Amazing New Fertilizer

[ronaldhanko]

I had been having a lot of problems with yellowing leaves, leaf drop and leaf spotting on Masdevallias, and was really struggling with them, though a number of other plants also seemed to be at less than optimum condition. I Should mention that I grow most plants in live sphagnum or on mounts.

I had tried another of things, decreasing light intensity, switching to other fertilizers, providing more air movement, and had even considered trying a fungicide, but nothing seemed to work. This was all happening after 35 years of growing orchids successfully.

Then the March issue of Orchids arrived with an article by Rick Lockwood, "What do Orchids Eat? Are Your Orchids Addicted to Potassium?" I do not always read the scientific articles but this looked interesting and changed my views on fertilizer.

I had always been very unscientific about fertilizer and it had worked. Generally I threw a pinch of whatever houseplant or orchid fertilizer that was available into two gallons of water and alternated that occasionally with plain water and it had worked for me.

In addition I was always dubious about all the claims for this fertilizer or that, since most had very little to back them up and seemed more advertisements or experimentation than anything else. And of course, why change what was working.

But for the first time in memory things were not working and this article seemed to address the problems I was having. The article stated that potassium is very rare in nature but that epiphytic plants are very efficient at taking it up.

However, the article suggested that when taken up in quantity it would block the uptake of calcium and magnesium resulting in yellowing leaves, susceptibility to disease and reduced growth, exactly what I was struggling with.

I checked the fertilizers I was using and all of them had relatively high amounts of potassium (K), 10-15-10, 20-10-20, 20-10-10, etc., and no discernible amounts of calcium and magnesium, which, according to the article, are readily available to orchids in nature.

The article mentioned a new fertilizer called "K-Lite" formulated by Ray Barkalow of First Rays and others (and available from him). This fertilizer is 12-1-1-10Ca-3mg, i.e., very little potassium and available calcium and magnesium in amounts that matched the experimental data in the article.

I ordered a container of this fertilizer from Ray and began using it. The results were dramatic, so much so that I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Within days plants had greened up and were growing, or so it appeared, much more vigorously.

Not quite sure that I was not deluding myself, I waited a couple of months before writing this (though I did write Ray), but those couple of months have only confirmed that what I was seeing was not a delusion.

My plants, especially the Masdevallias have greened up, leaf spotting is almost non-existent and leaf drop has also stopped. I am still somewhat stunned by the abrupt change. I can see the difference even in the few Paphs I grow - better color, more vigor and strong new growth.

The article concerned Paphs especially (didn't mention Masdevallias at all) and mentioned some of the problems that author had had with his Paphs. Since it seemed to speak to my problems, I followed it and am converted to the arguments of the article and to this new fertilizer.

Those who are struggling with the same problems I had should look up the article and anyone who grows under the same conditions I do should consider changing to a low potassium fertilizer and perhaps consider, too, using a fertilizer with supplements of calcium and magnesium.

The article changed my way of thinking about fertilizer - it matters what you give your plants! It has also lead to the best thing I've done for my orchids in many years and to even better culture and I want publicly to thank the author of the article and Ray for their efforts

If you read this post, however, I hope that you, especially if you are a beginner, do not think that this fertilizer is the answer to every cultural difficulty. All the other things I mentioned, good air movement, proper light and humidity, etc., are all essentials ingredients of good culture.