What Type of Fertilizer Will Your Orchid Love, and When & How Often You Should Feed It?

Understanding Fertilizer

• Most fertilizers are made up of three main parts and several trace elements. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are the primary nutrients needed by your orchid. The amount of each varies by what growing stage your orchid is in and the medium in which it is grown. Commercial orchid fertilizer uses numbers to indicate the ratio of these three nutrients: for example, 20-20-20 fertilizer, the most common used for orchids, has equal parts of each primary nutrient.

What to Feed Your Orchid

• Most experts recommend using a balanced 20-20-20 fertilizer during the growing season. Some plants may require a fertilizer higher in nitrogen right when they begin producing new growth. Fertilizers higher in phosphorus and potassium are often recommended toward the end of the growing season to prepare the plant for blooming the following year. Orchids growing in bark often require fertilizers higher in nitrogen, as decaying bark tends to use up nitrogen, leaving little for the plant. In this case, 30-10-10 or 15-5-5 is usually ideal.

When to Feed Your Orchid

• As soon as new growth begins to appear on your orchid, you should begin fertilizing your plant. Most experts recommend feeding very lightly once a week throughout the growing period, then reducing fertilization after the orchid stops blooming. At this point, fertilizer should typically be applied only once a month. How often you need to change your routine will depend on how often your orchid blooms; some only produce flowers once a year, while others bloom year-round. Orchids that are dormant, typically in the winter, should not be fertilized.

How to Fertilize

• As a general rule, you should never fertilize a dry plant. Watering before applying fertilizer allows the roots to soak up the nutrients. When applying fertilizer, use half or even a quarter of the amount recommended by the package. While this will vary depending on the health of your plant, most orchids do not require a large amount of fertilization. Weekly applications of light orchid fertilizers tend to keep plants healthy and blooming.