What are you growing and why do you think it needs fertilizing? Based on your description of what you have already done to improve soil conditions both last fall and this spring, I'd be rather surprised to find you still need a fertilizer to supplement, unless you are growing plants with rather specific requirements.

FWIW, organic fertilizers tend to be slow release by nature, requiring the activities of soil organisms to break them down into soluble forms accessible by plant roots. Fish based fertilizers do tend to be faster acting than other organic formulations, but I'd still question the need to add to what you already have in the soil.

What is the humus level of your soil?
How long have you been adding this organic matter?
Even if you added sufficient quantites of compost to your soil it would still take 3 years, at a minimum, for the bactteria to straigthen your soil out so they could feed your plants and you may well need a supplemental fertilizer so the plants will grow. A clay soil will need a lot of organic matter added to it, "topsoil" seldom does much for any soil except cost lots of money. While Keith Baldwin is writing about North Carolina soils in this article it still applies to any clay soil. You might also want to read Lee Reich's articles under the "Simply Soil" heading that have been appearing in Fine Gardening the past several months.

Here is a link that might be useful: Keith Baldwin on improving clay soils

1) Stop buying compost, etc. If you have a horse, then you have spent hay, straw, maybe stale feed- just add this stuff as mulch to the beds as you have it. It will compost in place.

2) If you've added any reasonable amount of horse poop, etc- then I doubt you'll need fertilizers of any sort. Do you have serious heavy feeders that are showing N deficiency? If you are, then try diluted urine- fast acting, free, organic. No joke.

Although I am new to organic gardening, I am not completely new to gardening in general, so I know that whatever I may have added to the soil before, my plants, although not all of them, need fertilizer.

The article on clay soil was very helpful as I build new beds and try to improve existing ones.

I use pine shavings in my horse stalls which I add to the compost pile in small amounts and around the plants that prefer acidic soil. I don't use straw, and my horses eat their feed so I don't have old feed to throw away.I use manure in the fall, and add it to the compost pile also. I also don't add unfinished compost to my beds, I think it looks messy, and I prefer to put it in the compost pile.

Although I am always looking for tips and tricks to better gardening, that is why I love to read here so much, I wondered if anyone could answer my original question: Does anyone know brand names of liquid organic fertilizer, preferably fish emulsion and seaweed that they may have used and liked. I have spoken to the man at worm's way store and if nothing else comes to my attention, I will go there and buy it to get my plants humming along until all the things I have recently started doing to the soil takes effect. next year I don't think I'll have as much need for it. Thanks for the info so far. Julie

Neptune's Harvest

"I will go there and buy it to get my plants humming along until all the things I have recently started doing to the soil takes effect. next year "

Alfalfa meal- takes less than a couple weeks to be available

"added some horse manure last fall" Horse manure (with urine etc.) has very available nutrients- more maybe than fish fertilizer anyway. Added it last fall?

The stuff you added doesn't need to be totally broken down to be available. The horse manure is probably providing less N than it did when fresher, as it gets leached out!

Since you are new to organic gardening- take this little piece of info for later: Organic does not mean less potent. Some organic amendments have TOO MUCH nitrogen- like fresh horse manure! Organic amendments last longer, and are available for longer. They don't need to totally compost. Finished compost has little N value. Fresher materials release nitrogen as available nutrient *AS* they break down, not *WHEN* they are completely broken down.

I recently threw bunny poop on my garden directly. That's all I'll do to fertilize. Fresh horse poop, in fact, may be TOO hot (too much N), but the stuff that you added in the fall is probably giving you a safe dose of N.

One last thing and I'll shut up- if you provide too much N- like if your horse doodie is giving enough already- and then you provide even more N- you could easily over-fertilize. Evidence would be nitrogen burn, or huge bushy plants with few or no fruits. A common problem when folks "misunderestimate" their fertilizer value.

I use Neptune's Harvest Fish Hydrolisate and Maxicrop Seaweed. Has worked well for my containers. I dont know anything about gardening in the ground but seems like it would be a good supplement while your back heals and your soil builds up. I have seen Maxicrop at Lowe's (not sure about Home Depot). I have never seen Neptune's Harvest at any big box store (I get it at an organic nursery), but I have seen Alaska Fish Emulsion.

Lydia

>so I know that whatever I may have added to the soil before, my plants, although not all of them, need fertilizer.How does this type of thinking get established in folk's minds? Plants don't NEED fertilizer. Plants manufacture their own food sources from the process of pohotosynthesis, drawing nutrients out of the soil in whatever proportions they require. There is no one out there with a spray device or a packet of fertilizer tending to all those things that grow perfectly well in natural environments and a wide range of soil conditions, both good and bad. Yes, one can make an argument that cultivated plant material does require attention from time to time, but only perhaps to supplement specific nutrients that may be lacking and and then only after soil tests or the plants themselves indicate a need.

But to think that a routine application of fertilizer is somehow necessary for plants in the ground in ordinary soil that has been augmented with composted or aged organic matter, specially if some time has passed since the amending or agumentation, is erroneous. The advice pablo provided is right on.

Wow, amazing that I thought I could save myself some time and trouble by coming here to get a simple question answered. What is a good brand of liquid fertilizer. For all the people who think they can diagnose my plants over the computer, I haven't been gardening all my lfe, only the last 7 years, from seed. I can tell which plants need some fertilzer, or if that hurts the sensibilities, has to have a little help picking up their natural food from some pretty bad starting soil. I would have just popped in for the first time and asked my question without providing any background, but I thought that was rude. For the ones who need all the details, here it is. This year was the first time I added organic fertilizers at all, and I didn't know how much to add, so I ran a test. A certain amount in a few beds, twice as much in the vegetable garden. The garden is doing great, I don't need to add anything. The beds obviously didn't get enough, some things are doing ok, others need a little help. 2 complete beds were scheduled to be torn out this year to put in a drive to the new barn, but that got held up, and since I started neck and back treatments, I don't intend to go out and enrich soil, it's going to get a liquid. But maybe I should just sit back and wait for them to completely yellow and die while I contemplate why they're not makin all their own food. They are in soil. I did appreciate the link to the clay soil article, very helpful. I am very busy like most people, especially now while I am tryng to rehab. I don't have the time or the inclination to justify myself, so I shall part here and head on out to Worm's Way. There the guy was helpful and listened to what I was actaully asking. I guess I sounded at least smart enough not to come home with a bottle and douse everything in my yard just for good measure.

If you actually read what was posted, people did suggest liquid fertilizers.

You claimed to be new at organics. Sorry for trying to really help on a higher level or to have a discussion. It wasn't meant to insult.

mtkota, this might be what you're looking for. It's made in Canada but available in the States, smells nice, and the plants love it. We use it on house plants and occasionally in the garden (consider this cheating) when at our wits' end with the slow growth of seedlings due to our sandy soil. (We have been adding truckloads of organic matter to the soil for 6 years, got another soil test done and OM content is still ~5%).

Here is a link that might be useful: raingrow 4-2-3

Can you please quote somewhere where a liquid was "suggested". Maybe look at Gardengal, and most of yours. Nothing about what I asked. I'm signing off for the last time from this "higher discussion"

mtkota, it looks like we cross-posted.

Lemme see- I said Neptune's Harvest, someone else said the same thing, as well as Maxicrop, and Alaska. I also suggested urine- which is no joke if you've done any reading here.

Yeah, there were plenty of liquids suggested. I have a couple more for anyone who has not signed off of the higher discussion.

Carnation
Foremost
Borden's
Jersey Maid
Sealtest
or any local brand of milk, fresh or spoiled, from any mammal, flavored or plain, skim or full strength, works great. Fill your adjustable hose end sprayer, set it for 3 ounces per gallon, and drench everything.

I should know better. Some folks just want what they want, often without knowing why or even if they NEED to want it. Sorry you took the postings the wrong way, mtkota. They were meant with good intentions. In 40 years of gardening, both personally and professionally, I can state with certainty that, unless your soil is radically skewed in some direction, newly planted plants (and especially those grown from seed) do not require fertilizing. I'd advise you to look at some other cause for the yellowing - incorrect pH, inadequate watering, poor drainage, improper sun/shade conditions or even transplant shock. It is highly unlikely that the cause is lack of or insufficient fertilization.