The best fertilizer

[azsnowman]

I've been using Peters Best Fertilizer for EONS now, it's the BEST IMHO, I've seen growth on evergreens in excess of 24+" per YEAR, decidious, aspens, poplar etc, over 3 FEET!!!! :o I SWEAR by this stuff, any particular fert. you prefer?

Dennis

[craigGP]

depends on what you are feeding. for trees, i prefer milorganite, an organic made by the milwaukee metropolitan sewage department. it is not what it sounds like, but close...

anyway, use a 1.5" auger bit for a drill, drill 12" deep holes in the ground starting outside the drip line of the tree and moving closer to the tree as you go. fill each hole with milorganite. do spring and fall. spectacular results. one application will feed for 4 months with zero chance of burning. i easily get 24-30" out of red maples, 16-18" from norway spruces, and have very healthy shrubs. this method comes from research done the univ. of OK, i think... i remember the method, but not the origin of the research that produced it.

for potted plants, i prefer the peters myself. works great but leaches out quickly. i also use a high tech 14-14-14 called woodace when doing the initial potting. feeds for 4 months, like osmocote, but at a fraction of the price. a 50 lb bag of woodace costs about the same as a 10 lb bag of osmocote.

[Danaus]

You know from GTC how I'm going to answer this one, IMO nothing beats rabbit poo. Neat pelleted fertilizer, can be used as mulch, slow release, won't burn plants, and most important, I have to dump it SOMEWHERE!

[Miss Mary]

Years ago I fertilized indoor plants with fish emulsion. I've since gotten away from it since it's smelly. But my oh my did my houseplants grow well back then! I wasn't into outdoor gardening much then and now I am. Wonder what fish emulsion would do with annuals?

Thanks for this tip though Dennis. I usually just buy generic Miracle Gro. With a squirt of lemon scented dish soap in each application with the hose end sprayer. If I had to say one thing that's very beneficial on annuals, it's the soap! I've even applied it to my lawn, mixed with amonia and beer. Yup, I've read Jerry Baker's books!!!

[seedlady]

I use mostly fish emulsion & seaweed derivative. If I were really ambitious, I'd get down to the beach & haul off some seaweed for mulch...nah, too much work. I also throw coffee grounds & eggshells on a lot of my gardens - don't know how much fertilizing effect it has, but it seems to help keep the slug population down. I mush ripe bananas on my rosebushes, too. Kinda a landfill garden...

[DaylilyDawn]

I use Peter's Professional along with epsom salts , liquid humus and powdered seaweed. I use a hose end sprayer to apply all this to my daylilies. The fertilizer feeds, the other additives help with cell structure and color saturation in the flowers. It also helps make the plants strudier. Slugs can be taken care of with a 10% ammonia solution in a spray bottle. Amonnia just dissolves the slugs and will not hurt the plants.

[Pburgh]

If you have a friend with a barn, go for the bat guana. Bat poop is great. It doesn't burn and it doesn't stink!!!! I prefer cow manure for my roses.