Xavier's 2012 40 page article - confusion

[orchidsimplicit]

Well, I've read and re-read this extensive article and boy do I have questions about what type of water to use and what fertilizer to use.

I could sure use some explanation in these areas.

Urea or not? What type of water to use, plain tap or RO what to add to the water? I currently use MSU for RO, but the article says DON'T USE IT.

Help please.

 

[Justin]

what is your tapwater like? Do you have a water report that shows hardness, TDS, Na, Ca, Mg, etc? If you can share those figures it would help.

 

[ALToronto]

Can you post a link to the article?

 

[mormodes]

This one?http://eurobodalla.org.au/fileadmin...012/Paphiopedilum_culture_and_propagation.pdf

 

[orchidsimplicit]

Can you post a link to the article?

http://eurobodalla.org.au/fileadmin/moruya/registrations/community/orchid/Perth_2012/Paphiopedilum_culture_and_propagation.pdf

This link should take you to the PDF file.

 

[orchidsimplicit]

Hey mormodes you beat me to the punch

 

[Bjorn]

As far as I understand, its a specially treated RO water in which boron is removed. His fertiliser composition does not contain urea but plenty of ammonium, which is more or less the same thing. Actually it is not but at least in my mixes the urea seem to decompose to ammonium pretty fast so more or less the same for me. Clear as mud?
Merry xmas btw!

 

[gonewild]

Urea or not? What type of water to use, plain tap or RO what to add to the water? I currently use MSU for RO, but the article says DON'T USE IT.

Help please.

There is no such thing as plain tap water.
Every water source is uniquely different.
Comparing your tap water in IL to tap water in CA is like comparing beer and coke, both are liquids with stuff in them.

MSU fertilizer was created to work well with most tap water or RO water sources. That is if your water has reasonably good qualities MSU will provide good results. If you are a casual grower disregard the "DON'T USE IT" advice because MSU will grow beautiful plants.

But if you want to get the best growth from your plants you need to consider what is in your water supply and adjust fertilizer to complement the source. Then you have to decide what "experts" you want to believe about what nutrients the plants really do need and which nutrients they don't need so much.

Personally I don't like UREA, it causes more problems than other Nitrogen sources in my experience.

For traditional fertilizer MSU is about as good as you will find.
Now K-lite is proving to provide better results for those growers that are using it.

 

[ALToronto]

The article has made me question the quality of my media more than the water. I grow either on living walls, with plenty of minerals in the concrete base (especially since half of the cement I use is fly ash), or in lava rock, which according to Xavier has lots of Boron (and iron as well, in the red variety). I have killed about half the paph seedlings that I bought, although two Sandie crosses are growing well, in lava/sphagnum and in the original bark chip mix.

Mostly, his article has made me very upset about the number of paphs still being ripped out of their habitat, only to be killed in cultivation. There is a lot of education in sustainability still to be done.