Making the Switch [Fertilizers]

JoeR

JoeR

Masterpiece
Messages
3,955
Reaction score
3,459
Location
Sandhills of North Carolina
USDA Zone
8a
I am in need of not only a new fertilizer but also a new schedule. I just have not had the best luck with chemical ferts and I cant seem to remember to fertilize every 10 days.


Not saying chemical fertilizers dont work. They do; just not with me and my schedule.


So I would like to switch to an organic slow release fertilizer, something I can put on and forget about for a few weeks. Something I dont have to worry about burning the roots. I dont mind ordering the little baskets if I need to or cooking little poop cakes.


So, any suggestions on what I could buy or make? What do you use, and what does your schedule look like?


Joe
 
Brian Van fleets cake recipe. Easy to make, inexpensive and a good organic fert. been using them for some time now and haven't felt the need to switch.
 
Last edited:
You can just put a good well crafted organic fert in tea bags( Dr. Earth,etc.) chose a well designed one with sorurces for micros, humic and fuvic acid not just something made from refuse.
 
crust said:
You can just put a good well crafted organic fert in tea bags( Dr. Earth,etc.) chose a well designed one with sorurces for micros, humic and fuvic acid not just something made from refuse.
Click to expand...
Yep, this is what I do. I made the cakes but that is not an enjoyable process...plus, they seem to dry out pretty quickly. Not sure how well the nutrients break down/are released. With the powder in the tea bags, I don't seem to have the same issue. I often find roots have grown up into the tea bags.

I use a mixture of fertilizers - Dr Earth is one, I'll also add cottonseed meal, blood meal, bone meal, whatever I have on hand.

May try Scott's (markyscott) method of using pieces of pvc pipe to hold the fertilizer in place...the tea bags can be time consuming to fill and sometimes blow away (or get taken by birds).

I still fertilize with chemicals (miracle gro type stuff) every 7-10 days.
 
coh said:
they seem to dry out pretty quickly
Click to expand...
I had the same concern. Just read this response....

"The cakes need to be in intimate contact with the soil. I usually scrape off a couple mm and then sit the cake on that and hold it down with some U shaped wire.
If you use baskets, it's better to surround the cake with coco peat too keep them moist. If they dry out they stop working."

My plan is to keep it in the pvc pipe and "cap" it off with sphagnum moss...
 
Chemical in liquid form is the easiest method, hand down. I prefer Peters 20-20-20. If you hand water you can mix at half strength and use it twice as often. Otherwise, use a hose adapter, fill the jar, and water your trees; use just enough fertilizer for a single watering and add fertilizer once every 2 weeks.
Organic fertilizer is excellent stuff too, but it can compact soil quickly, be ineffective if not used properly, bait animals and insects, look unsightly, etc.
I prefer organic cakes. But Peters with a hose adapter is the path of least resistance....
 
Can you even buy a hose-end fertilizer that is worth the money these days? If so, can you recommend a brand that has worked for you? I was at Bill V's last summer discussing fertilizer with him, he uses a bunch of older hose-end adaptors but those were well made. I looked around for something I could get now and the reviews on them indicate they leak, break down quickly, don't provide a constant rate, basically aren't worth the money.

My solution was to get an ez-flo system which has a tank that feeds into the hose, basically a siphon device but at the faucet rather than the hose end. The problem is it is a constant dilution system, so the fertilizer rate decreases as you use it. I use it to provide a low background fertilizer application so this doesn't matter too much...but wouldn't work too well if I wanted to use it for my weekly application.
 
Plant-Tone, either in tea bags or placed directly on the soil in small piles. I asked at my local mom and pop nursery and they ordered me a large (20#?) bag that will last me for several years...http://www.espoma.com/product/plant-tone/
Miracle gro or peter's mixed w/ Alaska fish emulsion weekly or when ever you remember.
 
Dav4 said:
Plant-Tone, either in tea bags or placed directly on the soil in small piles. I asked at my local mom and pop nursery and they ordered me a large (20#?) bag that will last me for several years...http://www.espoma.com/product/plant-tone/
Miracle gro or peter's mixed w/ Alaska fish emulsion weekly or when ever you remember.
Click to expand...
Brussel's was using Plantone; not sure whether its still the case. I was talked into using one season and the damage was a nightmare. I applied it in piles on the soil. It leached all over and capped my soil resulting in dry dead spots. Thoroughly watering a single tree was nearly impossible. Needless to say, I had to repot every effing tree. That's hundreds of trees that otherwise would not have been repotted. It was a nightmare. I almost put them all in a pile, burned them and gave up bonsai. Worst season-and-a-half ever....
 
Don Blackmond said:
Brussel's was using Plantone; not sure whether its still the case. I was talked into using one season and the damage was a nightmare. I applied it in piles on the soil. It leached all over and capped my soil resulting in dry dead spots. Thoroughly watering a single tree was nearly impossible. Needless to say, I had to repot every effing tree. That's hundreds of trees that otherwise would not have been repotted. It was a nightmare. I almost put them all in a pile, burned them and gave up bonsai. Worst season-and-a-half ever....
Click to expand...
I use it mostly in teabags for more advanced trees or place it on the sphag moss that covers the surface of my maples, and I've had no issues. It's been placed directly on the soil of a bunch of pines in pond baskets since last year and it seems to not be an issue yet, though many were re-potted this year. When ever I've placed any organic ferts on the soil surface, I'm keeping an eye out for issues with watering, and plan on replacing the upper inch or so as needed.
 
I also use Plant Tone, both sprinkled into the soil for my nursery pots or pond baskets and in tea bags for plants in bonsai pots. I stick a toothpick through the tea bag when I place it on the soil so it doesn't blow away. When you sprinkle it onto the soil surface you need to scrap the surface sometimes to make sure water continues to permeate the soil evenly. This year I mixed some cottonseed meal in with the PT as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
Making Trees for my Friend (Her first two trees - from me - Post Summer Growth
Replies
2
Views
136
Deleted member 47471
D
D
Making a “Fallen Branch”
2
Replies
34
Views
2K
NeedlesAndLeaves
NeedlesAndLeaves
I
Does anybody know the process of making a shohin black pines
Replies
7
Views
517
BrianBay9
BrianBay9
M
making room sales
Replies
6
Views
781
Applicative
A
RJG2
The making of large Yixing pots
Replies
2
Views
419
vancehanna
vancehanna
Back
Top Bottom