Not sure what help the magnesium is to the formation of the buds, Prabhi.

Ursula's diagram above shows that magnesium is an essential element for plants to form chlorophyll, and chlorophyll is the green pigment in leaves that allows the plant to collect the sun's rays and produce sugars as food for the plant.

So, really plants can use a steady supply of magnesium, not just when they are starting to bloom.

Jim

I also. I use Mg all year 'round.

I recently came across this forum. My wife has some orchids. Could some expert suggest a fertilizer formula which she could prepare and spray on the plants ? This would be a big help to a newcomer. Dynagrow and other orchid fertilizer sprays
are not available in this part of the country.

It sure would help if you could tell us what 'part of the country' you are in, please? I buy my orchid fertilizer from Amazon, so if you have access to them, you can get most types.

But it depends where you are and what your water is like, (pH and soluble solids) to determine what kind of fert you should use.

Also important is what kind of orchids your wife has, and where she is growing them. (indoors, outdoors, in a greenhouse?)

Certainly more questions than answers here. The more information you can give us @cperesc they better answers we can give you.

I have a hard time putting anything with 'salt' in the name and plant in the same sentence. It doesn't help that Epsom Salt (Magnesium sulfate) has sulfates in it. I'm allergic to sulfates so poison to me = poison to my plants. Yes, I know its all in my head.

Then I would not ingest Epsom Salt, Daisy.

Or soak my poor tired footies in it.

Yeah, ahhh, I do love my lavender scented Epsom Salts in the bath water. So few things help me with my arthritis pain these days.

I don't know if cperesc is still watching but I noticed Miracle Gro orchid fertilizer in the grocery store, Publix, today. Although I am not a fan of anything by Scott's, and am certainly not an expert by any means, it might be better than nothing.
My epsom salts come from Costco and I add the lavender oil myself; it feels and smells good in the bath and I always save a pitcher or two to share with the plants.

Alice our Lowe's had a buy one get one last week on Miracle Gro granules. I bought 4 for the price of 2 - just the blooming food for roses but I use them on my plumerias. They have different kinds but I have plenty of all purpose already. Lowe's much cheaper than Costco. I wonder if I can use them on orchids but I'm afraid to try. This year I have too many experiments on my orchids already and looks like I'm starting to see improvements. More blooms and longer blooming season.

I am just now starting to use Epsom salt so not sure yet if I'm going to see the benefit soon. I just mix it with my water soluble orchid food. I have a big bag of it so I plan to sprinkle a little bit on my plumeria top soil.

Jim,
If I remember right you use 3in1. Do you spray this as well when needed with fert and Epsom in the same spray mix?

I use Bayer 3 in 1..once every month or so...I dunk each pot in a big bucket of it and I spray the foliage as well...sometimes (if i remember) I'll mix some epsom salts in with it.

Yes, Ted. I mix all of my "additives" together in a hand pump spray tank with rain water and try to wet the entire plant minus the flowers. I don't just use the 3 in 1 however. I change up often to keep the bad guys guessing. For flower thrips, spray the buds with a contact insecticide, then switch to a systemic once they open.

Jim

I wondered about spraying the buds, Jim.. This is good to know. Thanx!

Good to know. For some reason I always shied away from mixing things. This will be a time saver for me. Just to jog my memory, what else, besides the Bayer do you use

My fertilizing and bug killing regimen is somewhat different. My greenhouse is attached to the house along with the heating system. Whatever I spray in the greenhouse gets circulated through the whole house. I also keep Fish in the greenhouse. So I am somewhat restricted what I use.
I will use the Bayer 3 in 1 when I move my Orchids outside, and then again in the Fall short before bringing them back inside, mostly on my Cattleyas. By February I am always seeing scale, which I clean up with All Seasons Horticultural Spray Oil and this Winter I have also used with good success SucraShield. The latter bought from firstrays.com
Fertilizing in the greenhouse is a real mess, it will deposit salts on the glass panes, hard to clean. I have used very little commercial fertilizer during the indoor season, instead I have watered with aquarium water twice a week (grandchildren's small feeder goldfish grew to ca 10 to 12 inches over the Winter and is now in our outside pond, the little Piggy ate like it and needed lots of cleaning ) with additions of some Epsom salt once in a while. I think the Phrags really love this treatment and I see lots of nice growth on my smaller species.

At one time I thought the 3 in 1 was the answer to all my garden problems. However, it does contain Imidacloprid and MG's here strongly advocate against using any neonics now.

Ursula, I had not heard of SucraShield but after looking it up it sounds like something worth trying, especially in an interior situation.

Interesting. Everyone seems to be out of stock for SucraShield