Excellent video and info. Congratulations. I live on a tropical island and you be surprised how people just tie orchids to trees and forget about it and they flower sometimes three times a year with no added anything but rain and heat. They don’t look great but they keep on flowering. I am so glad I watched this chat. Keep up the great work👏👏👏👏
I go off the grid with fertilizers. I prepare my own using chicken manure and wood ash. I first allow the manure to completely degrade in water, for six months to a year or more, until completely decomposed. Then I neutralize its PH with wood ash from my ceramics kiln. I pass it through a very fine mesh and mix with water to a very low concentration, spray it onto the plants, and my orchids love it!
It sure does! But so I don't feel like I'm a hostage of whether Ukraine and Russia are having a feud or not (much of the K in fertilizer formulas are produced by those two). And it is free, except for the work preparing it, albeit the savings in this case aren't so big to make me any richer! @@SVKLOrchids
Atleast I am doing something right 😊 I use epsom salt alittle everytime I water along with my.calcium. I have been doing it since Rick L. I have found that my plants are strong and I don't have a insect issue. Also use alot of cinnamon. 😁👍
Shouldn’t be needed with a fertilizer that has micronutrients! I’d have to look at the label, but I bet a kelp fertilizer would have enough silica for orchids as well.
I've been using MSU since I started growing orchids again. It's good to know that just about anything will work. The Plant Propagator channel is great. John's six step video for deflasking is in large part why I haven't lost any seedlings from 3 flasks earlier this year. I'll figure out what I'm going to do with 39 Cattleyas later.
@@SVKLOrchids C labiata, C warscewiczii, C mossiae all coerulea. I think they should all be good. I really want to see the mossiae it's ((SVO x Good Lip) x (Maj x self)). If one of the mossiae seedlings gets the best of all parents it will be a stunner.
@@SVKLOrchids I'm growing those 3 species plus purpurata. I've been trying a type of mount called a Jungle Log. It's looking very promising so far. I think I might try a dendrophylax on one this coming Spring.
Great info as always..I love getting deeper in these different additives, and treatments, and hopefully get down to what truly works! I've tried, cinnamon, Msg &. brown sugar, banana etc to try to get stubborn plants to re-root.It's a never ending learning curve...Many thanks..
Thanks for much food for thought! 😊 I am over here thinking hard 🤔 then laughing alot! 😂😂😂 I definitely laughed over MSU over priced! 😂 I have never been a believer in it! I am a believer in Jack's 2 part because I can make any fertilizer ratio setting on a shelf with my Jack's and dont have to run to the store. Plus the fertilizer he showed by Better Gro needs calcium added to it. I am a believer in Epsom salts. It literally brings shine back to phalaenopsis leaves. When you feed it to phals. Personally Super thrive is hocus pocus! 😂 Rick L always told me Super Thrive if over used causes deformity. I dont know that Personally. The banana and garlic i was rolling on the floor laughing 😂. I did have a viewer ask about worm casting. But again thats just high nitrogen. I can get that from Jack's Calnitrate. I have seen it work great on soil plants. But definitely want to say bravo! Very entertaining and made my Saturday! As always thanks Stephen! 😊
Interesting discussion! Standard Bleach is about 5% so diluted 5 to 1 would give you about a 1% solution which will still smell bleachy but I have no idea how long you would have to soak your tools to ensure virus eradication. Personally I think a small butane torch is much quicker and is what I use. I use isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab to swab up mealies and scale but I don't doubt rubbing works too. I use cinnamon on division cuts and leaf trims and its primarily a desiccant with mild untifungal properties. I have heard of people using superglue to seal those same cuts. The magnesium should be in any balanced fertilizer with micronutrients. There's a new fertilizer marketed almost weekly. I have used Miracle grow for years and now Dyna-pro orchid which has now fallen under the superthrive banner. I used superthrive on new imports with poor to no roots but it has a very short shelf life at room temperature and it seemed to help but at 1 drop per gallon a bottle will be long expired before you ever use it up. I've switched back to KLN rooting formula for new imports which also only lasts at best a couple years in the fridge. I would peel the banana and eat it while watering orchids and throw the garlic in my stew lol.
Very interesting! I had read about mashed banana for orchid flasks and people use it for in vitro cultivation as well. Nice to have it confirmed again. The next flask trial will be performed with banana pulp. Concerning the isopropanol: as far as I understand it does desiccate but also it destroys cell membranes so it can kill bacteria and enveloped viruses this way. You're right about other viruses. I know for BSL2 and BSL3 work we used to use disinfectants based on bleach and surfactants.
@@SVKLOrchids I’ve tried it last year but with no research into it at all. So obviously, it failed. But I do have the knowledge for aseptic cultivation techniques etc. so once I’ve figured out the media, it should be fine
As a Russian speaker, I can add some staff to the list that people use in our community. It could be fun to know: a lot of fungisides including the ones that make your kidneys fail if you use them all the time. Vitamins like hb=101 with no effect and unclear contents, trichoderma, succinic acid (no idea if it works too), human antibiotics to treat difficult cases of rot. This one could actually be valid. Russian orchid addicts tend to receive plants in a very bad state after long import proccess so they learned to use heavy staff to try and save a new plant. As to fertilizers, many people use horse orgavit. Cheap as dirt, no investigation into what's inside in terms of NPK. I think it's close to 2-2-3 + some microelements. People have been using it for years and orchids grow and bloom no problem. I think dolomitic lime (your calmag cheap version) is also added sometimes. Also we have a Japanese orchid community. Folks there import Japanese fertilizers that are super high on P and K. It appears that those kind of fertilizers do have an effect at least on denrobiums in my experience. They grow deformed or fail to flower. But as soon as you switch to the normal balanced fertilizer things get back to normal. That's why I think the NPK ratio is somewhat important.
We make fun of some of these home remedies but they are used successfully in many cases where people have no access to chemical formulas or can’t afford to buy the commercial preparations.
Thanks for a very informative video! I didn’t know that about the MSU fertilizer. I do like Kelp-max but don’t have all of the orchids that you do. Today I saw garlic and coffee as the thing to do. I may need a new hobby. 😫
Nothing really new or surprising to me here. But it is good to debunk the misinformation that is out there. My FB feed is full of just completely nonsensical clickbait about how to propagate plants. And I'm sure that there a lot of people out there that fall for it. If you two ever have another conversation, a topic that I'd be interested in is about calcium and it's role in overall plant health and more specifically ability to strengthen plant cell walls so that fungi have a harder time infecting them. On one hand my thinking is that in nature epiphytes don't get much calcium so they shouldn't need supplementation. But I've read that it can have the previously mentioned effect of helping with resistance to fungal infections and had started to put small amounts of calcium carbonate grit in with my slow release fertilizer and anecdotally it seems to help. Another possible topic would be the use of coconut water as somehow helpful to orchids. At least here in tropics where coconuts abound, I see that being suggested to people to help ailing plants or help root development. I could see how coconut water might have plant hormones that spur new shoot development or root growth.
That would be interesting to chat about! You know, I’ve actually heard that calcium is often one of the most abundant of the micronutrients in a lot of tropical forests. Maybe John will know more.
Ya, zoom limits the video quality sometimes. Not sure if it’s bandwidth or what. 🤷♂️ I’m just happy I figured it hire to best use my microphone for better sound quality😅😅
Excellent video and info. Congratulations. I live on a tropical island and you be surprised how people just tie orchids to trees and forget about it and they flower sometimes three times a year with no added anything but rain and heat. They don’t look great but they keep on flowering. I am so glad I watched this chat. Keep up the great work👏👏👏👏
🙌😃😄
What a fantastic video!! I love the Plant Propagator!! The two of you together was wonderful. Please do it again!!
We certainly will!
Thanks! 😊
😃😃
I go off the grid with fertilizers. I prepare my own using chicken manure and wood ash. I first allow the manure to completely degrade in water, for six months to a year or more, until completely decomposed. Then I neutralize its PH with wood ash from my ceramics kiln. I pass it through a very fine mesh and mix with water to a very low concentration, spray it onto the plants, and my orchids love it!
Oh wow, that sounds intense!!
It sure does! But so I don't feel like I'm a hostage of whether Ukraine and Russia are having a feud or not (much of the K in fertilizer formulas are produced by those two). And it is free, except for the work preparing it, albeit the savings in this case aren't so big to make me any richer! @@SVKLOrchids
@@Naturamorpho that’s really cool!
Thank you for doing this video.
Glad to do it!
Atleast I am doing something right 😊 I use epsom salt alittle everytime I water along with my.calcium. I have been doing it since Rick L. I have found that my plants are strong and I don't have a insect issue. Also use alot of cinnamon. 😁👍
Nice!! 🙌
This is a really good video. Thank you. I'm curios about your thoughts on silica for orchids.
Shouldn’t be needed with a fertilizer that has micronutrients! I’d have to look at the label, but I bet a kelp fertilizer would have enough silica for orchids as well.
@@SVKLOrchids Thank you!!
I've been using MSU since I started growing orchids again.
It's good to know that just about anything will work.
The Plant Propagator channel is great. John's six step video for deflasking is in large part why I haven't lost any seedlings from 3 flasks earlier this year.
I'll figure out what I'm going to do with 39 Cattleyas later.
Anything cool from those flasks?
@@SVKLOrchids C labiata, C warscewiczii, C mossiae all coerulea.
I think they should all be good.
I really want to see the mossiae it's ((SVO x Good Lip) x (Maj x self)). If one of the mossiae seedlings gets the best of all parents it will be a stunner.
@@mipogrow that sounds really cool!!
@@SVKLOrchids I'm growing those 3 species plus purpurata. I've been trying a type of mount called a Jungle Log. It's looking very promising so far. I think I might try a dendrophylax on one this coming Spring.
@@mipogrow I’ve always wanted to try one of those! I thought they weren’t being made anymore, though?
Thank you for sharing this knowledge!
Glad to get the info out into the world!
I use a high Nitrogen fertiliser from spring to mid summer then change to high Phosphorus from then through winter.
Nice!
Thanks for some valuable information.
My pleasure!
Great info as always..I love getting deeper in these different additives, and treatments, and hopefully get down to what truly works! I've tried, cinnamon, Msg &. brown sugar, banana etc to try to get stubborn plants to re-root.It's a never ending learning curve...Many thanks..
No problem! Hoping we can help shorten that learning curve! 🤩
Enjoyed this one also
Than you! 😃
I feed a little often....around 200 ppm....in winter I'll go down quite a bit.
Sounds like a good plan!
Where can I find more videos/info from Dr. John Finer??
Here’s his channel: youtube.com/@theplantpropagator7820?si=rgf41sJP_yq0vv9n
Thanks for much food for thought! 😊 I am over here thinking hard 🤔 then laughing alot! 😂😂😂 I definitely laughed over MSU over priced! 😂 I have never been a believer in it! I am a believer in Jack's 2 part because I can make any fertilizer ratio setting on a shelf with my Jack's and dont have to run to the store. Plus the fertilizer he showed by Better Gro needs calcium added to it. I am a believer in Epsom salts. It literally brings shine back to phalaenopsis leaves. When you feed it to phals. Personally Super thrive is hocus pocus! 😂 Rick L always told me Super Thrive if over used causes deformity. I dont know that Personally. The banana and garlic i was rolling on the floor laughing 😂. I did have a viewer ask about worm casting. But again thats just high nitrogen. I can get that from Jack's Calnitrate. I have seen it work great on soil plants. But definitely want to say bravo! Very entertaining and made my Saturday! As always thanks Stephen! 😊
There really is a ton of great fertilizers out there! I’ll probably dump the rest of Epsom salt into the next batch of fertilizer I make!
@@SVKLOrchids Yes I'll be curious of your thoughts in 6 months or so on Epsom salts.
@@hillbillyorchids considering the state of my orchid right now, they’ll need as much help as they can get!
Try the Peters Excell Cal mag special with Black Iron I've been using. Works great west of Seattle
@@richardlawton1023 😳 ooh interesting! I'll definitely look into it! Thanks for the tip!
Interesting discussion! Standard Bleach is about 5% so diluted 5 to 1 would give you about a 1% solution which will still smell bleachy but I have no idea how long you would have to soak your tools to ensure virus eradication. Personally I think a small butane torch is much quicker and is what I use. I use isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab to swab up mealies and scale but I don't doubt rubbing works too. I use cinnamon on division cuts and leaf trims and its primarily a desiccant with mild untifungal properties. I have heard of people using superglue to seal those same cuts. The magnesium should be in any balanced fertilizer with micronutrients. There's a new fertilizer marketed almost weekly. I have used Miracle grow for years and now Dyna-pro orchid which has now fallen under the superthrive banner. I used superthrive on new imports with poor to no roots but it has a very short shelf life at room temperature and it seemed to help but at 1 drop per gallon a bottle will be long expired before you ever use it up. I've switched back to KLN rooting formula for new imports which also only lasts at best a couple years in the fridge. I would peel the banana and eat it while watering orchids and throw the garlic in my stew lol.
Yes, bananas and garlic are much better served going into our mouths!! Lol
I'm using Peters Excel ca mag special special 15_5_15 with / black Iron.
Works great.
Nice!
Yeah, bleach has been chewing on my forceps, by rust corrosion! Now I rush to wash them as soon as I'm done using them.
Ya, it can be hard on the tools!
Very interesting! I had read about mashed banana for orchid flasks and people use it for in vitro cultivation as well. Nice to have it confirmed again. The next flask trial will be performed with banana pulp.
Concerning the isopropanol: as far as I understand it does desiccate but also it destroys cell membranes so it can kill bacteria and enveloped viruses this way. You're right about other viruses. I know for BSL2 and BSL3 work we used to use disinfectants based on bleach and surfactants.
Are you doing your own flasking now?
@@SVKLOrchids I’ve tried it last year but with no research into it at all. So obviously, it failed. But I do have the knowledge for aseptic cultivation techniques etc. so once I’ve figured out the media, it should be fine
@@MattbyNature makes sense!
As a Russian speaker, I can add some staff to the list that people use in our community. It could be fun to know: a lot of fungisides including the ones that make your kidneys fail if you use them all the time. Vitamins like hb=101 with no effect and unclear contents, trichoderma, succinic acid (no idea if it works too), human antibiotics to treat difficult cases of rot. This one could actually be valid. Russian orchid addicts tend to receive plants in a very bad state after long import proccess so they learned to use heavy staff to try and save a new plant. As to fertilizers, many people use horse orgavit. Cheap as dirt, no investigation into what's inside in terms of NPK. I think it's close to 2-2-3 + some microelements. People have been using it for years and orchids grow and bloom no problem. I think dolomitic lime (your calmag cheap version) is also added sometimes. Also we have a Japanese orchid community. Folks there import Japanese fertilizers that are super high on P and K. It appears that those kind of fertilizers do have an effect at least on denrobiums in my experience. They grow deformed or fail to flower. But as soon as you switch to the normal balanced fertilizer things get back to normal. That's why I think the NPK ratio is somewhat important.
Oh wow, sounds like there are a whole bunch of things to investigate over there!
👍👏👏👏👏😊
😃😃
We make fun of some of these home remedies but they are used successfully in many cases where people have no access to chemical formulas or can’t afford to buy the commercial preparations.
Well the problem isn’t with the home remedies that work. Rather, the problem is with the “remedies” that don’t work and are passed off as valid.
Thanks for a very informative video! I didn’t know that about the MSU fertilizer. I do like Kelp-max but don’t have all of the orchids that you do.
Today I saw garlic and coffee as the thing to do.
I may need a new hobby. 😫
lol garlic and coffee are great people! Maybe not so much for plants.
Nothing really new or surprising to me here. But it is good to debunk the misinformation that is out there. My FB feed is full of just completely nonsensical clickbait about how to propagate plants. And I'm sure that there a lot of people out there that fall for it.
If you two ever have another conversation, a topic that I'd be interested in is about calcium and it's role in overall plant health and more specifically ability to strengthen plant cell walls so that fungi have a harder time infecting them. On one hand my thinking is that in nature epiphytes don't get much calcium so they shouldn't need supplementation. But I've read that it can have the previously mentioned effect of helping with resistance to fungal infections and had started to put small amounts of calcium carbonate grit in with my slow release fertilizer and anecdotally it seems to help.
Another possible topic would be the use of coconut water as somehow helpful to orchids. At least here in tropics where coconuts abound, I see that being suggested to people to help ailing plants or help root development. I could see how coconut water might have plant hormones that spur new shoot development or root growth.
That would be interesting to chat about! You know, I’ve actually heard that calcium is often one of the most abundant of the micronutrients in a lot of tropical forests. Maybe John will know more.
Define flasking.
This will get you started: herebutnot.com/how-to-breed-flask-phalaenopsis-orchids-steps-for-dry-seeds-green-pod-propagation-methods/
whatever is on sale🙂
😃🙌
Video quality is pretty bad Mr. Van Kampen-Lewis, not complaining just noting it.
Ya, zoom limits the video quality sometimes. Not sure if it’s bandwidth or what. 🤷♂️ I’m just happy I figured it hire to best use my microphone for better sound quality😅😅
😊😊😊
😃🙌
Im an a AOS member I got the email about live events on FaceBook there is a link to your video I subscribed to your channel.
Very cool, good to meet you!! Please feel free to ask questions or provide comments! I’m always game to chat about orchids.
Thank you.