Den. Stephen Batchelor Flowers

[Leisurely]

After three years of growing this plant with no sign of flowers, I was about ready to toss it in the compost pile. At the beginning of March, one of the members offered some cultural advice that worked. It was Gands who recommended I stop all fertilizer and just use plain water. So I took her advice and I now have four beautilful spikes of white flowers and more coming. Thank you Gands!

[justatypn]

Great advise, it's important to flush the medium every now and than. Personally, I flush mine once a month. It's a worthy trade, nothing worse than dirty feet

[Lagoon]

Jerry,

I'm not surprised at all that your having more success with this orchid, NOT fertilizing, then with. While I can totally agree with Cheryl on flushing ... It seems much more with this 'chid it just doesn't like feeding much at all.

I've learned to only feed this guy very little and far apart maybe at 6 to 8 weeks at quarter strenght of 7-9-5. I've also found that it likes to stay fairly moist.

Any photo's to share with us?

[Leisurely]

Gloria, you are very correct about this plant liking water. It was growing in a Diatomite mix when I purchased it from H & R in Hawaii. It did quite well and soon outgrew the 4" pot it came in so I bumped it up into a 6" pot. With the 90's we are having here in Fl., it gets watered about every two days. I don't think it can survive on water alone forever so I believe I will give it a half teaspoon of high phosphorus fertilizer periodically as you suggested.

Sorry I can't post a picture. Something happened to my camera.

[gands]

Your welcome Jerry, glad you are having great results! Oh and by the way I'm a him.

gands

[Leisurely]

It might be a little late for re-opening this thread but I had to tell you about my Den. Stephen Batchelor. I have two fully flowered inflourescence and several more coming. Thanks for the help. Withholding the fertilizer did the trick for me.

[Lagoon]

Its' nice to hear your being successful with a once orchid that probably got under your skin

If you ever get yor camera fixed don't forget to show it off

[Ray]

What was the formula of the fertilizer you were using? It sounds like it may have been providing too much nitrogen. Stopping feeding eliminated the problem.

A high-phosphorus formula won't to diddley to help blooming. The myth behind "bloom boosters" is that the high P helps flowering. In fact, the added phosphorus does nothing more than dilute the N so you aren't overdosing it. A plant actually has very little demand for phosphorus, so anything over a couple percent is wasted.

[Leisurely]

I alternate between Better Gro 20-14-13 made for Sun Bulb Co. a commercial orchid grower here in Fl. and MSU 19-4-23. In addition, I use Expert Gardener, a Wal-Mart brand, that is a pellitized, six months slow release, at the rate of 1/2 tsp. per 4" or 1 tsp. per 6" pot. Better Grow and MSU are applied at the rate of 3/4 tsp. per gal. about every ten days.
About a year ago I began using a product called HB101 as an experiment on twenty plants. I was so delighted with the results after about two months that I started using it on everything. What I have experienced is enhanced growth, larger pseudobulbs, bigger canes, roots are twice the normal size, plants breaking multiple leads, longer lasting and brighter colored flowers. It's like orchids on steroids. The product is a little costly if you have a large collection but the results that you get are worth the price. Fungal problems have been virtually non-existent. I have never heard HB101 mentioned on this forum so I thought this would be a good time to talk about it.

[Leisurely]

Gands, I took your advice about not fertilizing. The plant has had none since this thread was started and look what it has done.