S...In general, most people mix into the soil at planting time a slow-release fertilizer. After a few days in the mix....start a feeding program that consists of a complete fert that is a weakened solution. This is best. I use Foliage Pro.

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"S...In general, most people mix into the soil at planting time a slow-release fertilizer. After a few days in the mix....start a feeding program that consists of a complete fert that is a weakened solution. This is best. I use Foliage Pro."

Fireduck, I appreciate your response. I'm currently using a liquid fertilizer though and will probably stick to it until its exhausted.

I think today alone I've spent 5 hours researching on how to properly fertilize plants using liquid fertilizers. My brain is starting to hurt a little =)

To break it down again, if I'm using a water then fertilize regime and not a "fertigate" one, how much solution should I add to a 10 gallon pepper plant?

On the flipside, for curiousity sake, if I employed a fertigate technique, how much solution would i need to use?

If this is at all confusing, I can try my best to help out. (I think it makes sense?) lol

Steve

"S...In general, most people mix into the soil at planting time a slow-release fertilizer. After a few days in the mix....start a feeding program that consists of a complete fert that is a weakened solution. This is best. I use Foliage Pro."

Fireduck, I appreciate your response. I'm currently using a liquid fertilizer though and will probably stick to it until its exhausted.

I think today alone I've spent 5 hours researching on how to properly fertilize plants using liquid fertilizers. My brain is starting to hurt a little =)

To break it down again, if I'm using a water then fertilize regime and not a "fertigate" one, how much solution should I add to a 10 gallon pepper plant?

On the flipside, for curiousity sake, if I employed a fertigate technique, how much solution would i need to use?

If this is at all confusing, I can try my best to help out. (I think it makes sense?) lol

Steve

The easiest way to do it is to fertilize with every watering using your fertilizer in the proportion recommended on the package. Add enough fertilizer water to the pot that some drains from the pot. Only fertigate when your plant needs water. With promix you should fertilize from the beginning as it says on the package. Tomatoes are heavy feeders and need more fertilizer than the average houseplant, so use your fertilizer at full strength. Peppers can handle the same amount. It's also better to use a complete fertilizer (like your Organix) than to try to diagnose and treat trace element deficiencies (like iron). Your pepper plant could be suffering from overwatering or a nitrogen deficiency. Let the top 2 inches of the soil dry out before watering.

Thanks for the reply, Ohio!

My fertilizer says the following:

"Add 1 tsp to each litre (quart) of water. Use in gardens every 2 weeks or as needed"

If I add 1 tsp to a litre of water and add that to my plant would that be sufficient for a 10 gallon pot? Assuming that I'm going with 100% solution strength. Or would I have to adjust the amount i use in order to fully saturate the 10 gallon pot. (Ex. 8 tsp for 2 gallon; assuming 2 gallons would sufficiently water my medium)

Correct me if I'm wrong but the above mentioned would be the way to fertigate my plant...

Now, if I didn't want to fertigate, how would I do it?
Water my plants with a wand until fully saturated, then add the fertilizer diluted in water? Would the same ratio apply; 1 tsp per litre, even though the pot is already saturated?

Basically what I'm trying to figure out is:

Is me fertigating my 10 gallon pepper plant with, let's say 2 gallons of fertilizer (full strength; 8 tsp for 2 gallon) the same as if I were to fully water my plant with water before adding 1 tsp of fertilizer to a litre of water then adding that to my 10 gallon pot?

They are both full strength applications, just different volumes.

Slowly. Losing. My. Mind. lol

Steve

Is me fertigating my 10 gallon pepper plant with, let's say 2 gallons of fertilizer (full strength; 8 tsp for 2 gallon) the same as if I were to fully water my plant with water before adding 1 tsp of fertilizer to a litre of water then adding that to my 10 gallon pot?

No, it's not the same. I don't recommend adding the fertilized water after saturating the pot. The only time you might do that would be if you had a small potted plant that had completely dried out. Then you would wet the potting mix first to avoid fertilizer burn. Don't make this more complicated than it has to be.

Sorry for the duplicate post. I should have added that if you find yourself needing to water every other day, you should probably cut the amount of fertilizer in half, to 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. And in that case, water with plain water every fourth time. But, be careful not to water too often. Your photo suggests your potting mix holds a lot of water. The biggest mistake people make is to water too often in a mix like that.

This post was edited by Ohiofem on Tue, Jun 25, 13 at 20:19

Okay so scratch the water first then fertilize option. I'm only leaning towards that option because I have about 15 x 10 gallon plants that need watering (tomatoes and peppers) so I wanted to speed things up a bit.
It would save me a lot of time rather than mixing 15 different batches of fertilizer and watering each plant individually.

The photo was taken after a rainfall, which is why it looks super saturated.

Well, this is what I do for a #5 nursery container.
I pre-water the mix to loosen and flush excess salts that might be lingering, and so that the wetted mix will readily receive the fertilizing solution. I mix up my fertilizer full-strength, and then I slowly apply 1 liter to each #5 container. When done fertilizing, I very lightly post-water to rinse any fertilizer splashed on the foliage and to drive the fertilizing solution down below the top inch of mix. I do this once a week.

If I were growing in #10 containers, I would apply 2 liters of my particular fertilizer - Foliage Pro - to each container.

Josh

I consider Josh one of the experts on this and many other container growing issues. What he does is probably the ideal. But I have more than 120 containers, about one-third of them 20-25 gallons. Those big containers require 7-10 gallons of water every other day. It takes me 90 minutes a day to water them with a hose. If I followed Josh's example I'd have no time left for work or family. So the truth is I start out fertilizing at half strength a couple times a week but end up only fertilizing once a week as the season gets hotter and drier. In between I use a hose. I supplement with Tomatotone on most of my veggies, so I think they're getting a healthy dose of feeding.

Josh and Ohio; big big thanks to the both of you for the enlightenment.

Josh- Are you doing this every time you water? If not what frequency are you doing it?

Ohio - Are you supplying half strength every time you water every 2-3 days or are you doing it in between waterings?

We've had a lot of rain in the last two months, often 2 inches a week. On those weeks I fertigated full strength only once and didn't do any other watering. At this point, when the rain is less frequent, my plants wilt if they go more than two days without rain or watering. So I am fertilizing half strength about twice a week and watering with plain water once a week. I don't add plain water on the same day that I fertigate. When I fertigate, I make up my fertilizer mix in gallon jugs and use enough to completely water the pot. In some cases this takes one gallon of water for every five gallons of mix in the pot. That means lugging a lot of jugs around my yard.

Hi all-

I do basically the same as Greenman does. I only have 3-4 gallon containers, but find that wetting the mix with plain water first really saves on Foliage Pro!

I don't know exactly how much fertilized water I am adding to containers, I go by feel. I think if memory serves me right I can water 5-7 plants with a 2 gallon watering can, so that is just a little over a liter per plant of fertilized water. Hmmm..never figured the ratio out until now :) Thanks Greenman!

Hey, thanks! Kind words :-)

Sbellot, I fertilize once a week - "Fertilizer Friday" - I'm about to go out to the garden right now, in fact.

I don't have as many containers, either, so I'm able to spend more time per plant. Also, we don't get any appreciable rain here. For that reason, it's essential that I pre-wet the mix to prevent dry spots, especially when fertilizing.


Josh

I prefer a fertilizer schedule, but we've had so much rain this year, I'm not sure what's left in the pots as far as nutrients goes. 9" of rain in June, and almost 2" this month already. Have hardly had to water at all and have been sneaking in the fertilizer here and there. Have been using leaf color as my best 'tell,' and so far everything is still green to dark green in color. Think it's time to sneak some more fertilizer in after today's downpours.