Balanced and less fertilizer is best for plants
strawchicago z5
10 years ago
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strawchicago z5
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10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Using fishbone meal for phosphorus (??)
Comments (4)Hi Joel: I spent hours checking on fish-bone meal and found a review on Amazon ... someone wrote that stuff stinks so badly, that the neighbor could not sleep (quite far away). Plus it attracted huge flies. Dry chicken manure NPK is 1.6 / 1.8 / 2.0 and sold cheap at the feed store, 1.8 phosphorus is decent compared to horse manure. Balanced fertilizer is best. I tested high phosphorus on some of my roses, I'm not happy with the result. I tested bone meal before, and it burnt my geraniums. Below is a link on why balanced and less fertilizer is best for plants: Here is a link that might be useful: Why balanced fertilizer is best for plants This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Fri, Sep 6, 13 at 14:00...See MoreFertilizing Seedlings in Soil-less Seed Starting Mix
Comments (4)Many artificial mixes already have some limited nutrients in them, some don't. I never fertiize newly germinated seedlings at all. When they're about 1-2 inches tall and/or have a set of 1-2 true leaves, then I transfer them to plastic cells, 8 4 packs to a standard nursery tray, thus 32 plants/tray.I may or may not fertilize at that point with a low NPK fertilizer such as seaweed or fish emulsion and that's that. When they're 6-9 inches tall is best to set them outside in soil or in a container. I don't want rapid growth of seedlings to occur before they go out b'c I feel it's a stress, which is not good, and want the root and foliage growth to occur where the plants are going to grow to maturity. I should also say that years ago I adapted what most commercial farmers do in raising their own tomato plants and what works for them works for me and has for several decades and thousands of plants raised and to date about 3,000 varieties grown. Carolyn...See MoreIt was the best of fertilizers, it was the worst of fertilizers... (10
Comments (24)The meaning of the word "optimum" in soil tests is not entirely clear. For at least P and K, there is no concentration that is actually toxic to plants, though highly elevated levels of those can interfere with absorption of other nutrients. I know people who get soil tests showing P and K 4-5 times over "optimum", and they have no troubles at all. But there are people who bend over backwards to keep those levels within ten percent of "optimum". I am told that the relationship of at least P and K to plant health is very broad, in that although there are happy medians, plants can easily tolerate large differences from those "optimum" values. There is an "optimum" amount of water I should drink every day, and it's not going to hurt me a lot to drink half or twice that amount. When we hear about garden problems with N, P, and K problems, we're almost always hearing about very large deficiencies. If anyone has a reference to research on how large a swing from "optimum" values are tolerated well by plants, it would be nice to see it....See MoreBest tomatoes for productivity/taste balance?
Comments (14)I can't recommend a tomato I found last season high enough- "Powers" heirloom from Virginia. It's the size of a skinny lemon and the color is ivory yellow. It was good for everything- even sandwiches! It took two for a sandwich on a soft hoagie bun, mind you. I got so many from the one plant (@75) and they kept producing quality fruit until it snowed. Usually, my tomatoes become mealy or yucky before frost but Powers did not. It sprawled out of the tomato cage in a 6 foot circle like an octopus- it was amazing! The flavor is sweet and mild, but not bland. To get more production, use an electric toothbrush to fertilize your tomato flowers. I learned how on youtube by watching videos. You don't actually touch the flower with the toothbrush. You vibrate the STEM OF the flower and it mimic a bee's wing's motion inside the flower head. It takes 1 second per flower and I got almost 100% fruit setting per flower with this method. I also got 2 tomatoes on my Pineapple plant in 2015 so I had to learn to fertilize my own plants in 2016. The increase in production was miraculous....See Morestrawchicago z5
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