Phostrogen

I never knew that growing Marigolds was so complicated

 

Balanced fertilizers are convenient but they do involve some compromises as they cant be formulated to provide the optimum balance for all stages of growth. Tomato fertilizers are generally geared for the flowering/fruiting stages, most of the labels say something along the lines of apply when the first flowers appear. The vegetative stage is left to the compost but it just as important to the final yield .

 

Now that was a good read

 

What this chap at the flower show also said - is that you don't want to overfeed. He explained that if you have too much of some chemicals in the compost it prevents the plant taking up some others. Which is exactly Hex's point. Essentially he was saying follow the instructions. He winced when I said that I fed Brugmansia every day - but he did say that he didn't know anything about Brugmansia's feeding habits.

I don't think that there is any doubt that some plants such as Brugs are gross feeders, and others are not. But that, by itself, doesn't shed any light on exactly how much you should feed Brugs.