The Dyna Gro and one of the CRF's (personally, I'd stick to the Osmocote) are all you need for any fertilizing requiements! The rest you can give away or dispose of in an appropriate manner.

The only exception might be a fert for acid loving plants if you grow a lot of them. (I do but they require minimal fertilization......most plants are the same. I rarely fertilize anything growing in the ground.)

Fertilizer #2 Shake 'n Feed (better ratio? 19-6-12)

Fertilizer #3 Feed & Forget (really?)

It's all NPK in varying amounts, with perhaps micronutrients. You can pretty much use it on anything, just adjusting strength and/or mixing with another fertilizer if it has an odd ratio.

I will definitely be keeping the Dyna Gro and using it. My concern with the Osmocote Plus is that it is a six month fertilizer. I can see using it for houseplants, but I'm concerned about using it on container perennials outdoors like hostas because it is a long lasting fertilizer. It would probably be good for annuals. And bulbs like elephant ears? Good for that too? Bare in mind that I have a much shorter growing season than you have.

And Osmocote Plus has no calcium in it. Will I not have to add some?

I use the Osmocote on all my outdoor container plantings (trees, shrubs, mixed perennials and clematis), applied once in early spring. It is heat activated so it slows its release capabilities when temps are low. I have not found the lack of Ca to be an issue....it is used in pretty minute quantities.

I would say make sure the plants don't have a limiting factor (N, P or K is too low). But if your soil supports the ability to flush everything anyway, the plant will not use too much of a single N or P or K, it will just use what it needs. So FLUSH it. This would be possible with a well-draining soil and well-aerated soil, (gritty or 511) but not possible with a dense and spongy soil, flushing would not really work there; it would work to remove deposits but the problem is that the soil is so spongy and dense that the effect of flushing (saturating the soil with water during watering) would be that then, the soil would take a long time to drain and not be aerated like the roots want it to be. So you would be flushing and freeing the soil from all deposits such as fertilizer that can cause "fertilizer burn", which is good, but you would also saturate the soil with water and keep it from being able to breath properly. One of the worse things: having a dense and spongy soil and watering it in sips and fertilizing, never flushing the soil. In that very scenario the fertilizer deposits and water deposits that are in the water you use to water, would stay in the soil and keep the roots from being able to use the H2O(pure water) and the air around the roots. Instead it would take in too much fertilizer and not enough water and air, asphyxiation, root damage, root rot, root death, plant death.

By the way, compliments on the large planters you guys made out of wood they look great!

dbarron, never thought of actually mixing two different fertilizers!

Val rie, interesting. I never thought about the quality of the media and the importance of flushing the soil, and how both of them together impact each other. You reminded me why 511 and gritty mix are so good for our plants!

And thanks for the compliment.

yes newhostalady I believe I read this in Tapla's meta post about fertilizing
I haven't used 511 yet, I will try it this spring for my two planters, we will have a patchwork of perennials and annuals in it, a lot of flowers

For gritty it seems to work for my little Ficus, it is now starting to grown little leaves everywhere, slowly because Winter. I got a bunch of other plants including half my trees in it and waiting for Spring to really see what it does. But so far nothing died in it.

Because plants use more N(itrogen) than any other nutrient, most nutrient usage is considered as a comparative function of N. The average plant uses about 6x as much N as P(hosphorous), and the Magic Grow 11-20-11 provides 1.3X as much P as N, so about 5.7 times what the plant wants or could use. That makes it a poor choice as a nutrient source for containers, and suitable for garden use only where a soil test indicates a P deficiency. It's hard to make a considered case for even 1:1:1 ratio fertilizers like the Feed and Forget 14-14-14, because they supply about 2.6X as much P as the plant can use relative to N. Neither the Shake & Feed nor the Magic Grow indicate that the secondary and minor elements are included, so unless you can confirm they are, you'd need to use something like STEM, Micromax, EJ Microblast + a Ca source for best results.

You should have no problems using the 6 month Osmocote if you apply in spring when soil temps are reliably above 55*. This is important because the Osmocote product is dependent on both temperature and moisture for it's release rate. Fertilizing too early in the spring while soils are cold can lead to ammonium toxicity. Living in MI, I've found the 6-month prills are empty inside of 4 months due to frequency of watering. YMMV depending on how water-retentive your media are, which dictates watering frequency.

Al

Thanks for setting me straight Al. So I think I understand---most plants don't need the high amounts of phosphorous that many fertilizers contain. So the ratio found in Dyna Gro Foliage Pro is about right at the ratio of N:P:P (3:1:2). In containers the media is more controlled, but phosphorous may be needed in garden soils as there is a lot of differences in types of soil.

You are correct about the Shake 'n Feed and the Magic Grow not having any secondary or minor elements. But you are still saying that the phosphorous is too high in them, not to use them for container soils and test your garden soil for phosphorous deficiency. And then, if your garden soil requires phosphorous, you will also need to add products like STEM, Micromax, EJ Microblast and a calcium source for best results.

So if I have all the above correct, then have a look at this fertilizer also.

My guess is that this fertilizer would be pretty good for containers? It doesn't have the high phosphorous, but now has too much potassium (?). Not sure what effect that would have. Magnesium and calcium are there too. From what I remember, I thought one was striving for a 3:1 ratio of calcium to magnesium. Hmmmm . . . .

I will make note of the proper time to apply Osmocote. I was worried about the fact it lasted for six months, but do believe with all the watering and well draining media, the fertilizer would be depleted much sooner, as it is for you.

NHL: I could not find any extra info on Shake n Feed 19-6-12. It seems it is only available in Canada. From the picture it also looks like all of it is polymer coated for slow release. In US we have All Purpose Shake n Feed 12-4-8 and has Ca and Mg and some of the micros. But strangely enough only some of the content is polymer coated and the rest are like amorphous granules. Here is the label:

I only use liquid fertilizer in containers (DynaGro Foliage Pro, mostly)

As TOC mentioned nitrogen from urea requires "soil microbes" to break it down to be usable by the plant. Such microbes might be in short supply in potting mix.

I only use liquid ferts (DGFP). The chemical form of nitrogen found in urea is not readily available for plant uptake. Naturally occurring soil microbes, existing in mutually beneficial relationships with plants, convert urea into usable forms of nitrogen for root absorption. Potting mix may be short in the microbes.

Miracle Gro took 15 minutes away from my life that I can't get back! LOL! I decided to call the company itself to ask more questions about the Shake 'n Feed, Tomato, Fruit and Vegetable fertilizer. After being on hold for 5 minutes, I was disconnected. I called back to be put on hold for 10 minutes to find this out: "we don't have any detailed information we can provide for you. The only thing we can say is that nitrogen is a synthetic chemical."

I have found, in general, that hidden information is usually at the expense of the buyer. I think I will look for and use products that benefit my plants and purchase from companies that state information on the product. (Not always possible though, unfortunately.)

Thanks for the education all! I have a few other products to ask about and I will start another thread for them. I have got to reduce my fertilizers(!)---and using the information here is very helpful.

When I said avoid having limiting factors I only talked about N, P and K but I forgot to mention the other micro-nutrients, there are about 15 or so if i remember correctly. They should all be present in Foliage Pro but not in all fertilizers so take that into consideration, otherwise your plants could get insufficiencies. This is doing it perfectly and might seem too much but I'm sure having zero limiting factors will reduce risks of diseases and insects drastically among other things.

Al, thank you as always! You have been a God send in the save your money department. There use to be a time when I was loaded with different fertilizers and never knew what was best, but those worries were pushed away years ago.

Thank you for all you do after all these years here and I hope you and family are doing well)

Mblan13, I can't even use fertilizers with Urea on any of my orchids or they would be dead within weeks. Therefore, the reason I like Foilage Pro for all plants and for reasons Al describes..It has no urea but has Ca which most fertilizers do not have, and trust me, no urea and the Ca makes a huge difference, especially on my orchids.

https://dyna-gro.com/product/foliage-pro/

Mike

Shake 'n Feed is fine for containers. I've been using it for years. Probably overkill for me, since I feed when I water, but I add it to my containers in the spring, or when I'm making up new mix as a CRF.

I do have a large container of Foliage Pro Dyna Gro and have been using it on a few of my houseplants. I have seen some improvements in them. I will try it with some outdoor containers during the growing season. I really hate getting rid of fertilizers or anything else. But I have learned a few important things about fertilizers in this thread, so some of my fertilizers will find a new home! I will keep a couple of others to use in the garden. Proper fertilization should reduce disease and make for a stronger plant. Good luck with yours val rie!

Meyermike, I am now what you were in the past---loaded with fertilizers and wondering which is best and trying to understand the differences between them! I am thankful to Al also! Are you saying you are using DynaGro Foliage Pro for your orchids also? I have orchids but did not think of using that fertilizer. And I have three orchid fertilizers! One good fertilizer would simplify life!

Al---It is interesting to hear the negative effects of urea nitrogen. I always wondered why it was so bad.

I am in the process of reading your thread on fertilizing plants in containers. Thanks for providing the link. (One read through is not enough!)

Great questions you formulated re nutritional supplementation. I see you gave it much thought.

Thank you for allowing us to learn from you! Interesting chart!