I am newer to orchids, but everything I’ve read says you should not fertilize them when they are in bloom. I use the Planta suggested fertilizing schedule and they have me fertilizing my orchid, which is in bloom. Maybe they just have no way of knowing it is? It’s not actually a question that’s asked on the plant profile. Should I just skip it?
I fertilize mine year round. They are using the most energy while creating blooms, it makes no sense to me why people suggest to stop feeding them at this point.
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My understanding is it works off the assumption that a plant is not in active growth once the blooms have opened, so the supplemented nutrients would not be used. Unused fertilizer could cause salt buildup within the media. Withholding fertilizer virtually eliminates the risk of burning the roots during this time. I also think there is some frugality in there too. Why use something when you don’t need too? But my collection isn’t so tidy. Many of the plants will bloom and put on new growth at the same time. So I like the weakly weekly method when tending to the green horde. It just makes things easer in my household.
2 likesAs with most care in orchid, growing, there are no hard and fast rules. It truly IS finding what works best in your environment and with your particular lifestyle and varieties. I probably should have been more specific in saying that I use time release granules to fertilize, so they are getting fertilized all the time.
2 likesSlow* release granules.
0 likes I totally agree. It’s all about finding what works best for you.
1 likeThanks to both of you! Orchids are COMPLETELY new to me, so I’ll just have to experiment. I do use a liquid fertilizer so that could weigh in.
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