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NeciFiX

Kung Fu Fighting!
Okay, people have had extremely great success with milk, and good success with fertilizer. I got some 7-8-6 Orchid Fertilizer waiting for me at the post office tomorrow. What if someone (me) were to take 1% lowfat milk and orchid fertilizer and put it in a gallon of distilled water and then foliar fed it to the leaves of the Nepenthes? Would the milk rot the leaves even if only used as a 1/2 teaspoon or 1/4 teaspoon? Leave me some comments! I'll have the fertilizer tomorrow, I can then put it in the 1 gallon of distilled water, spray it on my Neps on the bottom rack (I'm not paying attention to them, all of them but one seems to be doing fine, no pitchers though. Slow growth. They're right next to the lights. Humidity maybe? The one not doing so well has like 3 or 4 wilted brown leaves, but like 1-2 green ones and slow new growth coming in) and I could spray one of the Neps with the basic fertilizer, then add 1/4 teaspoon of milk with the 1/4 or 1/3 teaspoon of Orchid fertilizer using a different gallon of water (I got like a dozen... so...) and see how this fairs!

Other than the leaf possibly rotting, which I don't see happening, due to how extremely dilute the milk would be. Another thing is the water 'going bad', but again, it is so extremely dilute. I guess I'd either have to use it all, or smell it before using it! Lol. One little thing thats puzzled me, do the Nepenthes absorb the liquid through pores in their leaves or something? I don't know, I kind of feel dumb for suggesting this, or it's an obvious no-no... so sorry!

Any comments?
 
I don't see why it's necessary to mix both milk and fertilizer. I think that the milk only helps when broken down and digested, similar to us drinking milk. Smearing milk in small amounts on my body will not help me grow; but, if I drink it my stomach can digest it and utilize the nutrients that are too complex for skin absorption.

I suppose you could try and it just be ready to clip the leaf if it starts to rot at all. There's only one way to find out if new methods and ideas work, and that is to try it.

xvart.
 
I was gonna put a little milk in, but we're out! So I just had to decide whether to put in 1/4 teaspoon of fertilizer, or 1/2. I thought 1/4 was a little too little, and 1/2 too much, so I chose 1/3! Heh. Erm, I accidentally drenched one of the leaves in it (the top) and the other leaves on it some water droplets. Will this result in over fertilization so should I rub some off?

This time I lightly misted from about a foot or a bit higher up several times on my Nep. ventricosa., just so tiny small water droplets formed on each of the leaves. Wonder if that was too much, probably not. It's growing, but each leaf is slower and slower.
 
I use a little bit less than 1/4 teaspoon of Schultz orchid fertilizer in 1 gallon of water. I use it every 2 or 3 weeks. I just water the plants with them, then completely spray down all the laves. I have had no adverse effects and my plants seem to be doing WAY better since i've started doing this. Every time I water though, I let water drain out the bottom of the pot, so before someone says it, no my soil is not accumulating rediculous amounts of salts
 
I've done milk just to try it. It's not as good as artificial fertilizers, in my opinion. Unless you're some hippie who wants organic Nepenthes.


Besides it can stink and shorten pitcher life. Nasty.


I've foliar fed and put fertilizer-water directly in pitcher. I don't notice a difference but that's just me. Adding water/ferts to a pitcher can upset the balance so either A: use fertilizers, or B: use bugs but don't use both.


Just my 2 cents. Fertilizers are very good.
 
I wouldn't feed it to the pitchers no matter what. They are extremely sensitive. Only bugs go in my pitchers.

One time i watered a plant with GA3 and water in 500ppm conc., sprayed a plants leaves with the same solution, and fed it to a plants pitcher. The one with it on the leaves showed no change, the one that got watered with it got a little...awkward looking, and the one that had it fed in the pitcher almost died, and now looks like a feakshow. All pitchers died, leaves became thin and needle-like, internode distance changed dramatically, etc.
 
Hey that's pretty interesting man.

Does this show, perhaps, pitchers absorb things most efficiently , followed by roots, and lastly leaves? That's VERY interesting indeed.

And why did you give it GA3 in the first place? lol. Experiment?
 
I am afraid to use this fert on all my Neps. It's an orchid fertilizer, definitely, but not 30-10-10.
 
Because I had some on hand and I was bored. But hey, at least I did something constructive-ish?

The plant that looks like a freakshow is an albomarginata...which is just now producing its first pitcher in 10 months. Some people told me it wasn't 'scientific enough' to warrant noting, but i mean hey...when does a nep randomly start to look like pine needles
 
  • #10
mines 19-31-17. Watch out for copper. Mine has only 0.05%, whcih coudl still lead to problems BUT its water soluble, which is why its important to let the water drain out of your pots when you water w/o fertilizer
 
  • #11
Indeed. Heres mines stats.

8 oz
Dyna-Grow Orchid Fertilizer 7-8-6
Total Nitrogen ------ 7%
2.6% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
4.4 % Nitrate Nitrogen
Available Phosphate 8%
Soluable Potash 6%
Calcium 2%
Magnesium .5%
0.50% Water Soluable Magnesium
Boron 0.0200%
Chlorine 0.1000%
Cobalt 0.0015%
Copper 0.0500% Chelated Copper
Iron 0.1000%
Magnese 0.500%
Molybdenum 0.0009%
Sodium 0.1000%
Zinc 0.500%

Same copper amount as yours. I only got it on the leaves. Is it dangerous?
 
  • #12
You know you don't have to put zeros after a decimal. So, can we sum this up and maybe add what fertilizer to use. Maybe I could just use the search button though, that might help.
 
  • #13
milk comes from a cow to provide nutrition to a calf, not a plant. It can deliver nutrients to your plants, but it is not effective compared to commercial fertilizers. If you are purchasing milk specifically to fertilize plants, the practice will cost you much more over a year than commercial fertilizers.
 
  • #14
I was just typing what it said on the bottle, not paying attention to that. :poke:
 
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