At what point does one consider a cattleya entering its "blooming phase?

[Velamen]

A rather odd question. But, I want to know when to change the regiment for a cattleya when it is in the "blooming phase" (requiring change in fertilizer, water, etc.). That is, would the regiment change once a flower spike begins to emerge or when the spike is first developing its blooms? At this point, my three cattleyas are growing and hearty and one MAY be about to put forth a spike. I don't want to be too early or too late to adjust as necessary any regiment of care for the plants.

Thanks.

Don

[pavel]

Timing is not that critical. I know folks who always use a balanced fertilizer and their plants bloom fine. For most catts, the "blooming" phase begins as the new growth matures and produces a sheath.

[Velamen]

Thank you, Pavel.

Don

[Halloamey]

At the moment all my plants are one a balanced fertilizer, but I have noticed considerable differences in flower quality and longevity when fertilized with high Potassium and low Nitrogen and Phosphorus fertilizers like 5:2:10 etc.

[stefpix]

Halloamey, what are the differences you noticed changing fertilizers?

thanks
stefano

[Velamen]

Halloamey or any one else,

May I also ask what kind of fertilizer to use? Right now I only use liquid seaweed but I don't think that's enough.

Can one use liquid seaweed with another fertilizer or is that overkill?

Thanks for your time and knowledge.

Don

P.S. My plants "appear" healthy but I am new to orchids!

[Kassie]

Don, I think seaweed extract is great for encouraging growth and I use it once a month during the spring & summer or anytime I have an orchid that is stressed (e.g. By root loss). But I don't think it has all the nutrition a plant needs. The brand I have has a 1-0-0 NPK rating--definitely not a "balanced" fertilizer. I would think that eventually on a seaweed only diet, you will get lots of new growth but the growth will mature smaller and bloom less. It's a little like a steady diet of 5 Hour Energy drink in lieu of food.

I fertilize every week with a weak dose of fertilizer formulated for orchids and when I want to do seaweed, I add it right to the fertilizer water.

[Halloamey]

Halloamey, what are the differences you noticed changing fertilizers?

thanks
stefano

How about, I show you

The first two photos are of my Aerides maculosa blooming in 2011. Since I was in India then for the entire year, they were under my intensive care where, they were fertilized (foliar application) two times a week with 200 ppm of NPK each along with 50 ppm of Mg and a chelated mix for the micronutrients. This regimen was carried out from June to March. In March I switched to the bloom booster combination which is 100 ppm N, 100 ppm P and 300 ppm K. And then they bloomed like never before.





Then the next two photos are from this years blooming. Since I am back to Germany my mother takes care of all my orchids with the help of a gardener maid. They take excellent care of my orchids but not as intensive as I do. So they use the same balanced fertilizer all year round and spray just once a week. And you see reduced number of flowers both per spike, the no. of spikes and lateral branching of the spikes. This could also be due to the reduced fertilizer application, but when I was fertilizing I think I was over overfertilizing anyways

[tucker85]

Halloamey or any one else,

May I also ask what kind of fertilizer to use? Right now I only use liquid seaweed but I don't think that's enough.

Can one use liquid seaweed with another fertilizer or is that overkill?

Thanks for your time and knowledge.

Don

P.S. My plants "appear" healthy but I am new to orchids!

Are you using liquid seaweed that has fertilizer already in it? If not, liquid seaweed is just a supplement and not a fertilizer. That would be like taking vitamins but not eating anything. If you ask 10 orchid growers what fertilizer they use, you'll get 10 different answers. Almost any fertilizer is better than none. Try to find a fertilizer that contains micro-nutrients along with the regular nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Also studies have shown that orchids utilize nitrogen derived from nitrate more readily than nitrogen derived from ammonium or urea. The label will tell you what percentage of nitrogen comes from nitrate. You can add the liquid seaweed to the same mixture with the fertilizer.

As far as timing your fertilizer. It's more important to think of the weather than to think about the orchid. During the long bright days of spring and summer, the orchids are growing rapidly and need fertilizer. In the fall the days become shorter and growth slows down. The orchids need less fertilizer and less water during the fall and winter when plant growth is slow. During that part of the year some growers just fertilize less often or switch to a fertilizer with less nitrogen.

[otis226]

Interesting... so are your orchids moving from India to Germany, or just you?
Thanks,
Tony