Alaska hose attachment sprayer for liquid fish emulsion?

16 years ago

I saw a years-old discussion on this board but the question was never answered! I'm wondering if anyone is using the Alaska brand garden hose attachment for applying liquid fish emulsion. It's identical to the miracle grow one, but this has a dial at the top for various types of fertilizers and one setting is for liquid fish emulsion.

My problem with it is that there's no instructions on how much fish emulsion to put in the little basin. The miracle grow sprayer tells you how much to put in. This one doesn't. I called the company and the lady who answered the phone said to put as much as I want. She said the attachment "takes care of it" making sure the "right amount" gets mixed with the water from the hose.

Logic is telling me that can't be right, so I went ahead and filled it half way then sprayed it around my garden until the water in the basin was clear. This is the first time I've used fish emulsion on my vegetables, and when I was done, the garden smelled like fish (I actually kinda liked it--made me feel like I was on a boat on the lake, but I'm weird that way). But I was worried that it might be a sign that I used too much.

Anyway, I thought I'd try asking again. Have any of you used this Alaska brand sprayer, and if so, have you figured out how much emulsion you can add?

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Comments (4)

shebear
16 years ago
I've never used the sprayer but after applying fish emulsion everything usually smells like fish.....including your clothes and shoes if you spill some on them. I'm sure the dial takes care of the mixing.....long ago I had another brand of sprayer that worked like the Alaska one and it seemed to do the job well.
curt_grow
16 years ago
It is imposable to answer your question without knowing the square foot of your garden? Alaska 5-1-1 recommended application rate for vegetables is 2 oz. per gallon to 25 square foot of soil so just go by the square foot. If you give me the size of your garden? I can give you an answer. I also love the smell of Menhaden in the morning. I am a Fisher and use the local fish for food and fertilizer. Hope this has helped.

Curt#
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loribee2
Original Author
16 years ago
Well, I've got raised beds that total about 200 sq feet. If I were watering using my 1 gallon watering can, I wouldn't be wondering, because I know how much to add to a gallon of water. The problem is that this attaches to the hose, so if I put 10 oz of liquid emulsion in, how do I know it's not applying 4 oz per gallon at the start and 1 oz per gallon at the end?

Maybe the lady is right and the attachment really does "take care of it". If that's the case, I do see where you're going. My square footage would calculate out to about 16 oz of fish emulsion. I put that much in the basin, assume the sprayer is making sure the right amount is getting mixed with the water and apply it evenly around my beds until the basin runs clear.

Here's a follow-up question: If you all aren't using this hose attachment, how do you apply fish emulsion fertilizer? I suppose filling up my gallon watering can 8 times isn't all that much work. But I wonder what people do when they have twice as much space as I do? I think I'd get carpal tunnel after a while. LOL
susan2010
16 years ago
An organic tomato farmer who recommended fish and seaweed emulsion to me said that they use watering cans in the field. They walk up and down the fields and folar feed with it every couple of weeks.

I guess if they can do it (albeit someone's paying them to do it), I guess we can too.