Howdy,
I was actually trying to save my Orchid that was knocked-over and left for dead. So then fast forward to my shopping at the Wmart for my wive’s miraclegro potting soil when I spotted Epsom salt and remembered when i had taken a bath with it and read the directions which proudly suggested using it with plants and this is one of those things you put on the back-burner with a favorable opinion “one day”…
So I’m at Wmart looking at Epsom salt which they call “Salt of the Earth” when it occurs to me orchids do best in semi-lit, very well irrigated areas, which somehow turns out to be swamps and various other wetlands. So it also occurred to me that it’s possible the orchid is not doing so well due to the lack of salt in it’s diet (I’m already giving it orchid food and it was potted correctly when i bought it).
So now that we’re perfectly in synch. now :rolleyes: … it seems to me that most wetlands are somewhat salty in nature and wanted to know if I was on track with this, I’ve done a bit of searching both on this site and through a formal web search . While there does seem to be some wetland type enviroments free of salt the majority of them seem to possess the oppposite characteristics… So, how’s my research stack-up? Weak right now, but that’s what I have an entire community of thinkers to bounce this off of for …
Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate. It is not like table salt. It is used on plants because it is said to supply magnesium and sulfur.
Well, no. The orchids you buy in stores are typically epiphytic and come from either rainforests, or sometimes, in the case of some species which can be both epiphytic and lithophytic (growing on rock faces) do not come from swamps or wetlands. Some species certainly do, but not all of them (actually not most of them, considering the size of the family). Some orchids, like Bletilla and Cymbidium are terrestrial orchids.
The orchid family is one of the biggest flowering plant families (probably rivaling the sunflower family). They come from all continents except Antarctica, and IIRC there are species native to the arctic tundra. We even have several species native to our dry pine forests here in California.
Why would the majority of them be “somewhat” salty? What does that mean? Lots of natural water courses are going to have some salt content. What are these “characteristics” you’re talking about?
Coastal estuaries tend to be saline, yes, but plenty of swamps are fresh water habitats (think Everglades).
I believe you answered your own question and mine so really no response was necessary, but if there was any other help involving salt content and Orchids feel free to include it
It sounded reasonable to me. Salt lakes are salty because water flows in with some small amount of salt content, but the water that leaves these lakes goes away by evaporation instead of by flowing out, and what evaporates is just the pure water, leaving the salt to accumulate over thousands of years.
So how does water leave a swamp? Does it slowly flow out, or does more of it evaporate?
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