How to Make Orchid Food

If you want to encourage beautiful and healthy growth of your orchid, a fertilizer high in nitrogen is an effective method. Though orchid fertilizers are available at garden centers, you may have a few items in your house that can work just as effectively. These homemade fertilizers are easy to whip up and simple to apply. Best of all, you can save yourself money in the long run with the homemade option.

Tea bags
Scissors
Newspaper

Instructions

- 1
  Cut open the top of three to four used tea bags. It is important that the tea bags are used before preparing this homemade fertilizer.
- 2
  Cover a flat open space with a few sheets of newspaper. This newspaper will serve as a simple method for drying the tea.
- 3
  Pour the used tea from the bags onto the open layers of newspaper and spread it out with your fingers.
- 4
  Wait for the tea to completely air dry for six to eight hours. This drying process may be shorter depending on the conditions.
- 5
  Collect the dried tea and sprinkle it around the base of the orchids. Lightly integrate the tea into the first inch of the soil with your hands. The dried tea will raise the nitrogen in the soil and provide nutrients to the orchids.
- 6
  Water the soil until it is damp to the touch.

Kentucky Wild Cypripedium Orchids

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Orchids