Need advice on orchid fertilizer

[dinkygreg]

I am looking for the best orchid fertilizer and need your help because I am new to orchid gardening. I just read somewhere that orchid plants make their own food using carbon dioxide, water and sunlight. Orchid plants require less fertilizer than most other plants. Can anyone confirm this? Well, I checked out Gardener's Supply Company and found many different types of fertilizers are available to choose from. Can anyone point me in the right direction and shed some lights on orchid fertilizer?

Thanks..

[NightMist]

My mother-in-law had dozens of orchids in her greenhouse.

As I recall, since they are a parasitic plant fertilizing them is a bit beside the point if they were properly established using the correct media.
About once a year she would give the media for each orchid a thorough soak in a solution designed to replenish the nutrients in the specific media. Orchids are not heavy feeders at all.

Other than that she paid a great deal of attention to humidity and temperature.
Most of her orchids were rainforest species so high humidity was a must.
She had a few arid climate varieties hanging over her cactus table, and those took about as much care as the cactus. Considering everything she touched bloomed about twice as often as it was supposed to, that may have been a bit more attention than I knew!

[nedwina]

I just bought anything that said Orchid Fertilizer on the box, and it worked out fine... getting the right light & temp conditions & potting medium for the particular type you have are the bigger challenges when it comes to orchids! Food's easy.

Though if you do want it to bloom, ya gotta feed the little bugger. I figured that out after a year or so of no blooming. Heh! Now it (a phalenopsis) blooms like clockwork every April.

[Longtail]

Orchids are slow growers and epiphytes so they require very little ferts. My wife and others i know with orchids use a very weal, very fine foliar spray. If not fine mist and weak solution it can cause black spots on the leaves. Also slow release ferts like osmocote, can be used sparingly. Some people put a small piece of dry manure on the pot or a couple of rabbit pellets(poop).