Why does loving more deeply instead hurt more deeply?

Promote Chinese orchid culture, spread orchid knowledge

Many orchid enthusiasts always attach great importance to fertilizing, thinking about fertilizing their orchids almost every day. In fact, fertilizing must be restrained. Without rational fertilizing, it will only harm the orchids and cause the consequence of pulling up seedlings to help them grow.

Orchids are not fertilizer-loving plants and have limited fertilizer needs. Moreover, orchids need certain conditions to absorb fertilizer; they cannot absorb fertilizer at any time. Let me talk about several necessary conditions for fertilizing in my personal opinion:

1. Suitable temperature: under normal circumstances, the generally accepted temperature is that absorption can begin only above 15 degrees. Within the range of 15~25 degrees is the best time to fertilize. In actual practice, I personally feel that fertilizing should begin when the temperature stabilizes at 15 degrees, while the real peak of fertilizer absorption should be between 20~30 degrees. Within this temperature range, orchids grow fastest and absorb more fertilizer. Above this temperature, too much fertilizing easily causes excessive vegetative growth. If fertilizing below 15 degrees, the orchid root system is simply soaking in fertilizer water, absorbing very little, with a hundred harms and no benefit. The commonly seen situation is that the crystal tips turn black and rot;

2. Sufficient light: without light, photosynthesis cannot occur; with insufficient light, photosynthesis is also weak. Under such conditions, absorption is slow, and the absorbed fertilizer cannot be transformed, just like indigestion in people. Therefore, fertilizing also needs the cooperation of light. During the plum rain season, if you keep fertilizing blindly, stem rot and soft rot come one after another. This is also the consequence of blind fertilizing. Take this year in our area, with more than a month of continuous rainy weather and very little sunlight. Many growers suffered losses to varying degrees because of this aspect, which can illustrate the point. The reason is that we habitually use slow-release fertilizer, and during the plum rain season there is plenty of water and the temperature is also suitable for the release of slow-release fertilizer, but because there is no sunlight, the fertilizer cannot be absorbed, thus causing such consequences. Therefore, during the plum rain season, when there is sunlight, it is best to apply quick-acting water-soluble fertilizer;

3. Strong seedlings: In the past, orchid growers proposed: strong orchids should not remain thin for long, and thin orchids should not be suddenly heavily fertilized. This means that strong seedlings should be fertilized in good time, while weak orchid seedlings should be fertilized lightly, that is, apply thin fertilizer frequently, step by step and slowly;

4. Complete root system: For orchids that have just been potted not long ago, rushing to fertilize is very unfavorable to orchid growth. Because for orchids potted not long ago, the root system has not yet fully recovered. Fertilizing at this time means the old root tips cannot absorb it and the new root tips have not yet grown out, so the damage is not small. Books in the past often emphasized starting fertilization only after three months. Although somewhat conservative, it is not without reason. According to observation, under very suitable conditions, new roots still take at least 20 days to grow well. But in reality, among enthusiasts' cultivation conditions, how many can achieve that kind of condition? Of course, under the currently popular soilless cultivation conditions, appropriately applying a little Magic Fertilizer when repotting can still be effective;

5. Sufficient water supply: The absorption of fertilizer requires the assistance of water to complete. Without sufficient water supply, after fertilizing, the water evaporates, the fertilizer concentration increases, and root burn is unavoidable.

The above points do not include foliar feeding. In my opinion, foliar feeding is only suitable for old, weak seedlings with poor root systems, just like giving a person an IV drip to supplement nutrition. Strong plants do not need foliar feeding, and excessive foliar feeding can cause root system degeneration. Moreover, if the concentration of foliar feeding is not well controlled, it easily causes fertilizer damage to new shoots, leaving irreversible, permanent white fertilizer-damage scars.

Orchid Bar, your good teacher on the road of orchid growing