K-Lite Trial

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I thought we where testing both?!?!?!


True




He said in a few post back that it would take months and years. You may see result in a few months but you also need to see results a year from now.


You may actually see some effects (like changes in leaf color) in just a week or so. Plants with healthy root systems (especially mounted plants) may really jumpstart after just a few feedings ( a month??). As mentioned you may be purging K from older potting mixes and not see much of anything for a few months. Ultimately we need to be watching for true deficiencies that may take at least 1 full year if not a few years. Do big adult plants quit blooming and just keep adding growths?? Seed pods crapping out??

The majority of problems I feel I identified from the high K system are more manifest over multiple years rather than short term acute toxicity problems of less than a few months. So this is really a long haul program.


Getting back to records, try to keep this fun, because of this gets tedious, then records go down the tubes. Over detailed records can be just as unhelpful as incomplete. I think some of our best options are going to be before and after pictures. So pick a few of your worst plants and photograph them now (with some scale if handy).

Yes perfect experiments would control just a single or few variables. But since we are comparing to a very uncontrolled population already, Lance is looking at this about the same as I see it.

Everybody uses fertilizers in unique ways already. So rather than trying to understand this down to the elemental level, we are black boxing everything else we do, and just reduce the K to see what happens for gross effects.
 
Keith, I'm sorry. When going from a handwritten tally to typed, I left you out. You originally asked for 1#, but 2 seems fine.

No problem....

Yes.... Like I mentioned... I was trying to "share the wealth" and I still will if others want to join..... I'll just use it on fewer select plants.

Rick,Ray,Gonewild..... I'm ok to do this how you guys would like! I was just throwing out suggestions on my thoughts.... But maybe a standard on info like water type, PPM N used, Ect.... At lease to start...
 
it was mentioned that we didn't need to get a lot of fertilizer to start, since we could always get more. if we wanted to spread the first bag around that would get people started and if more were interested, we could get another bag (or two)

also, people doing the test don't necessarily need to use it on all of their plants. if they have a bunch of phals and a bunch of paphs, grab some of each and use it on them, and can compare to the other stuff they have (if they have the time to do that) just thoughts
 
I, like Ross, work through a proportioning pump that adds the fertilizer to my irrigation water as it is used. 100% of my plants - most in LECA and S/H culture, some mounted, some in EcoWeb, some in Orchiata - straight or with perlite/charcoal - will get this stuff.

I figure this is a fairly low-risk trial. With this formula, there is no gross "poisoning" potential, but there is always a possibility of a deficiency in the K itself (unlikely, in my opinion), or a deficiency in something else brought on by the low K. Deficiencies are easier to see than to specifically identify, but considering the most significant change is the K level, if you see a deficiency, switch back to the regular fertilizer, and it'll be remedied in no time.
 
I'd like to get a pound or two if there's enough. I can take it in a bag since I'll be storing in my own sealed container anyway. If I get more than a pound I'll also share with my Dad for him to try on his Paphs and Catts.

I hope to try this on seedlings of several genera; I have a few groups of individuals from the same flasks, including Catt acklandiae, Den canaliculatum, Bulb plumatum, and some others. Not sure whether I should try different regimens within the groups or just feed them all with K-Lite in distilled water and stick to my regular feed (MSU WW in tap) for everything else. Opinions on this are welcome.

If there's not enough to go around please leave me out first, I don't mind waiting until later to get some of this. My collection is so small and I'm such an under-fertilizer that I'm not going to add much info anyway. Thanks Ray and Rick for your hard work and ideas to get this going!

--Nat
 
I just had an idea. What do you all think of this: I will sell the fertilizer to you at $5/lb (minimum 1# package - heat-sealed plastic bag), and the profit will be donated to the forum.
 
I'm interested in this product but I'm wondering about two things.

What would the total cost be incl. shipping to the Netherlands.

And would shipping fertilizer actually be possible, will it require customs paperwork? Or is it banned completely on airmail because of the threat it could potentialy provide.
 
I could probably fit a 2 pound bag into a small flat rate box - cost $13.95 for shipping, $10 for the fertilizer.

I don't think it would be an issue in such a small package, and there appears to be no restriction on either end. I have shipped 2# jars of the MSU stuff all over Europe.
 
OK, the fertilizer is in!

Here's what I have for distribution - in pounds, all in sealed plastic bags, unless otherwise noted:


Rick 5
Ray 5
Ross 4
Keithrs 2
cnycharles 1
Eric M 2 (Jar)
yakmanq 2 (jar)
jtrmd 3
gnathaniel 2
tocamar 1
Rick H 5
Jim Toomey 16
Marc 2

Price is $5/lb, plus shipping. All profits will go to this forum.

Please place a "gift certificate" order HERE, using a credit card for payment. Ignore any service fees, they will not be charged (I do the processing off-line, so you card won't be charged until ti's ready to go). You may also call or fax the payment info to 888-283-5094.

If you don't want to participate, please let me know.
 
OK, the fertilizer is in!

Here's what I have for distribution - in pounds, all in sealed plastic bags, unless otherwise noted:


Rick 5
Ray 5
Ross 4
Keithrs 2
cnycharles 1
Eric M 2 (Jar)
yakmanq 2 (jar)
jtrmd 3
gnathaniel 2
tocamar 1
Rick H 5
Jim Toomey 16
Marc 2

Price is $5/lb, plus shipping. All profits will go to this forum.

Please place a "gift certificate" order HERE, using a credit card for payment. Ignore any service fees, they will not be charged (I do the processing off-line, so you card won't be charged until ti's ready to go). You may also call or fax the payment info to 888-283-5094.

If you don't want to participate, please let me know.


I think Jim Toomey's max was 6 lbs (not 16).

But we have 13 people to divide 25 lbs (2 lbs each = 26). With cnycharles and tocamar only wanting 1lb each that 's back to 24 lbs with everyone else still getting 2lbs.

2lbs is fine for me.
 
Actually, I ordered 2 bags, allowing those wanting more to get the larger amount, and Jim contacted me telling me he wanted more...
 
This is also available at my website.

K-Lite.jpg
 

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