Dave Neal's stuff is very acidic. If you run it at 150 -200 ppm N, there is
a good chance you will burn up your roots in short order. (All depends what
> Hi Joanna.
> Yeah, you missed something, but there's more at issue than that.
> 1 teaspoon per gallon of Dyna-Gro "Grow" formula (7-9-5) used at 1
teaspoon
> per gallon, adds a total of 235 ppm of dissolved solids to your water. Of
> that 235 ppm, 99 ppm is nitrogen, 52 ppm is phosphorus, 55 ppm is
potassium,
> with the remaining 29 ppm being the balance of the minerals provided in
the
> formulation.
> Dave Neal, owner of Dyna-Gro, is a firm believer in providing nutrition to
> plants at a very low level every time you water. I subscribe to that same
> approach, but now feel that his recommendations are simply too low.
> For years, I fed his stuff at a rate of 1/2 teaspoon per gallon - a
nitrogen
> loading of about 50 ppm. About a year ago I increased my feeding to
between
> two- and three times that, and have seen marvelous results. I also
switched
> to the MSU stuff simultaneously, but if my premise about controlling by
> nitrogen content being key, and letting the other nutrients fall where
they
> may, that should not have made too significant of a difference.
> --
> Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
> Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
> . . . . . . . . . . .
> > Ray,
> > I fear I either do not understand something or I have been
> underfertilizing
> > by a lot (or both).
> > I actually use the Dyna-Gro (7-9-5) fertilizer which you refer to on
your
> > page, and on your page you say that 1 teaspoon per gallon of this
formula
> > results in a total contribution of 235 ppm, which if one reads further
> down
> > in your page is somewhere within the norm for Phals "in greenhouse
> > conditions in bark-based media". I grow in an apartment not in a
> greenhouse,
> > in moss not in bar, does that change the formula?
> > The instructions on this Dina-Gro fertilizer are to use 1/4 to 1/2
> teaspoon
> > per gallon of water for houseplants. The instructions on your Web site
> seem
> > thus completely different from those on this fertilizer, unless I am
> missing
> > something crucial here.
> > Reading further in your page I noticed that (if I understand correctly)
> > lower light levels and temperatures mean that one should shoot for a
much
> > lower ppm target. Does this explain the difference between 1 tsp per
> gallon
> > in greenhouse versus 1/4 teaspoon per gallon for windowsill culture?
> > Following the fertilizer label I use a 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water.
I
> > use tap water not distilled water (I assume that this also makes a
> > difference in the ppm). I don't know the water composition in the DC
area,
> > how important is it that I find out? Am I doing something wrong? My
Phals
> > seem to be doing well enough, though I am sure that with more optimal
> > conditions their potential is much higher. I would really like to get
one
> of
> > the mature ones to have 2 spikes at once (so far I have had two spikes
> only
> > when I bought plants with two spikes, but the following year yielded 1
> spike
> > only), and so I have been trying to improve their conditions, which is
why
> I
> > would like to know more about optimizing fertilizer now.
> > Thanks for explaining this.
> > Joanna
> > > Most of you are aware of the JavaScript calculator I have on my
website
> > for
> > > determining the concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
in
> > > fertilizer solutions. You simply plug in the N, P, and K values from
> the
> > > label, and the number of teaspoons per gallon you use, and it tells
you
> > the
> > > concentrations in ppm, plus the N, P, & K contributions to the TDS.
> > > After a lot of discussions with the folks at Blackmore (they made the
> > stuff
> > > for MSU) and Peters, I have concluded that if your fertilizer has a
wide
> > > range of minor- and trace elements in it, you can manage your feeding
> > > regimen by simply controlling the nitrogen loading. I have,
therefore,
> > > added another calculator to that page which allows one to simply enter
> the
> > > "N" value from the fertilizer label and the desired nitrogen loading
in
> > ppm,
> > > and it tells you how many teaspoons to add to a gallon of water (and
> > > milliliters per liter).
> > > http://www.firstrays.com/fertcalc.htm
> > > --
> > > Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
> > > Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
> > > . . . . . . . . . . .
by