Have anyone tried MegaMend as an organic option?
Mikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
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sunshine (zone 6a, Ontario,Canada)
6 years agoMikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b)
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Organic options for Brown Rot?
Comments (35)This made me remember that I have some calcium chloride, its added to cider to keeve it. I bought it from some mushrooming store, see link below. Mushroom growers use it to dry out mushrooms. This stuff is in larger quantity than your little canister, Frank. Some website I found says 3-4 lbs per 100 gallons, so do the math - half an ounce or so by weight per gallon. I wished I had thought of this, the calcium stuff I bought was really expensive and I have a couple pounds of the stuff below in my basement. I wonder what commercial growers use, pure CaCl2 or some other formulation. Scott Here is a link that might be useful: Calcium Chloride pellets...See MoreHas anyone tried................................
Comments (11)Just want to state my facts as I have personally experienced them since using the recipe for Lisa's fish food. My pond is in it's fifth year. I started with six 5 inch koi and two shubunkins. The only thing I fed my fish during the first four years were Cheerios, watermelon, canteloupe, zuchinni and Tetra Pond food sticks. Five of my fish did not seem to grow and their coloring was bland, however the white ogon butterfly was always a little bit larger than the other five. The orange coloring on the other fish looked like a light peach and the black coloring was gray. Last spring I purchased six more koi that were five inches long. Same as the koi I started with five years ago. This year I started making my own fish food using Lisa's (goodkarma's) recipe and I can't believe what has happened. The five year olds are larger and their coloring is very vibrant, the koi I bought last year have caught up to the older larger fish (five year olds). All of the other fish are also this size. These younger fish were only about seven inches long this spring. I would guess they are now approximately 18 inches long, or longer. Here is a picture to show you exactly what I mean. The large white fish to the left of the photo is my 5 year old white ogon butterfly, the fish in the center right behind the white ogon is also 5 years old (orange and black ginrin) and the fish on the right is the 2 year old I bought last spring (white with black down the middle of its back). If you compare them, they are all the same size (the small brat in the middle is a shubunkin). If you look closely in the top of the pic you can see some of the fry that were born in the pond this spring. They are now about 4-5 inches long. I supplement the homemade fish food with Hikari Gold which they are refusing to eat since I have been making Lisa's food. Another good thing with this food is that it is a sinking food. Koi are naturally bottom feeders. The only purpose for floating fish food is to enable you to see your fish when they come to the surface to eat. As I said the facts speak for themselves. Jenny...See MoreStawberry, or anyone, have you tried this?
Comments (9)Hi Kitty: I'm glad you are back, I miss your tons-of-blooms gorgeous pics, and your years of experience ahead of me. When Alana in SC got sick bands from Burlington early april, this is what I wrote to Alana on April 19: "Fish emulsion is very acidic, best mix into your tap water to lower the pH for pale roses. It's great to water your roses with diluted fish emulsion, but NOT to spray the foliage. If leaves are kept wet and slightly acidic, you'll get diseases. Fish emulsion is cited as NPK is 5-2-2, with trace elements. University of Mass. research on marigolds tested chemical, fish emulsion, alfalfa pellets, or a combo. They compared Neptune fish emulsion NPK of 3-1-5, versus chemical fertilizer NPK of 20-2-20. Personally I think the marigold watered with fish emulsion looks better than others, the one with alfalfa meal is worst, very stunt and yellowish. Google that, and you'll see. Another organic way is to use blackstrap molasses, but only the Plantation brand has the highest nutrient. Plantation brand sold at Walmart has 17% potassium, 20% iron, and 20% calcium. Experiments on Soluble fertilizers showed that high potassium plus calcium yielded the best root growth, and the best flowering. Less is best with molasses. People with green plants use 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of water for every 2 weeks. Since roses are tougher, 1 teaspoon would be fine. Too much sugar can make the fungi out-number the bacteria in the soil. A tiny bit of sugar stimulates the endo/ecto mycorrhizal fungi. That group of soil fungi increase the nutrients in soil, esp. phosphorus, potassium, and iron. I posted a thread on mycorrhizal fungi a month ago. " After I wrote the above to Alana, I went to find Plantation brand early April .... no luck. So I'll order low salt soluble fertilizer NPK 2-20-20 with molasses from Kelp4Less. Once diluted, that Mid-Bloom pack has 1/4 cup molasses per 50 gal., plus Myco++ fungi for best root-uptake of nutrients. If you can find Plantation Blackstrap molasses, its high iron will green up your plants. Here's the link to nutrients in different brands of molasses ... they vary widely: Here is a link that might be useful: Nutrients in different brands of molasses...See MoreAnyone tried Neptune soluble fish fertilizer?
Comments (14)I use horse manure both aged and fresh depending on the time of year. At least twice a year I apply alfalfa tea. The tea is made of alfalfa, fish oil emulsion, epsom salts, chicken poop (thank you neighbor), bunny poop (thank you other neighbor), molasses .. water. Left to age in a 100 gallon bucket for a week. The ingredients vary by what is on hand. I hesitate to explain what I do since our growing conditions are so very different. Here in the PNW it rains, rains and then rains some more in the winter; except this year almost no rain from Thanksgiving through Christmas. ElNino is coming to a glorious end. Summers no rain. I dont need to worry about salt or any build up in the soil. It rains away and the soil is glacial rock which helps with the cleansing of the soil. When I first began gardening at this location I had a soil sample test done. The above ingredients compliment the shortages in the soil. This year two of the gardens will be 3 years old. I plan to have the soils in this are retested. The roses for the most part are doing fine. Last springs brutal multiple freeze/thaw cycles sure proved a challenge. At the beautiful Rose Test Garden in Portland, OR, the stated that Zoo Doo surrounding the roses and Spring time application of Nitrogen is all that they need to do. Again not recommending what you should do. This works here. I use no chemical fertilizers nor spray for bugs or disease. Hope this was useful information. Jeannie...See More
evdesert 9B Indio, CA
6 years ago
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6 years agoMikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b)
6 years agoUser
6 years ago
uncle molewacker z9b Danville CA (E.SF Bay)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoMikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b)
6 years agoPaula Mann
last year
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