Mostly azaleas, camellias , lorepetalums, fuchsias and camellias. Most of these prefer acid soils, so no lime. Do I still need gypsum though if it's in the fertiliser? Or would the quantities not be enough? I've had my plants potted up for about three months now and they seem to be growing well, it's just finished summer here in Australia and they've shown no signs of stress or lack of water. I'm still worried about the fact I haven't added anything except for the fertiliser periodically. What would be the signs of not having added gypsum?

I use fish emulsion for all my roses, both in the ground and in pots. Started doing this last year after a recommendation from one of my favorite rose nurseries, Greenmantle. I tried 3 different brands. The one I liked best is Gro-Tone made by Espoma. Gro-Tone is a nice balanced 2-2-2. It also smells better than fish emulsion often does. Gro-Tone certainly smells like fish but it's more like a fresh fishy aroma. Espoma added mint to make the scent less objectionable too. However it is pricey, and my local nursery doesn't intend to carry it as it didn't sell that well. I bought almost every bottle they had and stockpiled it.;) The other fish fertilizer I liked somewhat was Neptune's Harvest. The numbers on the bottle I have are 2-3-1. It also didn't smell bad though very fresh fishy(I think NH and Espoma use a cold processing method). The NH found at my local nursery is the mix which includes kelp, and I'd prefer not to give that to my roses as I don't think they need it based on soil and water conditions here--yours may be quite different. If I can't get the Gro-Tone, this is the brand I'll use, but their fish-only one which is 2-4-1. I can order direct from NH. The 3rd fish emulsion I used was made by E.B. Stone, fish emulsion with kelp, 4-1-1. It smelled ghastly, like rotten fish. Yuck, I did not enjoy applying it in the garden much less even opening the bottle. In addition, my roses did not respond as well to it as the other two. One reason may be that the water here can be very high in boron, and if the fertilizer also includes that micronutrient plants in this area may object (by showing boron toxicity). I've never seen Muskie in the stores so have never tried it. All the ones I used seemed to be in slightly different concentrations and thus the dilution rates indicated on the bottles were also different. I found this site on the web that carries Muskie: http://www.pthomeandgarden.com/product/9-muskietm-fish-fertilizer-5-1-1 It looks as if on that bottle at least there is some kind of info on the side. Perhaps it is application instructions???? Maybe they didn't put it on all the bottles which would be too bad. Melissa

Well, I'd be really impressed if you find a store that has all of those things! It took me a month to find just the 1:1:1 ingredients and of course they are at 3 different stores but well worth the effort. You'll find the gran i grit at a grain/feed store, the MVP Turface I found at an irrigation store (Ewing Irrigation - don't know if they have Houston stores), and I had to screen the Home Depot Sure Stay "Premium Pine Mulch" to get my fines. If you end up doing that, you can use the finest remaining particles in place of peat moss in the 5:1:1. Oh, and wall mart has perlite. Good luck to you on your quest, it is like a treasure hunt and so exciting when you actually find the stuff! Nik

One more site, more in depth article. Plus explains Plants are very Endo mycorrhrizal dependent. http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/support/library/pdf/Fertilizing%20Blueberries.pdf Excerpt: Spectrum Analytic recommendation is a flat 65 lb. N/ac for blueberries. We don’t distinguish between young plants and mature ones because we simply have no practical way of identifying the age of the planting and adjusting the N recommendation accordingly. However, we agree that young plants should receive less N than mature ones. Some authorities recommend N rates up to 140 lb. N/ac for mature plants. Most of the highest N recommendations are located in the Western states. The following table gives an example of some N recommendations made by various University Extension services So if they are estimating 1000 plants per acre, thats 6.6ft apart, 43.6sqft per bush. 65lbs N/acre annually average. Estimating each bush receives 1/1000 the amount of N 65 lbs/1000 is 1oz N per Plant per year. To be safe start at 1/4 this amount or .25oz N per Bush. Dr Earth Acid Fertilizer is 3-4-3 so at .25oz N this is .25/.03 = 8.3 oz 3% N Fertilizer per year (0.7oz/month). Thats about 2TBS per Month per plant at Fertilizer density of Sp=0.67. They recommend Potassium Sulphate as the K source which is in the fertilizer. So this is a questimate only maybe start at 1TBS per plant for the first month to watch the response. Then you can increase gradually as needed to find the best amount. Maybe others with more experience with Blueberries can give more info. I hope it works, keep the group informed how the Plants are doing, this will help expand the Knowledge Base. Dr Earth Acid Fertilizer is 3-4-3 Ingredients: Rich in: Wild-caught Alaskan Fish Bone Meal, Valley Grown Alfalfa Meal, High Country Feather Meal, Cold Water Kelp Meal, Mined Potassium Sulfate, Elemental Sulfur, MicroActive™ Micronutrient-rich Seaweed Extract (synergistically boosted with micronized humic acids for maximum bioavailability). Infused with Advanced TruBiotic® – consisting of “Five Champion Strains” of beneficial soil microbes and eighteen select strains of ecto & endo mycorrhizae Target pH 5.4. Ideal for: All acid lovers, maples, camellias, azaleas, hollies, gardenias, hydrangeas, evergreens, ferns, shade plants, tropical plants and all berries. Sidenote: Whatever soil mix you decide on, eliminate adding the limestone. You can also investigate the fertigation approach for fertilization also. Just use the best ingredients for the mix (ie ammonia based N, Potassium Sulphate instead of Potassium Chloride,and SuperPhosphate added to soil mix). The article has fertigation amounts, might start in the range 10 to 30ppm N. If you want to supplement N with 21% N ammonia sulphate 10ppm N is 10/(21*75)= .006oz/Gal or 0.19 oz(about 1tsp) per 30gal Trash Can of water. You see how low this is. MG All Purpose 24-8-16 contains Potassium Chloride which is questionable. Maybe look for something similar with a different K source for Blueberries. Sidenote 2: You can also make concentrated Stock Solutions( 1% to 5% N for example) for easier measuring to a watering can or siphon mixers. Many Hydroponic sites have info for making custom fertilizer solutions.