Fire, on 10 October 2018 - 08:57 AM, said:
Hi to all Orchid Experts,
Hi all. I need advices from you guys regarding growing orchids.
I love orchids and are trying to grow them but not so successful. I was given advices - do not need to give fertilisers or must give some fertilisers by friends and read from web.
So which is which? If fertilisers needs, what type and how often? Is that hormone type one?
Also if I need to add charcoals to my newly bought orchids, do I need to wash the charcoals or just simply add onto the plant and water it??
Thanks in advance.
Orchids are hardy plants and does not need much care, what you need to know though is whether the plant needs full sun or shade. Depending on where you are growing the plants it may be that plants are not suitable according the environment there that's why you are not successful. If you choose the type of orchids that grow best with the environment that you have, then you will have good success.
Fertilizers would be good if you want to help it to grow well, but it is not necessary. I have successfully grown orchids that flowers frequently with just daily watering for years with no fertilizers. However if you want to add fertilizers, it simpler if you get those beads fertilizers which you would just drop a few onto the base of the plant ($5 for a bottle at Woon Leng), you can replace the beads once every few months.
Fertilizers come specifically with percentage of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K), so typically you can see things label like 21:21:21 which means equal parts and sometimes you see the label reads 63 which is the total number of the ratio. This is normally used for general growth. Some people use 10:30:20 NPK to push for blooms, but really even if you add fertilizer, a simple balanced ratio would be good enough.
No need to add charcoal as the plant should be settled when you buy it. If you are re-potting or propagating, then just get the regular charcoal and wash it with water before using it. There are some advocates who state that you should get gardening grade charcoal that has less chemical etc, but I have never used any of these. I just use those that we buy for BBQ and use them and it works fine.
A simple guide for growing orchids. It needs a lot of light (not necessary directly depending on the species), and if there is wind it is better. Orchid roots like to get wet and then dried before next wetting. When you water orchids, water only at the base of the plant, do not wet the plant, in addition you should fully drench the base, i.e. you see water running out. You should only water again after you see that the pot is drying out.
Enjoy your journey!