Growing plants use up nutrients from the soil and deplete it. This is why I add compost and grow cover crops and do anything else I can think of to keep productive soil. For ideal results, I also feed my veggie crops several times during the season.
Back when I had a goat dairy, I didn't know much about organic farming, but I was already trying to avoid chemicals, even if I didn't understand why. Between my goats, rabbits and chickens, I had a good supply of raw manure. Commercial worm farming was all the rage. Scammers were mass-marketing the dream of financial independence raising red wrigglers in your backyard. People were falling for it, which meant worm castings were cheap and plentiful. And there was the old standby, Alaska Fish Emulsion.
When I only grew houseplants, I wasn't really concerned about organics (although I probably should have been). My go-to plant food was Miracle-Gro and I often used Miracle-Gro potting soil. As chemicals go, Miracle-Gro is still fairly benign, not like the flesh melting compounds of modern agriculture--and it didn't smell like fish.
If you care more about quality organic food and less about keeping your costs down, there are some really excellent products available, some mass market and some you might find exclusively online. If you are like me and need to spend as little as possible, you shop.
I still like Alaska Fish Emulsion. It's more economical than many of the liquid plant foods on the market and it has a 5-1-1 nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium ratio. It works particularly well right after seeds germinate to promote foliage growth and give the plants a kick start. It's also good for feeding nitrogen-loving plants like corn and pumpkins a couple of times during the season.
Sometime in February, we walked into the garden department at Home Depot looking for nursery pots and soil. When I went to buy more fish emulsion, I saw a sign for buy-one-get-one-free on Nature's Care Organic Vegetable, Fruit and Flower Food, and another sign for fifty percent off of Nature's Care Organic Potting Soil. The fact that they are both products of Miracle-Gro might put some people off, since they are part of "Big Lawncare," but even at full price these both break down to the best price per pound or whatever among comparable products.
The Nature's Care plant food has a 3-4-2 N-P-K breakdown, so it theoretically won't cause excess foliage growth during flowering and fruiting. Here's what I think:
A half cup or so of the plant food mixed into the soil when repotting into a gallon or larger pot or transplanting into the garden shows noticeable results. I also like to mix a roughly similar amount into the soil when planting seeds directly.
The drawback is that Nature's Care doesn't work well for top or side dressing unless you mix it below the surface. It isn't directly water soluble and breaks down slowly--slower if it's on the surface--to feed the plants over a period of time. Natures Care contains fish, meat and bone meal, which attracts birds and other animals, so leaving it on the surface doesn't really work.
I'm convinced that Nature's Care plant food is non-toxic, since my pit bull ate about four pounds one day and showed no ill effects other than really stinky farts for a few days.
As far as the potting soil, Nature's Care worked just fine and didn't kill my plants the way certain discount, herbicide-contaminated soils have, so I like it.
I don't get paid for promoting the aforementioned products, I'm simply sharing my own experience. The real point I'm trying to make is that I've discovered the benefits of feeding plants and these products have worked for me.
But if Scott's would like to pay me to promote their products, I would take soil and plant food in payment.
Back when I had a goat dairy, I didn't know much about organic farming, but I was already trying to avoid chemicals, even if I didn't understand why. Between my goats, rabbits and chickens, I had a good supply of raw manure. Commercial worm farming was all the rage. Scammers were mass-marketing the dream of financial independence raising red wrigglers in your backyard. People were falling for it, which meant worm castings were cheap and plentiful. And there was the old standby, Alaska Fish Emulsion.
When I only grew houseplants, I wasn't really concerned about organics (although I probably should have been). My go-to plant food was Miracle-Gro and I often used Miracle-Gro potting soil. As chemicals go, Miracle-Gro is still fairly benign, not like the flesh melting compounds of modern agriculture--and it didn't smell like fish.
If you care more about quality organic food and less about keeping your costs down, there are some really excellent products available, some mass market and some you might find exclusively online. If you are like me and need to spend as little as possible, you shop.
I still like Alaska Fish Emulsion. It's more economical than many of the liquid plant foods on the market and it has a 5-1-1 nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium ratio. It works particularly well right after seeds germinate to promote foliage growth and give the plants a kick start. It's also good for feeding nitrogen-loving plants like corn and pumpkins a couple of times during the season.
Sometime in February, we walked into the garden department at Home Depot looking for nursery pots and soil. When I went to buy more fish emulsion, I saw a sign for buy-one-get-one-free on Nature's Care Organic Vegetable, Fruit and Flower Food, and another sign for fifty percent off of Nature's Care Organic Potting Soil. The fact that they are both products of Miracle-Gro might put some people off, since they are part of "Big Lawncare," but even at full price these both break down to the best price per pound or whatever among comparable products.
The Nature's Care plant food has a 3-4-2 N-P-K breakdown, so it theoretically won't cause excess foliage growth during flowering and fruiting. Here's what I think:
A half cup or so of the plant food mixed into the soil when repotting into a gallon or larger pot or transplanting into the garden shows noticeable results. I also like to mix a roughly similar amount into the soil when planting seeds directly.
The drawback is that Nature's Care doesn't work well for top or side dressing unless you mix it below the surface. It isn't directly water soluble and breaks down slowly--slower if it's on the surface--to feed the plants over a period of time. Natures Care contains fish, meat and bone meal, which attracts birds and other animals, so leaving it on the surface doesn't really work.
I'm convinced that Nature's Care plant food is non-toxic, since my pit bull ate about four pounds one day and showed no ill effects other than really stinky farts for a few days.
As far as the potting soil, Nature's Care worked just fine and didn't kill my plants the way certain discount, herbicide-contaminated soils have, so I like it.
I don't get paid for promoting the aforementioned products, I'm simply sharing my own experience. The real point I'm trying to make is that I've discovered the benefits of feeding plants and these products have worked for me.
But if Scott's would like to pay me to promote their products, I would take soil and plant food in payment.
My tomato plants grew faster and put on more fruit than any I've grown before.
I can't swear that it was any particular plant food, but I'm convinced it's from feeding them.
Stephen
All photos are copyright 2017, Stephen P. Scott
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