If you continue to read the bag it will give you instructions on how to add as a side dressing. That is the best way to go. I've had good luck with that stuff.

Thanks for the help but I swear I looked and don't see any directions for side dressing... The uses specified in the directions are for Soil Preparation, Seed Plantings, Transplants and Seedlings, and Container Gardening. Do you mind sharing how much you use per plant when you use as I want to?

Or am I missing something!? I'm going to try to attach a picture of the directions. We'll see how that goes.

Since it is low dose then side dressing around each plant with 1.5 T should cause no problems. Otherwise the label (per their website) says "1 cup per 10' row for side dressing. Apply every 8 weeks."

Dave

With the given analysis (2-5-3.) it does not have much juice. In other words it is 90% junk filler only 10% fertilizer. Plus the ratio is all messed up. You need N the most and P the least.
It is your money !
I buy 16-16-16 for about $1 per pound. That is 48% fertilizer power.

Take a look at the directions that are in the second column down. I think it says "one cup per 10 square foot/linear feet to be prepared as a side dressing". That is exactly how I apply it in my garden. I do square foot gardening so it is real easy for me to calculate. I like the analysis on this product as well. It is very good for tomatoes and peppers. before the growing season I just pour a cup over the 10 feet and work it into the ground, but once I have plants growing I apply it by taking a 5 gallon bucket of my compost and then mix in a cup of the fertilizer. I then spread the compost around 10 square feet of my garden as a mulch and loosely work it into the soil with my fingers to avoid damaging the roots. As it rains it will leach the nutrients into the roots of the plants. I have had good luck this way. The compost also helps with breaking down the nutrients because of the microbial life it provides. I hope this helps.
EDIT: I add this mulch layer when they are about 6 inches to a foot tall, so this fertilizer is safe to use on your babies!

This post was edited by PlanterJeff on Fri, May 30, 14 at 9:14

I've had far better luck with those "junk" filled organics with low numbers than I've ever had with commercial fertilizer. Organic fertilizer is slower, less likely to burn and conditions the soil with all it's "junk". It feeds the soil organisms which then convert the nutrients to easily used NPK. It usually has more micronutrients,too. I use fish emulsion, kelp and manures. All low numbers.
Slow and steady wins the race!

Okay! I see that :-)

I guess I'm just confused because I want to use it per plant instead of along the entire row... I have my plants spaced about two feet apart so there are spaces where I don't necessarily need the fertilizer... I guess I can do the math and figure it out by subtracting the space from the formula that I dont' want to fertilize to get a per plant answer but that's no fun at all!!! :-)

thanks for the help

Jacob, In that case, I would do the bucket method and just place a nice mulch layer under each plant that you want fertilized. Cover the ground about and inch to two inches and stay within the drip line. This will probably give you the perfect amount and you really have no risk of burning it.

BTW if you do not use compost you can definitely use the 1.5 tbs per plant. There are 16 tablespoons in a cup. So you can see, that basically one cup feeds 10 plants.

This post was edited by PlanterJeff on Fri, May 30, 14 at 9:30

you can definitely use the 1.5 tbs per plant. There are 16 tablespoons in a cup. So you can see, that basically one cup feeds 10 plants.

Correct. Sorry but I thought I had already made that clear above.

Dave

"Correct. Sorry but I thought I had already made that clear above."

Dave, i guess I should have read your response! Sorry to take your thunder. I thought I read the whole post, but must have missed your comment. I guess we can just consider it a little more re-assurance for Jacob.

Oh no problem Jeff. No thunder to take and you hit the nail on the head. )

I was just wondering why the OP was still asking the same question about per plant. Or if he had checked out the maker website I mentioned that explains both methods.

Sometimes, if we don't refresh the page now and then we don't see all the posts so I thought he might have missed it or I didn't make it clear.

Dave.

I missed it. Sorry. The per 10' thing threw me off for some reason. Since it is organic, I probably don't need to worry as much about over doing it... I definitely tend to overthink things sometimes so thanks for dealing with me!

Since this is the first application, you guys think I could by with adding more? Maybe 2-3 tablespoons per plant? There I go again over thinking... oh well... :-)

thanks again!

Seysonn,

I've already made my choice on fertilizer for my own reasons. Do you have any recommendations related to my question about how much to side dress each plant?
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
I apologize.
Good luck with your choice !

I reawakened this thread because I use this product very differently than discussed before.

I discovered this wonderful fertilizer at Lowes this year. It is only slightly more expensive than the generic 5-10-5 that I used to use. Its formula is now roughly 2-7-4, which tomatoes love.

For all plants that flower, the 2nd number should be double (or more) the first. Classically, for all flowering plants, 5-10-5 granular or MiracleGro (before Scott's bought it) was perfect: 15-30-15.

This Jobe's fertilizer also has plenty of cal-mag plus loads of trace minerals.

I used to work for Scotts developing new gardening products. They have a corporate law: after you test fertilizers to see how much might burn, you may only recommend to the "stupid consumer" that s/he use 1/8 of that amount in case the "stupid consumer" accidentally uses 8 times what was recommended.

I always use lots more fertilizer than recommended because I think other companies probably have similar policies. Since I found this wonderful Jobe's, I add about a half-cup per tomato plant every month. I never come near burning plants with it. They grow enormous and absolutely LOADED with fruit because of the high second number.

Also, MiracleGro used to be the perfect ratio for flowers and fruit/veggies that flower: 15-30-15 until Scotts bought it. Scotts has another corporate law: you must dramatically up the nitrogen in all products because the "stupid consumer" will continue to buy any fertilizer that greens up right after application. This means that non-stupid consumers have to watch the formula of any fertilizer before buying it. For any plant that flowers, you want close to a 1-2-1 ratio.

Are the bone meal any good? The ratio is 2-14-0 from JOBe's also. I make my own compost with worms. My production seem to be slow, hopefully this will give it a kick.

Tarolli's comment above is completely wrong! Flowering plants require much more N and K than P (3-4 times more actually). 2-14-0 is useless as an all purpose fertiliser unless you have a P deficiency. Something like a 4-1-3 would be preferable. Btw, compost only provides minimal nutrients, its more of a soil conditioner than a fert.

I am not sure where you are getting your info from but it is not precisely correct.

"In general, fertilizers formulated for flowering and fruiting plants would contain amounts of nitrogen less than or equal to the amounts of phosphorus (i.e. 10-10-10 or 5-10-15) This is because phosphorus encourages flowering and fruiting. Too much nitrogen will stimulate leafy green growth at the expense of flowers and fruit production. (emphasis mine) Also, the recommendations are made for granular fertilizer formulations. These will generally supply nutrients to the plants for about 6-8 weeks. During periods of frequent rainfall or frequent irrigation, the nutrients can be leached out of the soil and fertilizer may need to be reapplied."

"A common recommendation for vegetables is to apply 1 pound of a 10-10-10 fertilizer or 2 pounds of a 5-10-5 (or 5-10-10) fertilizer per 100 feet of row. The first number is the percentage by weight of nitrogen, the second the percentage by weight of phosphorus and the third number is the percentage by weight of potassium in the fertilizer product. Thus, 100 pounds of a 5-10-10 fertilizer contains 5 pounds of nitrogen, 10 pounds of phosphorus and 10 pounds of potassium. As already mentioned, applying nutrients not needed can cause problems with the vegetables you are growing.

When an excess amount of nitrogen is applied to fruit crops such as tomatoes and squash, it is common to have all vines and no fruit. With corn, missing a nitrogen fertilizer application as the corn starts to tassel can result in poor ear production. When excessive amounts of nitrogen are applied to root crops such as turnip, carrot and parsnips, you may end up with many leaves and small roots." (emphasis mine)

Both of these statements come directly form extension service publications, which were initially established to assist home gardeners. The same information will be contained in virtually any other vegetable growing resource. It is a widely accepted and common horticultural convention

What are some good organic brands for 10-10-10 fertilizer?

You will never find an organic with a 10-10-10 formulation. As they are derived from naturally occurring ingredients, their nutrient load will be much lower than that of one of the synthetics. In nearly all cases, the 3 numbers on the label (NPK or guaranteed analysis ) of ANY organic will never add up to more than 20.

Both Jobe's Organics and Dr. Earth have a 4-4-4 fertilizer and Happy Frog (Fox Farms) has a 5-5-5. Espoma doesn't offer a balanced granular but they do have a liquid 2-2-2. There may also be some more localized/boutique vendors that offer other balanced organics. But they are not all that common. And being balanced (all three numbers the same) is not all that important with organic ferts anyway.

Agree. Organic fertilizers is a whole different ballgame than synthetics and they are used quite differently - more frequently primarily - so you have to have a fair understanding of what your soil has already and what your plants need when working with organics.

I garden organically and there are many excellent organic fertilizers on the market, just as there are with synthetics, but using organics requires up front more research and often requires multiple products to get the best mix. Many make the mistake of thinking organic fertilizers are harmless, can't do any damage like synthetics can. But that isn't true. Organics can be abused just as easily when not understood.

Dave

Wow never knew it was that complex. Thank you for the info!

Ok what is the easiest thing to do? Will I get more production just adding fish emulsion?

gardengal, its just an observation from lots of reading and from experience. Btw, in my part of the world, balanced fertlisers (1-1-1) have been banned for a long time, and you can not even buy phosphorous unless it it attached to nitrogen at a ration of at least 4 to 1......and our native soils are low in P. I use a 10-2-6 on my veges and on my roses, both in ground and in containers (nutrient-less mix)....and i have never had a problem with 'all foliage and no fruit'!

At the end of the day, plants require very little P compared to N and K and you are risking the health of your soil by adding too much of it.

http://www.haifa-group.com/files/Guides/tomato/Tomato.pdf

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1389454/fertilizering-containerized-plants-iv

https://puyallup.wsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/phosphate.pdf

http://www.gardenmyths.com/bloom-booster-fertilizer-nonsense/

Antipodean. I have always observed that gardeners who do less-than-ideal things think the results are what they should produce. You may think it is plenty of flowering and fruit, but you could get lots more. If you experiment with a better flowering formula (1-2-1 ratio) on some of your plants, you will see a lot more flowering and fruit. Hope you can find the fertilizer to try.