urea ferts, lowering pH

[OrchidTraci]

Oh you guys are really just making me want to *RUN* out and get some of this right this second! Mmmmm tasty fisshhhhessss!!!

Haha, it does go away pretty fast, but it is a smell you don't forget.

[LJA]

Pete, I've never known urea to be harmful to the plants so much as useless. It needs to be broken down by soil microbes before its nitrogen can be converted into usable form, and since orchids aren't (typically) grown in soil, the urea never gets broken down.

Here, we use fish emulsion and seaweed extract regularly, with results that I'm really happy with. I mix a batch of it up to last a couple of weeks, and the plants love it--it doesn't take much, either.

As far as lowering the pH, plain old vinegar will do a great job.

[peteMc]

thank you, Louis. I have been using a seaweed extract product for a couple weeks now, and while it's too early to tell with most of the orchids, as I'm sure you know, the faster-growing non-orchid plants have responded really nicely - passifloras, Ming, prayer plants, jasmine, all looking robust. as mentioned above, no more alaska's in my livingroom

the pH thing; the labels on the acid ferts say boric acid. i suspected it wouldn't matter what the source was so much, at such low levels, and i am comfortable with a more organic, home remedy approach. i have to live in among the things too. and if the studies were accurate, the grower's attitude and confidence in the caregiving do in fact make a difference.

btw, I also feed the gang some miles davis mixed with tom waits, ocassionally Kottke, they seem to like it

pete

[L I Jane]

Dear God--get the odorless fish emulsion!!May have some smell but tons less than regular stuff.Otherwise you will have to leave your home or greenhouse for a couple of months!

[peteMc]

funny thing was, Jane, i did....it wasn't so bad at first, but after the temp rose a bit, well....and it went in my Stans' baskets, right up at nose level

today is much better, don't notice it for the most part, and tomorrow morning they get watered again - hopefully will flush it out some more. as long as they're happy...

p