The Orchid Garden

Never fertilize your

Question:

j j Never fertilize your plants again! j jBut, when you soak your "miracle" product in the fertilizer, then jplace it  around the plants, you are fertilizing. Besides, eventually jall fertilizer  soaked in the MAKE IT GROW will be released to the jsoil, then you have to  repeat the same process and fertilize again! j jI don’t see anything "revolutionary" about it. You can soak shredded jsponge in the liquid fertilizer and mix it with the soil to get the jsame  result. (SNICKER!) Rod & Susan Venger, Venger’s Orchids Homepage address http://www.usa.net/venger/ Listings Available – Email us for your copies The September Special is now available Order Line: 1-800-483-6437 —

Response:

Oliver notes, one should try it before knocking it; but I am reminded of the post . Try it, yes. But don’t try it on too many plants until we have some idea how well this works. As I said in a previous post, the people selling it don’t seem to know about orchids, so don’t assume it’s guaranteed to work for them. —

Response:

I noted the zeolite part. It would be like adding Calgon to your soil; and where zeolites exist in nature, the plant life growing on them never looks markedly happy. However, some dose with EDTA and some with organic cation exchangers. In moderation, these do no harm and may do some good. I suspect that it is the rockwool folk who get most benefit, as organic, fungus- supporting media will, in general, actively manage their nutrient status. The real problems with these slow-release things is that (1) they do not, on the whole, release things in a linear fashion, but follow a typical decay curve, so you get too much and then too little; (2) you don’t know when to repeat the dose, for "never" is a long time! (3) different nutrients will emerge at different rates – anions v. cations, for example – and (4) nutrients such as phosphorous and iron become insolubilised and inaccessible. Finally, in an epiphyte mix, one wonders how long the material added would stay in situ before exiting the bottom of the basket. However, as one post notes, one should try it before knocking it; but I am reminded of the post about bat guano which appeared on this usegroup a few months ago.   Oliver Sparrow

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j j Never fertilize your plants again!
j jBut, when you soak your "miracle" product in the fertilizer, then
jplace it  around the plants, you are fertilizing. Besides, eventually
jall fertilizer  soaked in the MAKE IT GROW will be released to the
jsoil, then you have to  repeat the same process and fertilize again!
j jI don’t see anything "revolutionary" about it. You can soak shredded jsponge in the liquid fertilizer and mix it with the soil to get the
jsame  result.
(SNICKER!)
Rod & Susan Venger, Venger’s Orchids
Homepage address http://www.usa.net/venger/
Listings Available – Email us for your copies
The September Special is now available
Order Line: 1-800-483-6437

Actually, you may be wrong about that.  The name of the company implies that this is a zeolite product (a modified clay) if so then the nutrient are probably locked into the zeolite matrix where they would be released very slowly and uniformly.  This is ideal for orchids and is similar to nature except that it allows you to select the nutrient mixture.  I am not personally familiar with this product or the company, but do know that zeolites have a very high ion exchange capacity which would allow them to have a very long useful life as a nutrient supplier.  An added benifit is that they have the capacity to remove salts from the water preventing salt build up in your potting mixture.  Sponge can do none of these things so I would hold your snickers until you find out more about the product.  You may be dismissing a valuable resource. PS: I have absolutely no connection, interest, or personnal knowledge of this company and the information here is based on my knowledge of zeolite (I’m a chemical engineer) and the assumption that that is what this product is.

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