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Post by daylilydude on Nov 6, 2017 4:25:47 GMT -5
Do you use the same fertilizer on every vegetable, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and so on, or do you have different ones for each?
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Post by bestofour on Nov 6, 2017 9:07:36 GMT -5
For the straw bales where I plant squash I use the recommended combination of fertilizers to start the breakdown process months before planting. After planting I don't fertilize. One year the tomatoes were plagued with blossom end rot so the next year I added a specific tomato fertilize to the soil before planting and it's never happened again. I've heard that adding egg shells to the soil will help with that but I've read that it doesn't really work. I might try it anyway and see what happens.
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Post by paulf on Nov 6, 2017 10:11:54 GMT -5
The entire garden space gets treated as one space. Soil test gets done every two or three years since the garden is still a work in progress. My pH is so high that sulphur in one for or another needs to be added on a regular basis. So much organic material has been added over the last twelve years that nitrogen levels must be monitored by soil testing.
Because I treat the garden as one unit, if it appears that one crop or another is struggling, it may get a side dressing of a full range, 10-10-10 dry fertilizer or a liquid plant food, usually a bloom booster. All the soil fertilizers and pH enhancers are applied in the fall to be available for the spring planting season with maybe a little extra broadcast in the early spring if needed.
A healthy, balanced soil is better than treating each crop differently, but keep an eye on growth habits of each plant just in case some help is needed.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Nov 6, 2017 10:42:22 GMT -5
Usually I just use Tomato Tone on everything. I always have a bag of that specifically for my tomatoes and peppers, but then when I grab it and am sprinkling around, I tend to just go ahead and give everything a little boost.
Sometimes I'll buy Garden Tone and use that on everything else, but as long as I'm wandering around the garden, bag in hand, I tend to just use whatever I've grabbed first.
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Post by spike on Nov 6, 2017 11:30:32 GMT -5
OH GOSH! I buy all kinds of fertilizers. My Old Uncle was big on 12-12-12 and I have many boxes of Miracle Grow and an assortment of other kinds. I read a forum post about how "this" fertilizer is the best and I get it . . . My Old Uncle was also big on garden lime, so I got some of that also. Still all unopened on the shelf. I order a big bag of worm castings (imagine my husbands distress when he got excited to see what I ordered and it was worm poop) and use that when I plant my seeds or seedling. I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT to use or what to do with fertilizer. Suggestions greatly accepted ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/3247375/images/1O7SOWgs0dheN6ogmHMC.png)
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Post by paulf on Nov 6, 2017 12:28:51 GMT -5
Balanced fertilizer like 12-12-12 can't do anything but help; Miracle Gro in liquid form is great for container plants when they need a boost after watering flushes out nutrients. I still maintain a soil test is needed before anything is applied. Here lime would knock everything out of whack since my pH is already at 8.0+. If you have a good idea what is needed and what you have will work, go for it. Organics and compost can be added almost any time and worm castings fit that bill.
A good soil test will tell you what to use and how much and where.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Nov 6, 2017 15:09:06 GMT -5
Even if you don't get a full soil test, your soil pH is very important to know. Some nutrients are effectively "locked up" in certain pH ranges so the plants can't use them no matter how much is in the soil. Tomatoes and BER like bestofour mentioned above is a great example. BER is a physiological problem related to a calcium deficiency. But if the soil is too acid (pH too low), tomatoes can't uptake calcium from the soil. In a too-acid soil, even if you add lots of the calcium to the soil, your tomato plants will still be calcium-deficient - and still have BER - unless you raise pH. Which is why some people swear by lime (it adds calcium as well as raising pH). On the other hand, for someone like paulf who has a naturally high-pH soil, lime would be worse than useless. Back to the eggshells for calcium question specifically. The good news: If your soil calcium is low but your pH is in the right range, eggshells can be a good source of calcium for your plants. The bad news: If you add eggshells to soil they take months to years to break down enough for plants to use. Also, if your pH is too low, eggshells won't help. So eggshells are not a quick fix, but they can be beneficial. By all means, use them in your garden soil. If your pH is good, you should see happier plants the next season. Or if you compost, put them in your compost pile/bin. The composting process will start breaking them down. And back to the OP: I use a balanced synthetic fertilizer, usually 13-13-13 (because that's cheap and readily available in 40lb bags) for most things in my EBs and SIPs. I also occasionally supplement with a soluble tomato bloom-booster formula in my tomato EBs. I use organic fertilizers in my raised beds, and I use different kinds depending on what I'm growing.
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aqua
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Zone:: 8b9a
Favorite Vegetable:: all of them
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Post by aqua on Nov 6, 2017 17:58:03 GMT -5
N, P, K - I learned as "up, down, all around" and I follow that for what I grow.
N = Up, for new growth and leaf health, but not too much on leaves you eat (like lettuce) or it will become bitter. So I just usually use that at the beginning of a vegetable plant's life. I never use N on root veggies.
P = down, or a rhyme "roots and fruits" I use a lot of that to prep garden beds for root veggies, and also when veggies are flowering/bearing fruit.
K = all around, for mature plant health when it is full of set veggies.
I toss P and K out near the end of the growing season, esp on eggplants and peppers, to get the plant to put one last push of flowers and fruit.
For basic maintenance, Neptune's Harvest Seaweed and Fish emulsion. Neptune's Harvest crabshell for transplanting in the hole to ward off root know nematodes.
I hope maybe that helped anyone.
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Post by paquebot on Nov 6, 2017 21:18:36 GMT -5
There's a good reason why the recommended NPK ratio has been 1-1-1 for as long as I can remember. (I was involved in manufacturing it almost 60 years ago!) It's because that's what is sufficient as basic needs for all garden plants. When I have had to buy non-organic, it's been 10-10-10 and everything gets that initially. Garlic and onions get 5-2-0 while growing since they appreciate the additional nitrogen.
The 10-10-10 formula also is an easy one to remember. 1# per 10 square feet or 10 feet or row. Or, 10# per 100 square feet.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by coppice on Nov 7, 2017 1:31:27 GMT -5
In beds, in the garden everything gets the same compost.
In pots as bonsai, acid loving plants get mir-acid. everybody else gets osmocoat.
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