When to stop bloom fertilizer

[mrellen]

I have a question for you experts out there. I generally start a bloom fertilizer a few months before I expect the orchid to flower and sometimes they will! The question I have is: at what point to switch back to a balanced fertilizer? Does one generally keep the bloom fertilizer going until the flowers are gone or stop short of that?
Thanks
Mike from Olympia

[raybark]

First of all, "bloom fertilizers" do nothing the enhance blooming. The optimum blooming will occur in a strong, healthy plant that has been given good overall culture, including adequate nutrition.

If you have been using a high-nitrogen fertilizer prior to that, the excessive nitrogen can delay, reduce, or stop blooming altogether, so switching to a lower-N "bloom" fertilizer will "allow" it to.

That said, I would think that if you want to stop using it, do so after the flowers have opened. Some will tell you - likely correctly - that the blooming event is set up well in advance of actual blooming, but it doesn't hurt to keep it up.