Plant food

Hopefully another simple question and one that I can get a few recommendations on.

What is the best plant food to use on herbaceous perennials, as that is what I mainly have in the garden? If it makes a difference, which I am thinking it will do, the soil round here is clay, clay and more clay.

I know it's advised to feed them after they make their re-appearance in early Spring and again before flowering buds appear. In the past I've used blood, fish and bone mixtures, but is there something that you would advise instead or in addition to?

Thanks in advance.

 

I just put Tomato Feed on everything. Literally, everything.

 

This year, I've started to use Vitax Q4 granules as a basic feed which I work into the top layer of soil around my perennials in early spring. Just recently, I've started to "top them up" with an old favourite liquid feed - Phostrogen.

Everything seems to be doing pretty well, despite the drought.

 

I don't think it matters too much what you use Sussexgardener - as long as you use something.
I tend to use BFB at planting time and give the borders a sprinkle of Growmore or chicken pellets twice - once in spring and again midsummer.
Anything which looks not to be thriving I give a liquid feed of Miraclegro or Phostrogen.
Everything does pretty well.

 

I use common or garden Growmore. It's been around for years having been invented during the war as the fertilizer to use in the Dig for Victory campaign. It's a fraction of the price of the highly advertised stuff (10kg for under £1O) and I just hoe it in at the recommended application rate of about 70g per sq. metre. Although it suggests re-applying every 2 or 3 months - I find that once in the Spring and again in the Autumn is perfectly adequate for my plants - even though we do have poor sandy soil.

 

Hi Aaron,

I use FBB too but this year for a change I used only chicken poo, it seems to have done well.

 

When I'm planting I use a handful of 'Fish Blood and Bone' and thereafter the odd sprinkling of Growmore/other standard stuff. Also tend to use a sort of manure mulch which I offer around the base of the plants - need this since I garden on the local
(bagshot) sand....... great for the rhodies and azaleas but causes the weeds to thrive.

 

Hmmm, this thread started after wondering about lack of feeding contributing to lack of flowers on my day lilies. I mulch the borders with the 'mucky' wood chips that come out of the chicken run, over winter. I usually use FBB, although didn't use it as much this year.

I think I'll try Growmore as a few of you have suggested. And get the chickens to contribute a bit more droppings for the over winter mulch!!

 

SussexG. I am also on clay, which has loads of nutrient in it. I never feed mine. I doubt if you need to feed plants in the border if you are on clay. Plants in pots are a different matter, they do need regular feed.

If I were to feed, I think I would use Growmore, on the basis that it is cheap per unit of active ingredient. And being granules it will not get washed away as quickly as a liquid feed.

 

If I were to feed, I think I would use Growmore, on the basis that it is cheap per unit of active ingredient. And being granules it will not get washed away as quickly as a liquid feed.[/quote]
:flag:

Around here growmore is slightly more expensive than FBB in 25kg bags!

It was not always so, but if you are able to get " Special Potato" which is a stronger mix than Growmore that would be better.

Unfortunately our local produce merchants no longer sell it in 25kg bags, so I can no longer get it!

Cheers:gnthb:

 

I know clay is full of nutrients, but watching it crack dry out this summer makes we wonder!

 

SussexG. Cracking in summer is a different problem - and a more serious one. And I feel this is where clay needs most attention.

My approach has been to add gravel (horticultural grit is better but more expensive) and sharp sand in quite large quantities. And also add as much organic matter as possible. The sand and grit makes pathways for the water so that it drains better and is not so wet in winter.

The reason clay clogs and cracks in summer is because the partical size is so small. Clay particles are about one ten thousanth the size of sand particles. Organic matter, somehow, binds to the clay particles and holds groups of them together - effectively increasing the particle size. Whilst free lumps of organic matter also provide water pathways and stop the soil binding.

I have over 100 pots, some as big as 50 litres, and they use an awful lot of compost. I always use a mix of two parts compost to one part of sharp sand to improve drainage, and then add to that to an equal amount of soil dug from the garden. I mix it up well on a bench and fill my pots - its simply a John Innes mix. The reason for doing this is that I only need half as much compost and the soil part provides food for the pot plants. At the end of the season, I empty the pots over the border and refill some of them with soil from the border ready to mix up next year.

Over a period of time my border has aquired loads of sharp sand and compost, which has all been intimately mixed with soil. I did some planting just before the recent rains, when the soil was exceedingly dry. In a few places the soil was still rock hard and cracked but in many places it was just like dust and I could push my hand in several inches with no effort, so it does seem to be having an effect and changing the structure.

 

It's very unlikely that any border soil in reasonable condition will need fertiliser, particularly clay which is full of nutrients, so I add hardly any.

A bit on my veg plot, a sprinkle when I hack a shrub, and maybe a cheat's dose on roses and sweet peas coming into flower. None at all on flower borders.

Fertiliser can actually make your soil worse, by upsetting all manner of 'friendly' bacteria and fungi that plants rely on.

Just add a load of organic matter in spring or autumn, and when you plant.

Doing this will also help improve the structure of the soil, particularly if you are on clay. It's better than digging in sand, which can sometimes cause problems (over times, it can accumulate in one layer deep in your soil, which compacts and forms a 'pan' which makes drainage even worse).

 

Hmmm, the confusion grows. I've never feed the herbaceous border perennials before now, apart from a sprinkle of Fish, Blood and Bone in the Spring, when I remember. Perhaps I am doing it right then? I know pots are different, because they have limited access to nutrients, food and water and do try to feed them, although I also try (and fail!) not to have too many pots...

As I've said this has all come about because day lilies aren't blooming, but if it's not feeding, perhaps something else (too dry, too shaded, too much cracked clay).

 

Hmn. How long have your day lillies been in the same spot?

If they've become overcrowded they would lose their vigour, and need dividing.