Fertilizer Questions (Fish emulsion, Dr Earth, Plant tone?) help...
Allie Szot
8 years ago
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Allie Szot
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoRelated Discussions
Fish Emulsion / Seaweed fertilizer
Comments (7)I use it regularly on outdoor stuff - have for years. I like it, though I really couldn't say I find it to be head & shoulders above stuff like Osmocote or MG. Though it makes no difference to plants where they get their nutrients from, in the back of my mind I have this feeling that the lower the concentration of fertilizer salts in a container, the less the likelihood of problems with water/nutrient uptake. Frequency of applications vary by plant. Because I am a bonsai grower, I often fertilize at and above recommended doses, but there are plants whose development I want to slow, too. In actuality, the best fertilizer program for best plant health doesn't usually include the inducing of the most robust growth. Heavily fertilized plants will usually be found to have less energy in reserve to fight off insects & infection with various pathogens. In addition, the highly succulent growth produced by heavy applications of nitrogen is favored by insects, making them a more likely target for infestations. Though some might argue the point, it is near impossible to keep containerized plants happy without supplemental nutrients (except for the small percentage that prefer a very spare soil). For most container growers (and I'm talking about the average Joe/Jill) a good policy would be to watch leaf color carefully. If you see signs of chlorosis, or venation, give the plant a half dose of your favorite balanced fertilizer. If, in a week or so, color doesn't improve, another dose is in order. Though the minors (micro-nutrients) are beyond the scope of your question, scarcity of certain elements, particularly in containers, can be a problem. I use a micro-nutrient frit in all my container soils, but as of yet, I have only found it in 50 lb bags & it is expensive (but dosage is small & a little really goes a long way). There is a major producer of fertilizer that has a liquid product on the market that advertises it contains the minor elements. Though I haven't tried it, I would really recommend you try it for containers & houseplants. I'm not sure, but I think Schultz makes it. Perhaps some one can help me here? Good luck. Al...See MoreHow do I deal with the low low pH of fish emulsion?
Comments (11)One tablespoon of fish emulsion in a gallon of 6.8 ph water will actually make it quite acidic, definitely below 6, probably closer to 5. If you use 2 tablespoons per gallon, then the pH will be below 5 - I know because I test my pH. I found that using nutrients regularly without pH-upping the water resulted in terrible pH swings for me, based on my own pH testing. If you fertilize once per month, not much of an issue, but if you are fertilizing more regularly with liquid nutrients then you might want to consider it. Regarding the acidity of peat moss and it still being a great amendment - this is misleading. If you look on the back of ingredients of peat-moss based soils, such as Fox Farm, you will see dolomite lime as one of the ingredients. Peat-based potting soils typically have dolomite lime added to balance the pH, and they typically let the lime break down a bit too. If you do research on amending with peat moss, you will see that you should add some lime to balance the pH. One of the benefits of using coco coir instead of peat moss is that the pH of coco coir is 6.0, so you don't really need to balance the pH when amending if you use coco. I use peat based soils to start with but use coco for the amending for this reason. Simply having alot of organic material in your soil will not make pH swings a non-issue. My plants were displaying nitrogen deficiencies, so I kept feeding them more nitrogen, not realizing the nitrogen was lowering the pH so much that then they couldn't even absorb much nitrogen, resulting in the nitrogen deficiency. I began making sure the pH of my nutrient solution was on point and then the problem began correcting itself....See MoreHELP! Homemade fish emulsion gone awry!
Comments (36)This thread is hilarious and informative at the same time! Thank you all for the laughs and the knowledge! My experience with fish emulsion goes like this. I’ve been growing bonsai for many years and have more than I want to talk about. Some are pretty old and my treasures. When we moved from the big city to the country, we of course brought every single plant and bonsai! We had four box trucks jammed full of plants and one for the house stuff. I carefully arranged each bonsai on their little stands so they’d all look just right even if we were the only ones that could see them. I started the repotting process soon thereafter and of course...used fish emulsion to give them all a boost. The next day, I go back to check on my “babies” and stood there in shock! Thinking the worst about some human vandalism or theft, I notice that each plant had been uprooted and holes had been dug in every pot. Little hand like prints and tracks are all over the place, I follow the trail of destruction to a boggy area near a creek. There lie the remains of several larger bonsai, the fish emulsion bottle and even the bucket! A few choice words later and some tears too, I gathered the survivors and repotted them. Most survived with some very interesting new shapes but I certainly learned my lesson. Fish emulsion is great stuff but never use it if you even suspect that you have raccoons....See MoreFish Emulsion for the win!
Comments (82)The Yosemite Gold has a beautiful flush, and maybe the rest of it is a bit greener. The bottom third that was really yellow, most of leaves fell off. About three of the youngest trees have tiny bit brown crispiness on a few of the leaves- they got too much of everything. My other trees were all a nice deep green previously and many were flushing already so not much was expected of them. I think I'll keep to my previous fertilizing schedule for now unless green leaves start to pale up or I want to stimulate growth. Maybe hit the Yosemite Gold lightly with FE a time of two yet. But I think what I have going with the Osmocote and Peter's for is working great and don't want to mess with what seems to be working. Just watch- things always start to go south as soon as I say something like that! Thanks for following up....See Moregorbelly
8 years agocentexan254 zone 8 Temple, Tx
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoAllie Szot
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agogorbelly
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoAllie Szot
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