Homemade Orchid Fertilizer

Homemade Orchid Fertilizer

Homemade Orchid Fertilizer

There are a number of ways to make homemade orchid fertilizer and a number of things that can be used in combination with "store bought" orchid fertilizer.

Don't throw out old eggshells. Eggshells are the cheapest and most efficient way to give your orchid the calcium that it craves. Simply crush the eggshells to the finest powder you can achieve and sprinkle it on the potting medium.

Orchids also need potassium. Molasses is an excellent source or potassium. You can put a teaspoon of molasses in the water you use to water your plant and give your orchid an extra shot of potassium during watering. Adding a teaspoon of Epsom salts to the water will also add some magnesium to the water, another nutrient needed by orchids.

Tea bags are high in nitrogen and are especially good for orchids. They're non-toxic and they don't smell bad either. All you need to do is open the bag and sprinkle the contents into the pot.

Milk and buttermilk work well for orchids. They are high in protein and calcium. Just pour water into the empty container, swish it around and pour it into your orchids.

Water in which rice has been boiled is a good source of vitamins. Let it cool and pour it into your orchid pot.

Dried crushed chicken bones provide both calcium and potassium. Just sprinkle them over the potting medium.

Potatoes are also a good orchid fertilizer. To make potatoes into fertilizer, you need to grate them into small bits, skin included, and then boil the resulting "mash" for a few minutes. It can be stored in jars. You can add extra potassium by cutting up fresh bananas and adding it to the potato mixture during boiling. Adding agar to this mixture will add yet more nutrients, causing all of the ingredients to bind well and will also add essential sugars.

Then there is manure teaYou need five parts water to one part cow manure. If you put the manure in a five gallon bucket, you will have to strain it. If you put it in a burlap bag or a pillowcase you won't. Use only cured manure. Suspend the manure filled "tea bag" over something into which it can drain (a bucket maybe?) and leave it for a week or two. Throw out the manure filled bag (let it drain as much as possible over the manure tea in the bucket).

Now after you do any or all of the above, many experts suggest using a little commercially made fertilizer just to "make sure." You never know exactly what your orchid will be getting if you use any or all of the above as fertilizer, but you will know that what the orchid is getting is good and healthy for it.

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