BCSS - Forum

Hi everyone,

The only place on the internet I've found regarding feeding othonnas is speck's care guide, which just says 'low'. Very helpful!

The plants im concerned about are my othonna hederifolia, which are growing in inorganic medium and hence need a feed, judging by the yellow/blotchy patches appearing on some of the leaves

Can anyone be a bit more specific? thank you in advance

By "inorganic medium", I assume you mean you are growing in something that is entirely a coarse aggregate and contains no soil? Soil is inorganic but is quite capable of holding nutrients without hydroponic-type feeding.

Still, plants in pots all need feeding one way or another, sooner or later. Once certainly won't hurt, not will regular application of very dilute soluble fertiliser. Don't bother if you've repotted recently into anything except a mix without any soil or organic components. Any commercial soil, including John Innes, has sufficient fertiliser for any slow-growing succulent for many months at least.

you know what I mean, I bought them in a soilless mix

Does anyone have some rough guide to the amount I should feed? low or very diulute arent really much help, as those terms mean probably very different things to me and you

My plants in inorganic soils get a feed every watering

I tend to use half normal strength and rotate around 2 or 3 different feeds from

Vitax
Phostrogen ( only during summer growth)
A low nitrogen tomato feed
A seaweed based feed

I rotate around so as to get a mix of trace elements etc which are also important and often at different levels in different brands

M

I water my O. euphorbiodes with very dilute phostrogen, with a dash of Super Thrive added.

It is flowering at the moment as is my O. clavifolia. I water when the leaves start to droop.

Dot.

McFarland wrote:you know what I mean, I bought them in a soilless mix

Seriously, I have no clue. People throw around the term "inorganic" and most of the time they don't actually mean "inorganic". Please explain what you're growing them in.

I am trying an inorganic mix for the more delicate cacti of equal parts

Tesco Cat litter / course grit sand / grit 2-6mm

Plus some limestone for mexican plants that are supposed to "need" it

Its not as expensive as buying Akadarma etc but I only started the end of last summer so not much history as yet.

It should work well as its very close the the mix Roy M suggested in the journal many years ago !

Thanks dot and Martin you were very helpful, I'll have a go at some half-strength tomato feed and see how I get on. I'll report back in a week!