I make my own fertilizers now. I recently threw together a couple of videos showing how to get started doing this yourself using software called HydroBuddy. The focus of the videos is on how to copy Foliage Pro which I view as a giant ripoff at $56 a gallon (my retail price more than doubled in a year which did not reflect underlying increases in ingredients). Buying the ingredients retail only costs between $8-$14 a gallon. Buying them wholesale would put the price significantly lower. I think Dyna-Gro is abusing the fact that no one will sell ammonium nitrate to people anymore. I found a solution for that. You can view the first 2 videos at the links below which will introduce you to the concept. There are some errors in the video that I noticed - specifically that the Jack's 25-5-15 that I mention in video 2 does contain .1% sulphur. I planned on making a video showing how to actually mix the substances and correcting the errors before I posted anything here but since you asked you can take a peak here: Introduction to HydroBuddy for copying commercial nutrient formulas like Foliage Pro Part 2 of introduction to making your own Foliage Pro (contains errors at the moment - use to get the general idea - formulas will be posted in another thread in a week or so with a video showing the mixing process and an analysis from JR Peter's lab). For anyone interested in copying Foliage Pro please hold off until I show you how to mix them and provide the exact formula and so forth in a video I plan on adding within a week. Also note the errors in video 2 mentioned above as they effect the results (I assume most of you won't have access to ammonium nitrate). Fixing the analysis of the Jack's in hydrobuddy actually gets one closer to FP but the molybdenum is still 4x the level in FP (not 2x that I mention in the video, sorry I was nervous). Note that the level of Mo in Jack's is .0125% to FP's .0009%. After learning quite a bit about fertilizers lately I no longer think FP is the best possible general user fertilizer but that's another issue... Minnamouse to answer your question one would have to know what chemicals you are using and also probably the final pH of the solution. Some things are more likely to precip around pH of 6 and above (this would be the concentrate). Some are also more likely to interact at very low pHs. It all depends on what you're using. If whoever sold you the chemicals said that phosphates might cause issues then my guess would be that your iron is not chelated but it could be something else as well... I should note that HydroBuddy will not help you with chemical interactions. You need to understand which things will interact and why in order to use the software well. If you're unsure you can always perform a jar test and check for precipitation (for instance try mixing 35% sulfuric acid with Foliage Pro in a small jar for an example of what happens when you add more S to their formula - crystals galore!)

......and clover will not add 2 lbs. It just won't. The reason that clover (and other legumes) made the news is that they are a net positive, rather than a net negative, on the nitrogen. That's huge news. It's a very small amount (to the positive) but huge news, because (as the news told you), most growing experiences yield a net negative of nitrogen. So it goes. It is, however, a far cry from saying that clover has ENOUGH nitrogen to make a difference, as some/most of the grains have. I do not belive that growing an acre of grains will yield enough grains to properly fertilize an acre of lawn. Not the way you and I grow grains. The farmers, however, have the benefit of 'economy of scale', and they grow huge amounts of grain, with huge machines, on huge fields, and because of the savings by being huge, (on a per acre basis) they can offer those grains literally for LESS than it would cost for you and me to do it. Grow the same grains. Or raise the same bacon. Or the same milk. Would you rather have a hand-made automobile, or a mass-produced automobile? The price difference is astounding, but there is absolutely no question that the hand made automobile is a finer car. There are 'hobbyists', mostly in our experience called 'gardeners' or 'heaters of houses with wood stoves'.....they grow some fine tomatoes. But they don't do it for the price. They grow it for the taste of the tomato. Personally, I go to the local farmer's market, where these guys are trying to get SOME of that money back, and I get some darn fine tomatoes. Or the wood stove guys? There's a very humorous list, of things that (numbered one through about twenty) list the 'savings' of cutting your own house heating fuel (with a chainsaw: cost $300, up front; cost of bandages, after you drop the tree on YOU: $200, you get the idea). But you're not gonna grow some corn (with all of its trouble and expense) and then spread that corn on your lawn, and even REMOTELY believe that you 'saved money'. Or time. Or covered the inevitable 'bad years' by putting some away, from the extra, during 'good years'. Nope. For grains to spread on the lawn, buy (cheaply) from the 'experts'. They are experts for a reason, aren't they? To heat your home, buy, cheaply, from that 'expert' utility company or propane distributor. And for some really, really, mouth watering sweet tomatoes, grow your own. Tend them. But don't tell me, at the end of the year, that you 'saved money', just tell me that you enjoyed tomatoes so sweet, with such good texture, that I couldn't imagine just how fine that BLT sandwich actually was. I'll believe you. And envy you, for that brief moment.

Very good points gardengal. Thank you! I am one of those wacky gardeners that actually did have my soil tested. I was totally surprised (and elated) at how high my levels were! All except nitrogen. Very low in nitrogen. It could use some phosporus too. But I'm off the charts in potassium and everything else tested. I already added to the soil as directed by the soil analysis. So in my yard the alfalfa is fine for now. And the plan is it will be a source of nitrogen for the rest of my plants when I harvest it (as well as that plant hormone it has that helps growth). That's the plan anyway. We will see what happens. Plus it gives me those happy memories from childhood. We also had hills of mustard flowers growing up. I know it's a weed to most... but to me it smells sweet and happy and looks like spring. I don't even like yellow, but these little weeds hold a special place in my heart. The hills around here are covered in them now with all the rain. I stopped myself from planting a field of them in my yard though. :)

Thanks so much, dandy_line. I'll be looking forward to your next comment! Because CS is a seed grown variety and not propagated from cuttings, I was hoping to hear that someone was getting colored echies like the parents! Hard to believe but I've had an orange volunteer and a peach volunteer through the years, not from CS but other varieties of echinacea. This year, I have a huge plant from Sunset, which has been taken over by all pink from seeds dropping and this year, lo and behold, are two white ones in the middle of all the pink!