FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Maxsea 16-16-16 (urea based)
Schultz 19-31-17 (urea based)
Better-Gro Orchid Plus 20-14-13 (urea-free)

Let's record our results with these fertilizers in one thread.

These are what I consider the "big three" when it comes to fertilizers for CP's.

What follows I found really interesting. Here's what someone recently told me of their own experience in regard to having tried all three (abridged). His results on fertilizing the pitchers of nepenthes were the same as mine (recorded here).

It sounds like Schultz and Maxsea both have one-up on Better-Gro, between his experience and mine.

Interesting observations. Some comments from my 'playing around' with ferts [pitcher feeding]:

- Schultz orchid food (urea-based) - used 1/3 - 1/2 of dose recommended for daily watering of orchids (note - this is much less than the amount used by others). Dosed small amount in pitchers (Nep/Ceph/Heli) on a varied basis from 1x/wk to 1x/mo. Excellent growth enhancement - no observed downside.
- Maxsea (urea-based) - same as Schultz.
- Better-Gro Orchid Plus (non-urea-based) - same dosing as prior 2. Wilted dew leaf & lids on Nepenthes.

As for using any ferts in the soil - I tried this years ago and was overwhelmed with slime, algae & the clear gel ooze stuff that looks like it came from a "B-movie". The nasty stuff continued long after the fertilization went away. I'll take slower growth any day.

On bugs or fish food in the pitchers - I periodically get a white fuzzy mold coming out of pitchers (Nep/Ceph/Heli - not Sarrs). While it doesn't seem to affect them at all (other than visually), the ugliness of the mold has caused me to reduce (not eliminate) this approach.

Caveat - YMMV (your mileage may vary) - these results are far from conclusive. While I've used the Schultz & Maxsea for at least several months each, I've only used the Better-Gro for 2 weeks or so. I never had anything negative happen with either the Schultz or Maxsea so was quite shocked with the Better Gro impact - especially since it was supposed to be the 'safe' alternative (non-urea-based). This may simply be a case of some pitchers getting old at the same time that I happened to start using the Better Gro and not actually a causal relationship. However, based on this reaction, I'll admit I'm not likely to use this much (if at all) again... ???

Regarding his caveat, the pitcher of mine that Better-Gro burned up was a NEW pitcher. So for neps, I doubt I'll ever suggest pitcher-feeding with it again. I'm glad it works well for cephs (twigs noted no pitcher burn on his when pitcher-filling with 1/4 strength better-gro) though, so it's far from out of the CP game.

Great idea Veronis. I'll be following this thread.

I have just started to use MAXSEA and would like Opinions from Someone Whom's tried it and liked/disliked it and how they used it, please. I am growing VFT's.

I drenched the soil of the VFT's with it at the recommended strength for CP'S at 1tsp. / Gallon. Will probably just use it once a month as a foliar from now on, though.

I will look up this post and follow up in 1 month with My results.

Thanks!

Gary

I was planning on experimenting with Maxsea and VFTs as well Gary. It seems to work wonders on my Heliamphora so far, but I think they take in far more nutrition from their roots and are less sensitive to minerals in the soil than VFTs.

I'm very interested in hearing your results. I'll probably do a similar experiment and modify it a bit based on your results.

Of the three, I'd vouch for Maxsea as the safest for sure for flytraps.

Let us know how it goes with the flytrap fertilization.

I did find that fertilizing into the soil, I actually got better results with Better-Gro 1/4-strength than I did with Maxsea at 1/2-strength.

Veronis wrote:I did find that fertilizing into the soil, I actually got better results with Better-Gro 1/4-strength than I did with Maxsea at 1/2-strength.

Was that on flytraps Veronis? Or on a different species?

goodluck with your experiment

Well, so far there has been no harm done with the Maxsea.
Recommendation is 1 dosage per Month.

As mentioned above, I used it half strength as a soil drench 5 weeks ago on My whole collection as recommended by California Carnivores that sell the product. I have also done another dosage as a foilage spray.

On VFT'S, I have seen somewhat more vigorous growth, but VERY GOOD growth out of the B-52'S for some reason. Maybe it has to do with the traps ability to absorb nutrients, and the B-52 has very large traps.

I called California carnivores and suggested the prospect that since they may have a good turnaround, that they wouldn't see any long term harm using this as a soil drench, but He said that some are grown out for quite some time before they are ready to market and they do great.

He admits that He even feels weird about doing the soil drench on so many plants because so much is at stake at their volume, but says it works fine.

I may try the drench again on a flat of some varieties I have alot of and take a before pic and another one again in a month. Since they are artificially lit, there really isn't a 'season.'

Gary

Matt wrote:

Veronis wrote:I did find that fertilizing into the soil, I actually got better results with Better-Gro 1/4-strength than I did with Maxsea at 1/2-strength.

Was that on flytraps Veronis? Or on a different species?

This was on nepenthes.

Veronis,

I continue to use Better-Gro on my Cephs - and more recently, pitcher feeding my Heliamphora - with great success. For Nepenthes, I have noticed the same premature pitcher death as others and have discontinued using it for pitcher feeding, although the observations that the pitcher might be overloaded with nutrients makes quite a lot of sense. My pitchers would always die at the top but remain healthy at the base. I picked up some MaxSea for immature Heli root feeding per Matt's suggestion and will see how that works on Nepenthes pitchers.

I also plant to do some testing on both MasSea and Better-Gro for root feeding immature Cephalotus. I'm hoping to set up a controlled experiment to prevent cross contamination and will use control plants to see the effect of fertilizer in general. If and when this happens, I will document and post the entire thing. I'll consider adding Schultz 19-31-17 to these test fertilizers.

Hey, All.

MAXSEA Seaweed Brand Plant Food used at the rate of 1teaspoon/Gallon.

After several Months of usage on Dionaea and Pings, I can definately say that the MAXSEA is an EXCELLENT FOLIAR spray used at no more than half the recommended dosage and not used more than twice a month. Once a Month seems more than enough. You will see a difference almost immediately (a few Days). They perk right up.

Foliar feeding means one quick spray; no drippings into the media.
If Your flytrap does not need dormancy, but the new traps are getting smaller, or growth has seemed to just slowed, You will see a remarkable change for the better and very quickly.
If You have a 'show' plant and don't want to see messy insects on them, or have Your plants where insects can't get to them, My experience so far has shown this to be a great substitute.

Pings pretty much eat through the glands on their leaves and I have had great results on them with misting very little on them. This might also explain why B-52'S and other large trapped varieties seem to benefit the most; it's going right to the source. It could also be that large trapped varieties use up resources faster, so see the benefit quicker from the feedings.

As far as soil drench; My experience says don't do it on VFT'S. I haven't tried it yet on the Pings and I won't. Results have not been favorable on VFT'S. Someone mentioned soil drenching for 24 hours, then flushing. I don't have any experience with that but the foliar gets the job done for Me.


Gary

This is great, thank you for making this up!

Your Welcome.

I almost forgot. I talked to a Person from the Company and He said the product mixed with water inside of Your spray bottle will not degrade(a few months, anyway) so One doesn't have to make fresh everytime. One is going to use so little of this stuff for foliar that I thought it worth mentioning. I mix 1/4 teaspoon for 32 ounce spray bottle and it lasts forever. MORE IS NOT BETTER. I wonder about bacteria, though. I don't know.

It is also used in Hydroponics.

You might want to shake the bottle before using each time, though.

Gary

Great information Gary. I've used Maxsea on Pings (foliarly) and it was amazing how quickly they grew and how many flowers they produced. I've not used it on VFTs yet, but after reading your post, I'm going to give it a try

Matt,

Good to hear; Yea, having said I had 'great results' on pings with maxsea foliar feeding is almost an understatement. Fantastic is probably better. Remarkable growth and flowering, yes.

Gary