertilizer. Bury one of these organic fertilizers into the soil at the edge of the pot. Be careful not to let it come into direct contact with the roots, because fertilizer sticking to the roots will cause them to rot. During the growing season, liquid fertilizer can also be applied: ferment various cake and meal scraps with water, then dilute them with 5 to 10 times their volume of clean water to make a fertilizer solution, and apply it about once every half month. The simplest method is to use a chemical fertilizer with a fairly complete nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium content, keeping the concentration at 0.025% to 0.1%, that is, about 1/3 to 1/4 of the usual amount for ordinary herbaceous flowers is more suitable. In addition, when spraying pesticides, a small amount of chemical fertilizer can also be added at the same time and applied to the leaves, which also has a certain effect.

Orchids are most afraid of over-fertilization, so beginners can apply extremely dilute organic fertilizer, so as to avoid "planting flowers with all one's heart yet seeing none bloom."