I have used Miracle Grow in a hose sprayer but you need to be careful of the strength and try not to spray the leaves or you'll get white spots. Too late in the season to fertilize now though...fertilizing should stop mid-to-late July. You can hurt the plants by doing so now. Others here can explain better "why", it has something to do with them getting ready for winter (dormancy), I think.

Start fertilizing in the spring after the eyes are up (April?). Some use alfalpha (sp?) pellets, horse manure and other kinds of concoctions.

Be patient...wait til spring!

Char

I fertilize with miracle grow once a week and it really helps, but time in a 'happy spot' makes the difference. I have 'Blue Angel' in 5 different locations and all of them are different sizes. From huge to almost non-existant. Hostas just have to be happy to perform!

Melissa
I would recommend reading "Well tended perennial garden" by Tracy DiSabato. It has detailed explanation about preparing soil for garden beds. Adding proper amount of organic matter to your beds is essential if you want your plants to be healthy, lush and beautiful. Adding any chemical fertilizer is just that- chemical fertilizer. Creating a healthy enviroment for your perennials to grow is different matter altogether.
There is also pretty active composting forum and you can do search there for same topic.
Addding chemical fertilizer is useful but needs to be done carefully. At this time of year and in your zone majority of perennials will be going into dormancy pretty soon. I would not add any fertilizer at this point.

I use no chemical fertilizers on my hosta. Lots and lots of alfalfa pellets and I top dress with composted manure in the spring. I don't rake leaves out of my beds and I mulch every year with finely chopped or ground wood chips, which decays and loosens and enriches the soil.
Don't make it hard....just pile on organic matter.....and a banana peel now and then is good too.
Linda C

the MOST IMPORTANT thing is that the fertilizer be gone by the time the hosta are getting ready to go dormant ...

if there is fresh soft growth .. late in the year.. it will NOT harden off properly .. leading to rots ....

i learned this lesson the hard way when i used to grow roses.. and had horrible winter losses ....

sooooo .. when is winter up in you neck of the woods ... 3 or 4 weeks from now??? ....rotf ... lol ...

depending on what you use ... on the water applied.. what your soil is.. and how fast you can wash it down into the soil and away from the hosta.. and how long until you need dormancy ... determines.. if now is a good time ...

i usually stop fert'g in the middle of July ... giving me almost 90 days before the first hard frost ... on pure sand.. watering 12 to 15 hours per day with drip irrigation .. injecting the fert into the water lines ...... which means almost nothing to you ...

and i am sorry .. i really cant tell you about all the variables in your yard ...

good luck.. but be real careful ... ken

Ken... you silly boy, winter doesn't set in for at least 6 weeks!!!

LOL.

Seriously, the first frost is usually mid-late september and I ususally try to have most of my plants put to bed by Halloween and the ground is usually frozen (top few inches) by November.

My soil is faily good, but if anything, I'd say it leans to being more sandy and clay. So, I'd say it drains pretty well. I was in my cabinet of concoctions this weekend and I did find one of those fertilizer sprayers (possibly miracle grow) that you hook on the end of the hose.

Am I getting the consensus that it's too late to use it here? Should I try to get in one last treatment? Are the roots too young, since they were just planted this year? I do also have some root stimulator, if you think that would help!

With ferts.....when in doubt don't. More harm is done by too much too often rather that too little.
Linda C

or go with something very safe and weak ...

like a hose end sprayer at half strength ...

just to make yourself happy .. if nothing else..

but not enough to get in trouble by over doing it...

ken

Here is a little exchange with Dr Elaine Ingham, (AACT) Airated Activated Compost Tea tea fame. She is a micro-biologist Oregon State (I think) and her husband is some type of soil scientist.

I've been using a tea leachate, different than AACT that works well but is not chemical fertilizer. I call it "Peeterlizer", in a 5gal bucket I put fresh organic matter and kitchen scraps, etc and an occasional personal contribution. Mixed 10 to 1 applied to the soil not the leaves.

You are getting advice about adding organic matter, mulch and alfalfa meal which is actually a organic addition. Also, to dispel an old wives tale, mulch does not tie up nitrogen in the soil unless you put in the soil (incorporate it). Mulch does not change soil PH in a negative way either.

Email to Butch about chemical fertilizer:

Nitrogen is stored in the organisms in the soil, and in the organic matter in the compost. As Krasilnikov said, 75% of the nutrients in soil are stored in the microorganisms. We have to feed soil microbes, so they can perform their storage function. But by tying up nutrients in the soil bacteria and fungi, then these nutrients don't leach out of the soil when snow melt occurs. Or when irrigation events are performed in the summer, or in any event where water moves into the soil and past the root system. Inorganic forms of N are the most leachable forms of N. And therefore really stupid to have in soil, unless you really want to destroy water quality. . Nitrate, nitrate and ammonium are highly leachable. If the soil becomes anaerobic, then these aerobic forms of N are converted into the anaerobic forms of N, and lost by volatilization. I have to laugh at a number of soil scientists who have actually said that nitrate is not leachable in heavy clay soils that are saturated with water. First of all, in saturated soil, oxygen is likely limited, and the soil will be anaerobic. Nitrate is not present in these conditions, so of course it isn't leachable.
In anaerobic conditions, inorganic forms of nitrogen are converted to anaerobic forms of N, and is lost as ammonia (smelly!), or as nitrous oxide, for example. Nitrate isn't leached in anaerobic conditions, but it sure is being lost! But, back to Butch's question. In soils with good organic matter, N is retained in the bacteria and fungi, stored for later nutrient cycling by protozoa, nematodes, and microarthropods. These cycling processes produce plant available forms of N, in the place, time and amounts the plant needs. Hope this helps! Elaine
Nitrogen fixing plants are symbiotic with Rhizobium.

This bacterium fixes N using the plant's carbon. The bacteria in the nodule get the fixed N first. Once their N-requirement is met, then the plant gets the fixed N, but that N is not in the form of nitrate, nitrite or ammounium. It is given to the plant as a kind of protein usually.

The plant then has elevated N in it's tissue. It does not release that N as nitrate - it has spent way too much carbon to obtain that N, and so that N is retained in the plant.

And thus legumes, or even plants where free-living N fixing bacteria are present in the soil, will have higher than usual concentrations of N.

The C:N of a plant where nodules are active is 10:1 usually. Maybe 20:1. And so legumes can serve in the place of manure, or other high nitrogen containing materials.

Usually free-living N-fixing bacteria don't result in elevated N in the plant. When the bacteria are eaten by protozoa or nematodes, then the fixed N is released into the soil as mineral forms.

Butch;

I'm convinced that most things like root boosters and other magic bullets are a waste of money. If you fertilize at all, then NPK and trace elements are all that is necessary. Nitrogen should be from a natural source rather than an inorganic source (ammonia or urea) because some fertilizer nitrogen has the N in a state that the plant cannot use.

The best way is from the soil and if you have healthy soil the nitrogen is tied up in nitrogen fixing bacteria, when eaten or consumed by another organism the nitrogen is released and delivered to plant in the form of a protein or converted to a form the plant can access.

Most nitrogen applied is leached out of the soil and never used or is even available to the plant. Also, if the soil has adequate phosphorus and potassium then to add more will only interfere with the proper balance.

None of this applies to potted plants, which may or may not require all this from outside sources.

My Hostas are near our manmade gold fish pond. Draining the pond once or twice a week & my Hostas love it! That is why mine get as big as car tires! :)

esther opal

How soon do you need to use up the "Peeterlizer"?
Can you make a larger portion and let it steep for a few days, or has it gone bad by that time?

I'm using this bucket about 2 weeks and haven't done nearly enough study to say it is safe; last year I used the leachate from a very old bucket with fresh personal additions. That was rotted organic matter and notice I say rotted rather than compost.

I did increase the mix when it appeared to be giving good results and over did it in a hurry, the plants didnt die but suffered. IÂve read that 10-1 is not a problem period.

Urine has Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium and the organic matter should add trace elements.

Some of my backyard research is fairly careful but this is not. I have several plants planted in my 5gal bucket system on this mix period so IÂll be able to say more next spring.

And I am willing to kill a few plants to see what works.

With all these cautious notes I should have scared you off.

I used root stimulator this year on most of my transplants. The ones I didn't use it on needed the most watering while the plants I did give root stimulator to didn't have any noticeable plant shock and I've had to water them less than the plants that no root stimulator. Of course, that is not a scientific study, nor scientific proof, but my experience has made me feel braver about completely rearranging the shade be in the next few weeks. I normally don't like moving or planting anything after June because I always seem to lose a high percent of those plants over the winter. I'm hoping the root stimulator ups the survival rate.

"Peeterlizer" - rofl

Hi
I've only been growing Hostas for a couple of years now,so i'm no expert like a lot of people on this forum.
My Hostas are growing big and lush,with no fertilizing!
You don't see animals going round applying liquid feed to plants in the wild.....so why do it in your own garden.
Every bit of garden litter goes on the compost heap.including the kitchen waste (potato peel.banana skins)
and of course newspaper.
Mulch in spring and Autumn and also i leave fallen leaves on the bed.Job done!
Oh before i go,just wanted to report that Summer has finally arrived in England (u.k).After nearly three months of heavy rain and floods fair weather is here.Cheers,have a nice Summer!

Kingfats, seems such a simple thing. A couple of minor points, if sandy soil then it may require some clay to keep sandy soil from leaching nutrients when it rains or clay soil may require a good deal of organic matter applied to the surface to break up the clay. Of course organic mulch helps any type of soil. These very minor things that lead to very sustainable gardening.

Hi esther
Good comments,thank you.
Wouldn't fancy growing Hostas on sandy soil,myself though!
Garden on heavy loam so i guess i have a lot on my side already.Cheers.

If you want to fetilize them now you could try a worm casting fertilizer (which would be weaker than chemical fertilizers). I found a really good one at Home Depot, it could be other places too. It's called Terracycle, and it comes in recycled soda bottles. Some extension offices will offer worm castings for sale, so you could also check with your local extension.

the opposite end of the spectrum is to not fert too early in the season .... causing tender over growth that can be affected by late frosts .... when is your last frost up there in the cold white north .. last week... lol ...

i have seen and heard suggestions of sprinkling fert on your last snow.. so the melt can work it in ... frankly in my zone 5 .. if i did that.. with the potential of 6 weeks more of probable/possible heavy frosts... i would be moaning every spring about my losses ....

so..... do NOT ever fert too early .... e.g. my last frost date is 6/1 .... exceptionally rare for the last two weeks of may ... so i never consider fert'ing until that time.. and usually don't get around to it until the second or third week of June.. and as noted previously ... a second application around right now.. and then done for the year ...

and since mid summer is root growing time... i stay away from high nitro this time of year .. and would tend toward something like 6-24-24 ... to encourage roots ... as i like to say ... grow the roots.. and the plant will follow ....

ken

Quote: "With all these cautious notes I should have scared you off."

No, didnt scare me off, and I hope no one else either, that wasnt your intent!

I have been using this method all summer, except left out one of your ingredients, and think most of you can figure out which one!

Read something on another forum, something about this mixture setting to long, and being toxic to the plants. I am not a chemist and couldnt figure out what all the post were meaning in lay terms. So now I do just what seems right to me. Once my mixture starts smelling, I do dump it into the compost pile. I sure wouldnt want to take a bath or be watered with a smelly mixture!

Really no right or wrongs in garden, everyone has their own ideas. Hey just enjoy the gardening!

It does take time to grow large hostas, it just doesnt happen overnight. Many of the huge plants others are seeing have been grown for a few years. Look how long it took me to get from 8 lbs to ???. Did you really think that I was going to put my weight here.........

Like Char said jut be patient, but water never hurts!

Trudy, Chemist eh?

Help understand in more detail some of the things I've picked up about fertilizer.

"Peeterlizer" becoming toxic; in the absence of oxygen this brew becomes anaerobic like a compost pile that isnt turned often enough changing the ph substantially. Used in weak solution the soil will buffer the ph quickly so I think the question is strength of application. Im mixing a weak solution and using it almost every time I water.

Talk to me about the ph question, please.

If you will indulge me, please help with the chemical questions around the fertilizer questions.