Fertilizer question

Hello everyone
I was wondering what sort of fertizer is best for every stage of plant-flower care
I have been reading that Nitrogen is the most important when the plant is growing so i should use a fertilizer such as poultry pallets for instance.

And the for blooming flowers a fertilizer high in phosphurus. I have been reading and looking for a bloom booster and have numbers such as 0-54-20, 30-30-20, 20-20-20 , miracle grow 15-30-15 are they all good? any suggestions please of any good fertilizers for blooming flowers?

M.

 

hi there! outdoor plants I have marigolds, begonias, lobelias, and geraniums

M.

 

I'm still trying to figure out fertilizers, and herewith the N-P-K values of the more common ones available in the UK ... from what I have learned:

N= leaf growth
P= root growth
K= flowers/buds

Growmore
N:P:K 7-7-7

Miracle-Gro All-purpose Plant Food (Scotts)
N:P:K 24-8-16 plus trace elements

Phostrogen (Bayer Garden)
N:P:K 14-10-27 plus trace elements

Vitax Vitafeed Multipurpose Feed (Vitax)
N:P:K 19-19-19

Vitax Q4 (Vitax)
N:P:K 5.3-7.5-10 plus trace elements

Westland Feed-All Soluble Plant Food (Westland)
N:P:K 15-5-30 plus trace elements

Blood, Fish and Bone (Vitax, Westland)
N:P:K 5-5-6

Osmocote Controlled-Release Plant Food (Scotts)
N:P:K 10-11-18 plus magnesium and trace elements

Levington Tomorite (Scotts)
N:P:K 4-4.5-8 with magnesium

Vitax Liquid Tomato Feed (Vitax)
N:P:K 4.5-4-5.9

Phostrogen Liquid Tomato Food (Bayer Garden)
N:P:K 4-2.5-8

Organic Strawberry Feed (Vitax)
N:P:K 4-2.5-8

Organic Potato Fertiliser (Vitax)
N:P:K 4-2-6

Toprose (Bayer Garden)
N:P:K 5-6-12 plus magnesium and iron

Miracle-Gro Rose ‘Plus’ (Scotts)
N:P:K 10-7-10 with magnesium

sulphate of potash
N:P:K 0-0-48

superphosphate
N:P:K 0-17-0

like I said, I'm still learning about fertilizers, however, my theory is that in the beginning of the growing season, use a fertilizer that is high in all the main elements such as phostrogen (14-10-27)

when the plant/shrub is about to make flowers/buds, use a fertilizer that is lower in N and P but high in K such as toprose (5-6-12) plus magnesium and iron

then add one application of sulphate of potash 0-0-48

for lawns, for a quick high nitrogen greening fertilizer, use Westland Rhododendron, Azalea & Camellia Plant Food
N:P:K 38-5-5

then follow up with a general fertilizer that is reasonably high in all the elements such as Phostrogen (14-10-27) ...

and for lawns ... apply superphospahte in autumn for root strengthening (0-17-0)

I can say that I recently used phostrogen on a lawn, and it needs mowing twice a week, is thick, green and lush (it was brown before I applied the fertilizer)

 

Oh My God thanks soo much for sharing this with me! I will read it carefully Miriam

 

Hi, you must be careful not to over feed. You can cause a lot of damage by using to much fertilizer.

 

like I said, I'm still learning but based on my theory, and from what I have used, things seem to be fine and doing well (so far)

 

Half strength tomato food once a week on my flowers and the make a LOVELY display!!!

 

Although I would agree with what has been said I think we can get tooooo wrapped up in the scientific approach.
Manufactures, in their wisdom, these days, produce nearly one formula for every type of plant we are likely to grow.
It makes them lots of money.

I usually just stick to balanced feed up till say July, and from then on high potash.
I might go back to the balanced feed about now, if pots are full of roots and the plants are starting to look past it.

It can perk them up for when the indian summer starts:D

 

balanced would be growmore with a 7-7-7 ratio .... you can buy 900 gram boxes at poundland for (you guessed it) £1 ... (actually a bargain if you compare the prices at some garden centres)

I will experiment with the fertilizers on tomatoes next year and post photos and results on this forum

 

I often get 'carried away' ....

but I also believe that if you never try.... you never know ....

what's baffling me at the moment are the lawn fertilizers .... some N-P-K ratios don't make sense as they all differ from different manufacturers ... they label them similarly i.e Autumn Lawn feed, etc, but the N-P-K ratios don't make sense as the vary drastically?

as Dai would say, there is a science to all this, and I'm trying to figure it out

 

My brain would explode if I had to remember all those ratios!

 

One thing that always makes me wonder is how the ratios are stated, its been a long time since my maths days at school, but is not 7:7:7 the same as 1:1:1 ?

My idea of "balanced" may not be totally all the same of all three, but just a feed that contains similar nitrogen as potash levels and not an excess of either.