I dump a glug glug of the FF into a 2 gallon H2O water can and then fill it with water before watering the rose bushes.

I, too, don't like sloshing FF all over my gardening pants or boots.

I don't do this on all my roses because it is such a chore.

If I might expand the quedtion, how do spray roses with fertilizer or fungicide without wasting a lot?

I use either a watering can (for smaller projects) or any old garden sprayer (including the miracle gro one). I'm not particular about measuring and it's never been an issue for me. The smell goes away in 24 hours or less for me.

Are there raccoons in your area? Do you LIKE them? Because a yard stinking of FISH is going to attract every raccoon, every cat, every wild cat, every dog, every non domesticated canine and a pile of other "wild life" to your yard looking for their "fish dinner". I applaud the thought, however that much FISH is going to alienate the neighbors and attract every animal which eats fish for miles.

Roseseek, that has not been my experience at all. We do have raccoons. They've never bothered anything. I use fish emulsion all summer long. The worst thing that happens is flies for a few hours.

I have asked my neighbors about the smell, and they don't notice it. No animals bother with the yard after applying it. None.

Have you sprayed an entire lawn with it? There's quite a difference between fertilizing some plants and a lawn.

Roseseek, I have 75 roses, about 200 boxwood, several trees, and annuals. I apply fish emulsion to all of this several times a summer, and I have had no trouble with it. I believe it could be an issue for some folks depending on where they live, but it isn't an issue for me.

Buy the disposable (can be used again and again), plastic transfer pipettes, 5 ml, 100 pcs./$9.99, on Amazon. Fill the pipette full, and do it three times. 5ml x 3=15ml=1 (one), Tablespoon. This will solve all your transfer problems. You don't even need to wear gloves. Just take your time and be careful. Make sure you squeeze the bulb all the way to get a full 5ml of fish emulsion into the pipette each time. Either throw the pipette once used into recycling or rinse it out to use again and again. Could last all summer!

There is fish meal used as fertilzer. It's dry, so easier to use.

I only have experience with seaweed emulsion fertilizer which works wonders by many folks' estimation. It definitely is less smelly.

Moses to the rescue!

Regarding Kim's point, I left a capped gallon of FF by my hose bib a couple of nights ago, and sadly the container was attacked overnight. The lid was chewed up, the gallon tipped over and half the gallon had poured out over my path through the gate.

I put wood chips over the stinky mess so we wouldn't step directly in it. I distributed the FF around and will store containers in the garage going forward. I don't know if the culprit was a racoon or my newer little rescue dog Tiger who is a bit of a scamp. She did not smell of FF so it may have been a racoon.

My path is well fertilized now.

The one time I used fish emulsion, there was an obviously sick racoon under the deck the next morning. We called Animal Control, and a state trooper showed up with sirens blaring. He took one look at it, and asked if there were children looking out the upstairs windows. I thought it a strange question, but when I said 'No', he immediately unholstered his gun and shot it.

The next week, we had brunch with a friend who happened to be a pathologist. He thought it might have been distemper and not rabies. Either way, it wasn't an animal that should have been wandering around infecting other animals.

I haven't used fish emulsion since.

I have used fish emulsion / seaweed fertilizer for decades. I use the cap to measure. I have a 1.5 gallon metal watering can. I put 2-3 capfuls in the bottom of the can, fill it up either with tap water or rainbarrel water, depending on what I am watering and filling it is enough to mix it in usually. Then I take the rose off the watering can and pour it into my 1 gallon sprayer. It's a cheap sprayer. You hand pump it to produce the pressure for the spray. It has a handle to hold it and the pump is in the top. You start by pumping it 30x and you start and if the spray weakens, I pump it another 10x. I spray every week to 10 days or at least that's the plan. [g]

I find it pretty easy to do and not all that messy or smelly. The smell disipates quickly. There are better sprayers. You can get one in the form of a back pack. There are 2 gallon sprayers, but of course, they would be heavier. I bought the cheap version to 'try it' and it works fine. Once in awhile I thiink about getting the backpack. I also fill the watering can with solution and just soak the base of plants as well. I always see a pretty quick improvement in the appearance of the plants in the next few days. I wouldn't be without it.

I haven't found it attracts any critters, including the neighborhood cat that travels around at night but we don't have raccoons in our neighborhood, either, just rabbits.

Hi SunnyMississippi ,

I use fish emulsion a few times a year.

I use a baster to minimize the mess. Of course this is a dedicated baster that is only ever used for liquid fertilizer and is stored away from the kitchen to avoid any confusion!

I use a large plastic graduated baster that allows you to dose the exact amount of fish emulsion or fertilizer you add to each watering can. I got mine on Amazon, it looks like this.

I use a three gallon bucket and take my hose with me to fill it up by each rose. I add a small splash from a quart of fish and kelp emulsion that I've been trying to finish. If I have a smaller plant I'm trying to fertilize, I dip a plastic measuring cup that holds 4 cups in the bucket. Dumping the bucket onto a rose has been the fastest way for me. 40 roses takes about half an hour. Granted, I have a small garden and many pots so I'm not walking much between each rose. When I'm done, I put the cap back on the fish emulsion and spray everything down to wash away any drops or spills.

I do use fish emulsion on newly potted roses . I pour some in a sturdy plastic cup , then use a spoon to measure and add to the watering can .

I use an "irrigation fertilizer injector" between a leader hose from the outdoor faucet to a standard garden hose. I used PVC pipe and PVC adapter fittings to connect it between standard garden hoses. I don't use the filter that comes with the injector. Works best when the injector is held at a higher level than the container of fertilizer (I use flower pots to elevate it). Please disregard the 3/4" PVC pipe in the first photo. The injector is connected to 1/2" PVC pipe and 1/2" to 3/4" adapter fittings.

The white container is what I put the fish fertilizer in. The only disadvantage is this is not precise. The dial only says 1-4, does not give tablespoon/teaspoon per gallon measurements. But with fish fertilizer I am not worried about being precise. I use something different for spraying pesticides/fungicides, which that I do want to be exact.

I use a backpack sprayer.

I’m at about 80 potted roses while I wait to be able to plant them and my process this year is to use two 7 liter watering cans with a wide mouth for easy ferilizer addition and a liquid Benadryl cup along with a hose wand that can be turned on without having to hold it on and 6 mil nitrile gloves (I like Venom Steel). After putting the gloves on I put two measures using the Benadryl cup in each can. After filling one I set the wand on low to fill the other while watering with the first can. Once done I add more fertilizer to the empty can and switch the wand while I use the second can to water. Continue until done and then give everything an overhead spray to dilute the smell a bit.

The whole process takes about an hour ans a half for the 80+ pots I WFH now so it’s a good excuse to hang out with my roses while catching up on the podcasts I used to listen to on my commute.

Note the use of the Benedryl cup is just because after doing the calculations and conversions it turned that out two of them was almost exactly the amount I needed for my specific fertilizer (Neptune’s Harvest Rose feed) and the size of my watering cans (7 liters) and I had an extra one lying around.

My dog digs around plants that Alaska fish emulsion were applied too...She loves the stuff drives her crazy...lol...Skunks liked it too so quit using it ...lol...