Good Deal for 20-20-20??
 

20 grams? Lithuania?

20 grams for 4 bucks? That sounds outrageous. I got a deal in Spain, 10 kilos of the stuff for 30 euros. which is pretty similar to 40 bucks.
200g is one fifth of a kilo, and would cost you 40, so a kilo at that rate would be 200 bucks, and my ten kilos would have been 2,000 dollars?

That's insane. Find a place that sells it in decent amounts for a reasonable price. Make a cooperative with other orchid nuts and divvy it out between you all.

Yea, why buy from outside the US when there are so many sources for fert inside the US? Sure, the shipping might be free but you could be waiting for weeks for it to arrive. If you're using tap water, you could just go to a local Lowe's and pick up some Better Gro.

The first couple of years I grew orchids I just used Miracle Grow - the regular stuff people use for houseplants. It might not have been a "perfect" orchid fert but it worked fine for me and it was easy to get. I ferted the orchids like I did the other plants...back then my orchids were treated like my other houseplants...they were just in a different medium...and I never had a problem. Hell, I didn't have any trouble w/my orchids (well, except for I sunburned a phal by accident one time) until I started reading orchid books and learning more about them. Prior to that they were just plants and I didn't love them to death. :blushing:

If you want to start off w/an orchid fertilizer but don't want to spend a lot of money then the Better Gro really is good, it's easy to find, and it's not expensive.

If you water w/R/O, rain water, or distilled water...there are a number of options available. Many nursery type places carry the Jack's brand...I haven't used it but a couple of my fellow OS members use it and really like it. And, if you want to stick w/online ordering then you can find many sites that offer ferts for orchids.

Also, if you live near a hydroponics store...they have a lot of different options that would be suitable for orchids.

Your options are vast w/in the US so there is no need for you to have to wait so many weeks to get something from another country.

I use this one: Akerne Rain Mix.
Not sure if you can find it in US. Probably there are alternatives near you.

Akerne Rain Mix is Greencare Orchid Special for RO, a.k.a. "MSU" RO.

Ray, by the way... what's your oppinion about Rain Mix? Is it good?

I've used the Miracle Gro orchid formula, Peter's 20-20-20, Better Gro formulations, Schultz, they are all fine. Better Gro makes an orchid formulation that is 20-14-13 with trace elements, 0.45 kg (450 g), about $6.00, available in just about any big-box home improvement garden center, like Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. This is a much better fertilizer bargain.

We call 20-20-20, or 10--10-10 "balanced" only because the 3 numbers representing N-P-K are equal. Keep in mind that plants in general, including orchids, don't require these numbers to be balanced. 20-2-18 is closer to the ratio that most plants use. You can use any water-soluble fertilizer that supplies reasonable amounts of NPK, so 30-10-10, or 20-20-20, or 20-14-13, are all fine. Orchids are weak feeders anyway, so just remember to reduce the strength to 1/4 of what the package recommends and your plants will be fine.

Most orchid formulations also contain trace elements - also good.

How about the Schultz Expert Orchid Food 19-31-17 I am starting out with?

It almost doesn't matter what you use, if it contains all the minerals the plant needs.

There is a good extended discussion on plant fertilization here:

Feeding and Watering - First Rays LLC