Opinions on Miracle-Gro Orchid Food

[Spookylady]

Hi all, orchid newbie here. I currently have 5 orchids in full water culture.

A coworker gave me a small box of Miracle-Gro Orchid Food. I read an article about how to use it for full water culture (add a few ounces to the water, let sit for 15-20 minutes then dump out).

Overall has anyone used this product? How did it work for you? I haven't heard from many people on here that are using full water culture. If I'm the only one I guess I'm the guinea pig and if I fail miserably y'all can learn from my mistakes! Thank you.

My orchids! Flickr

[Ray]

Assuming that's the 30-10-10 formula, I would recommend that you mix a tiny amount and just leave the plant in the solution. Exposing it to very high fertilizer concentrations can be damaging to the roots.

Personally, I'd recommend 1/15th teaspoon/gallon, which will give you 25 ppm N. The way to do that is to mix up one gallon of concentrate containing 17 teaspoons of the powder, then use 1 tablespoon of the concentrate to make up one gallon of final-use solution.

[katrina]

Be aware that the product does have an acidifier of some sort so it's good with most tap water but probably not a good choice for someone using rain water.

[fooferdoggie]

If I remember right it does not have the right type of nitrogen.

[Spookylady]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I was a little skeptical about using this product and I'm glad I haven't tried it yet.

Ray, I was concerned about the strength of the mix - I don't want it to be too strong, especially since there's no moss or bark.

Katrina, I'm using regular tap water and fooferdoggie, I heard it has urea in it so I think I'm going to find something else.

Thank you all for your responses. I feel so much better about caring for my orchids knowing that I have folks on the board to answer my questions!

[fooferdoggie]

been using this with good results https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Dollythehun]

Agreed. I used expensive stuff with no better results than Better Gro. You can also get it at Lowe's, which is handy.