Sorry - didn't see this earlier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fabian24
Ray,
You say that you didn’t observe any symptoms of K deficiency, despite using less than half the concentration at which K deficiency symptoms are observed in many orchid genera.
I believe you.
But unless you do a controlled trial, you can’t infer that this is the correct K dosing for fertilizing every orchid.
Do you use inert media, so that you can be sure the medium is not providing extra K?
Do you always water with RO, so that you can be sure there is not an extra supply of K in the water?
Even if you are sure that neither your medium nor your water can provide extra K,
what about sodium, so common in water and media?
It is a known fact that sodium can be temporarily used as a susbtitute of K, in case of need.
|
I will not claim at all that this is a controlled experiment, but yes, I use an inert medium for many of my plants, and yes, I use RO water exclusively.
I am aware that during the production of the medium, binders and processing aids are used that do contain traces of sodium, but it will be present in only very low levels in the final product, and is easily leached during the preparation and during regular watering early in its use.
I once filled a polypropylene container with the prepped LECA, filled the container with distilled water, sealed it and left it for a year. The analysis of that water showed about 15 ppm dissolved solids, so I am reasonably coinfident that it's not contributing materially to the plants' nutrition.
---------- Post added at 01:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:05 PM ----------
Goodgolly,
1) The K-Lite formula is based upon science. Not Rick's suppositions based upon mollusks, but upon published environmental analyses related to epiphytes and articles about plant nutrition in college textbooks. Nowhere has a claim been made that it is the ideal fertilizer, or that the formula is perfect.
2) The K-Lite formula has been tested and has received positive feedback from hundreds of orchid growers, on every continent except Antarctica, and the total number of testers is expanded-, and length of time of testing actually is much longer-term, as many growers were concocting their own versions well before the discussion went public and the "factory-made" material was available.
Some of the larger purchasers of the stuff are university professors. At least one stated that he was happy to be able to find it commercially, as he had long believed that the potassium in fertilizers was too high. If they want to publish, they will. I am certainly not in a financial position to sponsor a study.
I actually think that all of this skepticism is healthy. I harbor some of it myself.
It's the venomous attitudes and diatribes that are not.
Threaded Mode
