Erm...okay, so I'm trying to process all of this...give me a minute...there's some smoke coming out of my right ear...
Let me know if I have this straight: You're saying that urea-based nitrogen DOES get broken down in the soil...so that part is true. But it's okay to apply urea directly to foliage, because it's readily absorbed through the leaves....um, except for orchids, because they've developed thick skin to avoid moisture loss...so that basically undoes any benefit the urea could have provided in the first place?
By the way, I don't do foliar fertilzation either...I've burned my face a few too many times with curling irons in my teens, so when I think of my poor orchids getting their leaves burned by acid, I react quite viscerally to the whole thing...I hear this sizzle in my head and...well, never mind. We'll just say it makes me uncomfortable.
So to summarize, Urea is best for foliar fertilization, while other types of nitrogen are better for root fertilization, yes? But I know that my vandas and my paphs are getting
something out of the high-urea fert I've been using, because they're growing like gangbusters.
But my phals don't like it one bit. Burned roots all over. Hmmmm....weird. Looks like I still have a lot to learn...I will say that I'm pretty confident I'm not going to take up foliar fertilizing any time soon, so I should probably switch to the kind of fertilizer you're recommending, Ray... that Greencare brand sounds good. I'll probably still give my vandas and paphs the high-urea stuff, though, at least until I run out....just because they seem to like it so much! But one of my dendrobiums is absolutely
miserable with it, and the others seem indifferent...except for my antelope den...although I think that monster could get run over by a Mack truck and come out smiling...
Thanks for all the info! On that note, I think my brain is full...