Favorite fertilizer?

[TridenT]

Just curious what the AT community recommends. I'm using it mostly for "garden" plants.

 

[Matthiasa]

That would depend on the plants themselves. Sometimes though, I toss pulverized egg shells in as well since low soil calcium can effect some plants.

 

[brianmanahan]

i just always use miracle grow additive mixed into water. seems to do quite well, though probably not the most cost effective option.

 

[T9D]

Urine

It works extremely well and is all natural. I pee into a container and then mix it with 10 parts water. Do that once a week or so. My bamboo went nuts this last summer. Everything I put it on got really green and new growth everywhere.

I also get good compost for everything. $50 a yard is pretty cheap.

 

[John Connor]

We had a giant cottonwood tree in the front and all the leaves would go in a mulch pile and that would go on the garden. But as of early this year we had to cut down the cottonwood because the city made us. Fish fertilizer is good stuff, but man does that crap stink!

 

[bbhaag]

Just curious what the AT community recommends. I'm using it mostly for "garden" plants.

Container gardening, flower beds, or vegetable gardens?
For container gardening I like ferti-lomes Blooming and Rooting and for vegetables I usually use a triple 13 or something close. I don't fertilize our perennial flower beds very often. When I do it's usually just a generic fertilizer+preemergent herbicide.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I'm a fan of Epsoma organic fertilizers. I use their garden-tone and tomato-tone for my vegetable garden. They have Plant-tone and large number of other fertilizers for specific plants.

 

[Scarpozzi]

In my opinion, composting works best because it gives the plants nutrients and feeds them much longer. Compost once and you don't have to worry about the plants getting too much fertilizer.

Secondly, I prefer ammonium nitrate sparingly for fertilizer because it doesn't have the herbicides in it. Most of the ones you buy are combination products. For gardening, I'll use ammonium nitrate and then sevin dust for pest control (beatles and worms mostly). I'll throw a few cups in nylons and shake them over the plant leaves.

I've actually had a friend of mine use ammonium nitrate to clear his backyard of bamboo shoots as well. He was trying to kill them off so he threw down 50lbs of the stuff in the problem area and I had him cover that with 6 mil plastic for a few weeks after it received enough rain to soak in. We sodded over it and to my knowledge, he's been bamboo free ever since.

 

[blackdogdeek]

In my opinion, composting works best because it gives the plants nutrients and feeds them much longer. Compost once and you don't have to worry about the plants getting too much fertilizer.

This is what we do. We have a big composting bin in the backyard and organic waste goes in there.

 

[T9D]

.....

 

[NetWareHead]

Horse poop is good too. It's always free if you don't mind shoveling. Try craigslist. People on forums who never used it say it burns but all the people who have actually used it say it's fine to apply fresh. I got a truckload this last summer and it seems to work great. Rabbit poop is supposed to be one of the best if you can find it.

IMO horse poop is a sub-par fertilizer. Horses dont have the 4 stomachs of ruminants (cows, goats, sheep etc...) and as a result their poo still looks like the food they ate. Horse poo needs more time to compost than other types of manure. Seeds emerge undigested and then spring up as weeds creating more work for you. I agree with the rabbit poop and i know a guy near me. I visit his rabbits every few weeks and come home with a few 5 gallon pails that go straight into my compost pile.

I use composted cow poop which produces fantastic growth. I mix the poop in water until it looks like thick brown gravy. Use this to water the plants twice a month. Some plants supposedly can absorb the fertilizer throughout he leaves too so Ive been experimenting with dowsing the entire plant with it. I also give the plants a shot of fish fertilizer as it contains many soil enhancing elements that are depleted when you grow veggies in the same garden patch season after season.

Urine is good, I piss in my compost pile when working in the yard but I dont fertilize my plants with it. Urine is mainly nitrogen and if you are growing grass or other leafy plants that's fine. Too much nitrogen will promote leaf growth at the expense of vegetables.

I'm a fan of Epsoma organic fertilizers. I use their garden-tone and tomato-tone for my vegetable garden. They have Plant-tone and large number of other fertilizers for specific plants.

Agree, Espoma is a good company that makes good products. I like their blood meal, bone meal and tomato tone.

 

[Muse]

DIY compost, I also apply some chicken manure. I used to use chemical stuff, 5-10-5 or 15-30-15, but stopped it, hearing it ruins the soil. I use a little Miracle Grow solution once in a while on seedlings.

I
Urine is good, I piss in my compost pile when working in the yard but I dont fertilize my plants with it. Urine is mainly nitrogen and if you are growing grass or other leafy plants that's fine. Too much nitrogen will promote leaf growth at the expense of vegetables.

Yeah, I forgot that, last couple of years I have applied a lot of urine on my veges during the growing season, they thrive! I do have a horrible fungus problem on my squash every year, though, haven't figured out a way to stanch the invasion. I get a great crop anyway, but if I could stop the fungal problem, it would be wow, just WOW! For a few years I've sprayed a solution of baking soda, and I think it helped slow the invasion. I have a container of garden sulfur, and plan to try spraying a solution of that next year on the leafy squash plants (kabochas).

 

[Rudy Toody]

In Seattle, the Woodland Park Zoo sells bags of Zoo Doo. I don't know if they sell it online!

 

[Rudy Toody]

Some have tried chain letters: make 8 copies of your letter without the top name and send those copies to friends. If the chain remains unbroken, 1024 people will have crapped on your lawn.

 

[NetWareHead]

I do have a horrible fungus problem on my squash every year, though, haven't figured out a way to stanch the invasion. I get a great crop anyway, but if I could stop the fungal problem, it would be wow, just WOW! For a few years I've sprayed a solution of baking soda, and I think it helped slow the invasion. I have a container of garden sulfur, and plan to try spraying a solution of that next year on the leafy squash plants (kabochas).

Copper fungicide from Bionide. I get the same fungal infection of my squashes/zucchini and it works great. Organic too which is important if you spray on veggies u will be eating later. You will need a sprayer to apply. It kills all molds, mildews, blight and leaf spot. You have to apply it even if you don't see it. Try to apply when you have a few days where no rai n is expected. Apply after rain and apply extra in humid conditions as the fungus thrives in moist environments. I apply it weekly even if no mold is visinle and keep the mold away entirely. I've seen the fungus devour an entire plant killing all of the leaves.

Edit: be careful with chicken manure. Its high nitrogen and is very "hot". Dilute it liberally with water or compost it thoroughly first. This type of manure carries a great risk of burning the plant roots.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I just picked up some "alaska fish fertilizer" to try on my grapefruit and tangerine trees.
Also thru some wood ash on there.

 

[turtile]

Over all, 5-10-10 + 1/4 in weight of Magnesium sulfate (epsom salt sold in drug stores) is the most economical way to fertilize garden plants. If your garden has been around for a while, you can also add a micronutrient mix.

Organically, you could use waste from organic cow/chicken manure along with composted plant material. Espoma is also good but really expensive.

As for the fungus on cucurbits, the safest organic method is the use of potassium silicate. It creates a high pH environment on the leaf surface which makes fungal growth less optimal.

Commercial growers use Heritage fungicide which works a lot better. (about 2-4 weeks) Of course, it can only be used twice per crop due to resistance issues.

 

[edro]

It's tough to beat Miracle Grow (30-30-30). Just get it on sale off season.

 

[KMFJD]

,

 

[Muse]

Copper fungicide from Bionide. I get the same fungal infection of my squashes/zucchini and it works great. Organic too which is important if you spray on veggies u will be eating later. You will need a sprayer to apply. It kills all molds, mildews, blight and leaf spot. You have to apply it even if you don't see it. Try to apply when you have a few days where no rai n is expected. Apply after rain and apply extra in humid conditions as the fungus thrives in moist environments. I apply it weekly even if no mold is visinle and keep the mold away entirely. I've seen the fungus devour an entire plant killing all of the leaves.

Edit: be careful with chicken manure. Its high nitrogen and is very "hot". Dilute it liberally with water or compost it thoroughly first. This type of manure carries a great risk of burning the plant roots.

Thanks for this post. I'll get some of that copper fungicide for next year. The kabocha squash vines are phenomenal, I grow them from a ~6x10 foot raised bed and let them sprawl all over the concrete patio and up big/tall bamboo trellises I recreate every year. They just take over 1/2 the back yard. I got ~170 lb. of kabochas from them this year. If the plants weren't decimated by fungus the production would probably be at least 1.5 times what I got. I should really look into doing a thing at the vege swap meet I heard about. I have great luck with tomatoes too. They get some fungus, but it doesn't just wipe out the plants, it just stunts them some and causes some probably premature leaf death.

 

[Muse]

I just picked up some "alaska fish fertilizer" to try on my grapefruit and tangerine trees.
Also thru some wood ash on there.

I too throw wood ash on top of the soil after my kabocha squash and tomato plants are well along, on top of the mulch.

 

[NetWareHead]

I too throw wood ash on top of the soil after my kabocha squash and tomato plants are well along, on top of the mulch.

Be careful if you have pH sensitive plants. Ash is alkaline and will raise the soil pH. Thats why I put all this sort of stuff into my compost pile. It has a better chance to dilute and mix in there before being added to the garden.

 

[DigDog]

"garden" = marijuana

peters' rose food, 20-20-20

 

[Muse]

Be careful if you have pH sensitive plants. Ash is alkaline and will raise the soil pH. Thats why I put all this sort of stuff into my compost pile. It has a better chance to dilute and mix in there before being added to the garden.

Good tip. I guess I really should invest in a PH testing system of some kind. The best I've used is litmus paper, which is about as weak a test as you can get, other than tasting the soil.

 

[NetWareHead]

Good tip. I guess I really should invest in a PH testing system of some kind. The best I've used is litmus paper, which is about as weak a test as you can get, other than tasting the soil.

Lol most garden places will offer to do a soil test for free. They need a tablespoon of soil. Or buy a test kit from them. Im in NH and our soils tend to become slowly acidic over time so I add small amount of powdered limestone once a year. Effect of acid rain. Even so, it is 7-7.5 most of the time on on the PH scale