Home |Affiliates Prgram|Resources|Exchange Links|Directory|Articles| Contact Us

Here is just an example of Part 9a of the 12 Part mini course on “Insider’s Secrets on Growing and Caring for Orchids Like a Pro”.   Orchid Fertilizer  A common mistake many new orchid growers make is to assume that orchids don’t need any extra feeding. They think about how the plants grow in nature, often in low-nutrient conditions – on a tree trunk or the edge of a cliff – and guess that orchids somehow possess a magical power to extract nutrients where there are none.   This of course is not the case, and orchids have the same nutritional requirements as other plants. Indeed, as we are rarely able to adequately mimic their natural habitats, we must often give orchids additional nutrients.   All plant fertilizers tend to be described in terms of the proportions of their three main ingredients, Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium. If you see a fertilizer described as “20-20-20” or “NPK 20-20-20”, this means it has equal amounts of each of the main ingredients (K is the chemical symbol for Potassium).   Nitrogen is an all-round nutrient for the plant, associated with the development of green foliage. Phosphorous promotes blossoming. Potassium is associated with strong root development.   The proportions between the ingredients are more important than the actual numbers for most purposes. For example, 30-10-10 signifies a fertilizer high in Nitrogen. This is ideal for orchids planted in a 100% or high bark medium as the bark actually absorbs Nitrogen and prevents it being absorbed by the orchid’s roots. If your orchids are planted in a medium like pearlite or another inert mineral medium, there would be too much Nitrogen and a balanced fertilizer mix like 20-20-20 would be more appropriate.       P.O. Box 1264, Parramatta NSW 2124, Sydney, Australia  ©  All Rights Reserved