Liquid organic fertilizer for veggie garden

[austingirl25]

Can anyone recommend a good one? I've prepped the soil with granular fertilizer, but once my stuff is planted it seems like it'll be a pain to get the granular fertilizer evenly distributed and watered in. I have some seaweed extract to spray on the foliage once a week, but I feel like I need something else. Any ideas?

 

[RoundRock Horn]

Look at Medina Plus as a liquid foilier fertilizer. The beat product in my professional opinion is Rabbit Hill Farm Tomato and Pepper Food it is a granual fertilizer but not that hard to spread. Put about 1/3 cup around each for new plants about once every two weeks and about a cup around mature plants once every two weeks. Hope this helps.

 

[Jellydonuts]

The granular fertilizers and composts (especially manure based composts) are superior products for vegetable production. These and your seaweed should be all that you need.

 

[austingirl25]

Thanks! So will the Rabbit Hill food work for other veggies too?

 

[Jellydonuts]

"Thanks! So will the Rabbit Hill food work for other veggies too?"

Those types of fertilizers will also work well for things like watermelon, squash and such (although compost is still better or a combination of both). You want them to have higher phosphorous then normal fertilizer. You can also incorporate some bone meal into your soil prior to planting.
If you growing leafier vegetables like lettuce, brocolli or even corn, I would recommend fertilizers higher in nitrogen just like you use on your turf grass.

 

[austingirl25]

One more question -- what's the ratio of ounces of seaweed extract to gallons of water? The label fell off my Maxicrop bottle and I can't find anything online.

 

[RoundRock Horn]

Maxicrop Directions
Soking Seeds & Bulbs -Soke over night in solotion of 1 cap full to one gallon of water. After planting water with solution 1 cap full to 1 gallon of water

Seedlings- Water with solution of 1 capfull to 1 gallon of water

Cutting & Rootings- Stand in heavy solution overnight using 2 caps full to 1 gallon of water. Water with solution of 1 to 1

Vegetables, Fruits, Outdoor plants, flowers and potted plants- Water every week wuth a solution of 1 cap full to 1 gallon of water

Lawn- Spray with 2 caps to 1 gallon of water once a month about 5 times a year

Indoor plants-1 cap full to 1 gallon weekly

Comes from the back of the bottle. Hope this helps

 

[austingirl25]

Thanks for your help!

 

[DeadHeadHorn]

Good thread. I think I'm going to pick up some of the Rabbit Hill tomato/pepper food.

Thanks for all the tips. Hopefully I'll be up to my ears in tomatoes and peppers in a few months.

 

[austingirl25]

So I just got everything planted last week. When do you need to start applying the fertilizer? Since I worked some into the soil to begin with I'm not sure when to start applying the supplemental stuff.

Oh yeah, as a psa, the Natural Gardener doesn't have the Rabbit Hill tomato/pepper food anymore. They have about every other Rabbit Hill product though. I'm not sure what's up with that.

 

[William Cannon]

excellent thread - lots of solid advice

 

[Jellydonuts]

If your plants have been in a week, then you should be able to fertilize now. What are you growing? If it is tomatoes, keep in mind that they are wind pollinated. So once you see the blooms, give the plants a little periodic shake if they are in place with little wind (which is typical Austin). Or you can take a small pointy object into the bloom and spread the pollen that way.

 

[austingirl25]

I have tomatoes, bell peppers, two kinds of basil and a strawberry plant (that's my experiment for the season). Good idea about the tomatoes. Oh, and I'll have a cucumber plant but right now I'm growing the seeds so it's not in the ground yet.

 

[Jellydonuts]

Are you growing the strawberries in pot or in the ground? Are soils are alkaline, so you might want to amend your soil with soil sulfer for the strawberries (of course it is pretty late for them, so it may not help).

 

[uisge beatha]

In reply to:

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[austingirl25]

In the ground...didn't realize that was a bad idea. Oops.

 

[Jellydonuts]

"In the ground...didn't realize that was a bad idea. Oops."

No, you did the right thing by putting them in the ground. However strawberries prefer acidic soils, which Austin does not have. It just would have helped to amend the soil when you planted them. You can always add a little coca cola to your water for some acid.

 

[austingirl25]

Good idea about the coke -- thanks!