So what kind of fertilizer, etc. expirement should I run?

[SaltyNuts]

I have three "mother okra" plants that are just babies. Planted all at the same time. I want to run some kind of organics versus chemicals fertilizer test.

For fertilizers I have:

Miracle Grow bloom booster - 15 - 30 -15

Masterblend 4 - 18 - 38 (marketed primarily for hydroponics with use of epsom salt and calcium nitrate)

Epsom salt (magnisum sulfate)

Calcium nitrate

Bone meal

Blood meal

Rock Phosphate

Old aquarium water



My thinking is that I would use potting soil for all 3.

Then in one I would put a tablesoon or so each of rock phosphate, blood meal, and maybe some potash I make in the hole that I plant one in. Then I would just water it with tap water.

Another I would just put in a hole, but water it with the Miracle Grow.

The third I would just put in a hole, but water it with the Masterblend/Epsom sale/Calcium nitrate combo.

Thoughts?

 

[Brainonska511]

Why bother? A sample size of n=1 for each type of fertilizer won't really tell you anything definitive. And unless the plants are clones, you'll have other confounding factors. Just pick a single approach and stop making everything unnecessarily complicated.

 

[SaltyNuts]

Why bother? A sample size of n=1 for each type of fertilizer won't really tell you anything definitive. And unless the plants are clones, you'll have other confounding factors. Just pick a single approach and stop making everything unnecessarily complicated.

Hey man, I hear you want to sail west? Why bother? There is probably nothing there. And even if there is something there, its probably not really any different than what's here in Spain. Just sail around the Mediterranean and stop making everything unnecessarily complicated.

 

[Brainonska511]

Hey man, I hear you want to sail west? Why bother? There is probably nothing there. And even if there is something there, its probably not really any different than what's here in Spain. Just sail around the Mediterranean and stop making everything unnecessarily complicated.

You want to run your "experiment", go ahead and do what you want. I'm just telling you the facts: the results will be largely meaningless because your samples sizes are too small and the signal to be generated by the experimental variable will be swamped by confounding factors.

 

[Gardener]

You want to run your "experiment", go ahead and do what you want. I'm just telling you the facts: the results will be largely meaningless because your samples sizes are too small and the signal to be generated by the experimental variable will be swamped by confounding factors.

It is a small field trial, not like he is going to publish results. I experimented this year with my 8 tomato planting, half of them were given a liquid urea-based (N) boost, the others received none. The soil is well amended, and productive, plants never show any signs of nutrient deficiency.

The boosted plants recovered from transplant stress more quickly, after ~5 days I boosted the rest.

Generally I don't fert tomatoes as overdoing it drives bushy growth, but an early, short term liquid boost seems like the best compromise.

 

[Brainonska511]

It is a small field trial, not like he is going to publish results. I experimented this year with my 8 tomato planting, half of them were given a liquid urea-based (N) boost, the others received none. The soil is well amended, and productive, plants never show any signs of nutrient deficiency.

The boosted plants recovered from transplant stress more quickly, after ~5 days I boosted the rest.

Generally I don't fert tomatoes as overdoing it drives bushy growth, but an early, short term liquid boost seems like the best compromise.

I recognize that it's a small trial. But if you're going to do such a small trial to learn something, at least have the plants in duplicate and maybe stick to a binary variable. It's home gardening - no reason to go nuts.