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Thread: When to fertilize with blooming fert?

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  1. #1
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    Default When to fertilize with blooming fert?

    Greetings All,

    All these while i have been fertilizing only with a balance 21-21-21 fert and have never used any blooming fert. I guess my plants are strong enough to have more blooms now, therefore i would like to start to apply blooming fert.

    Anyone can advice when to fert them? Should i apply before they develop buds, when they starts to develop buds or i should just fert them alternately between balance fert and blooming fert?

    Is this there any difference in fert timing between cattleya that blooms all year round and dendrobium anosmum that only blooms once a year?

    Please advice.


    Thanks.

  2. #2
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    Roy Lee
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    Default

    You are already using a fertilizers that does all things. No need to change at all. #1, if you can see a sheath &/buds on a Catt', its too late for a blooming fert'. Use the growth fert' to boost the plant & assist in it handling the flowers & cane maturity. Blossom booster needs to be used at a minimum, 6 months prior to flowering to be of any use. The whole issue revolves around how many plants & type of plants you have. Catts for example, a collection & using mine for discussion, I have Catts flowering all year round & some flower twice a year. I have 1000 approx' plants of various sizes, I have to use the one fert' all year round. I can't separate plants into flowering times, I would need 4 - 6 Orchid house to do it. No one with a substantial collection of any type of orchid or mix collection can do it. I would use what you have or a genuine good quality ie NPK & trace element fert' all year round.

  3. #3
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    Ray Barkalow
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    Default

    Expanding on Roy's reply, in truth, there is no fertilizer that "boosts" blooming. That whole concept came about either as a misinterpretation of data or as a marketing myth (or both).

    When the first "chemical fertilizer", Miracle Grow 30-10-10, was developed at Rutgers University and marketed, folks poured in on heavily. Their plants grew great, but after a while folks started noticing their plants not blooming as well as they had in the past. Another formula was developed, having decreased nitrogen and enhanced potassium, and - Lo! And Behold! - reasonable blooming levels returned. That formula, therefore, was marketed as a "bloom booster".

    What folks didn't grasp (or possibly admit) was that it was the excessive application of nitrogen that had suppressed the blooming, so the second formula didn't actually "boost" anything, but by diluting the nitrogen content, it no longer suppressed it, allowing the plants to bloom normally.

    The facts are that, while nitrogen is - by far - the most important mineral nutrient, a plant doesn't need very much of it - about 5g of NPK (90+% of that being N) and around 100kg of water are necessary for a plant to gain 500 grams of mass - and that given that minimal amount of nutrition and the proper culture, a plant will bloom to its genetically-programmed maximum capabilities. Any shortfalls detract from that.

  4. #4
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Roy View Post
    You are already using a fertilizers that does all things. No need to change at all. #1, if you can see a sheath &/buds on a Catt', its too late for a blooming fert'. Use the growth fert' to boost the plant & assist in it handling the flowers & cane maturity. Blossom booster needs to be used at a minimum, 6 months prior to flowering to be of any use. The whole issue revolves around how many plants & type of plants you have. Catts for example, a collection & using mine for discussion, I have Catts flowering all year round & some flower twice a year. I have 1000 approx' plants of various sizes, I have to use the one fert' all year round. I can't separate plants into flowering times, I would need 4 - 6 Orchid house to do it. No one with a substantial collection of any type of orchid or mix collection can do it. I would use what you have or a genuine good quality ie NPK & trace element fert' all year round.
    Hi Roy,
    Noted, thanks for the insight and advice. I will stick back to my current fert.

    ---------- Post Merged at 08:57 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by raybark View Post
    Expanding on Roy's reply, in truth, there is no fertilizer that "boosts" blooming. That whole concept came about either as a misinterpretation of data or as a marketing myth (or both).

    When the first "chemical fertilizer", Miracle Grow 30-10-10, was developed at Rutgers University and marketed, folks poured in on heavily. Their plants grew great, but after a while folks started noticing their plants not blooming as well as they had in the past. Another formula was developed, having decreased nitrogen and enhanced potassium, and - Lo! And Behold! - reasonable blooming levels returned. That formula, therefore, was marketed as a "bloom booster".

    What folks didn't grasp (or possibly admit) was that it was the excessive application of nitrogen that had suppressed the blooming, so the second formula didn't actually "boost" anything, but by diluting the nitrogen content, it no longer suppressed it, allowing the plants to bloom normally.

    The facts are that, while nitrogen is - by far - the most important mineral nutrient, a plant doesn't need very much of it - about 5g of NPK (90+% of that being N) and around 100kg of water are necessary for a plant to gain 500 grams of mass - and that given that minimal amount of nutrition and the proper culture, a plant will bloom to its genetically-programmed maximum capabilities. Any shortfalls detract from that.
    Hi Ray,

    Thank you for the detail explanation. This is very helpful too.

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