Are there benefits to using organic orchid fertilizer? Yes, there are many. Using or not using organic fertilizer really depends a lot on how willing you are to mess with fertilizer.
Organic fertilizers need to break down in order to release nutrients into the orchid plant because they are more complex and need this bacterial process before plants can absorb them. The nutrients are slowly released and the fertilizer is slowly absorbed by the orchid. Inorganic fertilizers are highly soluble and are absorbed almost immediately. On the other hand, organic fertilizer also causes potting medium to break down more quickly than inorganic fertilizer. This means more repotting and more potential stress to the plant. This is not the case with inorganic fertilizer. However, organic fertilizer usually produces a heartier plant that can withstand more stress than orchids fertilized with inorganic fertilizer. Plants that are fertilized with organic fertilizer also seem more pest resistant than those fertilized with inorganic fertilizer. Organic fertilizers cost more than inorganic fertilizers and get washed out of the potting medium more quickly than inorganic. Some organic fertilizers can host diseases that might affect your orchid.
What are some good organic fertilizers? Fish emulsion is probably number one. Then there's bone meal and blood meal, cow and chicken manure, and cottonseed oil. You put some of this organic fertilizer in water and give it a good shake to produce an emulsion. Then you have to let it sit for a couple of days. Do keep in mind that some things like manure and fish emulsion can be very stinky. Maybe they're best used on orchids that are grown outside? Or maybe you don't mind the smell?
You can also buy non-urea low-strength organic orchid fertilizer. It can be given to orchids frequently without worry of overfeeding. It comes in a spray bottle. The one I've looked at is made from liquefied worm castings but not until those selfsame millions of worms have been fed an all organic diet themselves. It doesn't smell. This probably beats some of the fertilizers above in that you really don't know what the animal producing or being produced into the emulsion, meal or manure has been fed.
So what it all comes down to is how much you want to mess with fertilizer, just like I said in the first paragraph. Organic is often a little more trouble to get or make and causes a little more mess with repotting as well. But it's really good for your orchid.
