Thank you for giving your knowledge to us. And I thank you so much for explain things simply , clearly and with good pronunciation that any one can understand. 👍
I grow lots of indeterminate tomato plants (52 this year) in 7-gallon pots in my greenhouse (2 plants per pot). The organic fertilizer I mix into the potting soil at the start of the season is sufficient for the entire season, EXCEPT for nitrogen. When the first green tomatoes start forming is when the plants usually start showing signs of nitrogen deficiency (leaves begin to become less green). At that point I start fertilizing with urine once per week for the rest of the season. I put 2 quarts of urine in a 2-gallon watering can, fill it with water, and give about 1 quart per pot.
I have sat and worried about this or that in the garden, and you’re right, if they’re in the ground, and they’re growing, what could they possibly need. I have some beautiful tomato plants, they’re big and bushy, because I am not taking all the suckers off, I am experimenting was this so my first year of taking it seriously. Some of my tomato plants are huge, and they look so healthy and I was worried for nothing. Now, we had a hot dry summer, and I probably didn’t water enough at the beginning, and maybe even a little too much through the major heat we had in June, so, I am paying more attention to that. Also, in my containers, I add old grass clumps, turned upside down, some grass clippings, and some of my own dirt mixed with a very small amount of potting mix. My tomato’s are beautiful, but my squash….I will never do squash in pots again, if I don’t have to.
I found your channel from Maritime Gardener and wow I am so grateful. I just finished my second season container gardening (22 gallon self-wicking) and I have learned so much from you. Lots of these channels giving lots of misinformation. I appreciate their effort but Ive done a lot of stuff that wasn't necessary. Do you know anyone as knowledgeable as yourself for those of us doing container gardening? Would most of the education you give work for my containers since Im not watering from the top? I live in a townhome and grow everything vertically do to space. Thank you for work :) Excellent channel.
Most of my info also applies to containers. I try to generalize gardening, and understand the why. If you learn the why - you can easily adapt to other situations.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 Its channels like yours and Gardening With Leon that gave me the courage to try gardening. Hands down, its brought me the peace and joy in life. Its hard for to explain what gardening does for the soul. I wish everyone would try it. Again, thank you for your work. Ive come to love your channel.
Can you tell me if we really need to fertilize our lawns? How about if you just mulch leaves into the lawn in the fall? I just love your videos and have been binge watching them. Great information thanks so much!
Just remove the weed collecter and let the weeds fly out the back. That will give the weeds enough nutrients usually. If you want the greenest lawn possible fertilizer is probably needed though.
Hi Robert, thank you so much for this informative knowledge on fertilizers. one question is, when you say the NPK ratio to be 3-1-2, do you mean the ratio on the fertilizer bag or just the ionic form of NPK? when i do the math, i found normally the 15-15-15 or 20-20-20 fertilizer has the ionic NPK ratio of about 20-8-16 and that is nearly 3-1-2. so should i just grab the balanced formula?
I guess I've been doing it right from the beginning. I make my own compost with several tons of vegetables, fruits, greens, grass, leaves and twigs, cartons, chicken droppings, carcass remains, sawdust etc (I keep some chicken too) with some ash and charcoal. All kitchen scraps and any paper waste goes there too. I also use small amounts of aged sheep manure from time to time, whenever I can get hold of it... The only synthetic fertilizer I use in small amounts is ammonium nitrate. The abundance of carbon in the compost material helps adsorb it and slow down its dissolution and travel to the deeper layers of the ground, thus giving more time for the plants' roots to make good use of it... My soil is about 10% compost, 40% raw sawdust, 10% sand and only 40% natural black soil... It's fluffy and soft, well aerated and absorbent and full of earthworms... While you can always feel a faint smell of rotting and decay in it (since compost and scraps are regularly added (especially before wintering), my vegetables are growing like crazy in it, as if they are on steroids!
In my experience with aquarium water, i storage in gallons or buckets, and then I use for watering my plants with a 1/2 teaspoon of fertilizer because, aquarium water don't content enough nitrates and micro nutrients to feed plants.
Robert, you mentioned we can re-use container soil, how can we address the buildup of salts from fertilizer, as well as any possible diseases that might be in old soil?
If you are using softer water there is no build up. With hard water most of the build up shows as crust on the top of the soil - just scrape an inch off each year. But with the amount of water used in most containers, salt buildup is not a big problem. I have hard water and don't see any buildup.
Hi! Your videos are awesome! I came here to learn about the differences in pH with different synthetic fertilizers, mainly those that do not contain sulfur. But in the video you said that this information will be in another video, have you already done it? Can someone share a link? Thanks from Argentina!
What i do with my soil when am done with it i disinfect it by putting the soil in a a big Mattel pot and puting the pot no fire over night i live it for a about a month or more .
Hi, I've been watching several of your fertiliser related videos and my what I have taken away is compost is enough plus nitrogen. What are your thoughts on homemade comfrey liquid feed? Thanks Lee (UK)
You say most plants like a npk of 3-1-2. I see on palm fertilizers 2-1-3 is very common. Do palms like the extra pottasium or is it a bit higher in pottasium since these fertilizers are from Florida and the soil there often lacks pottasium.
Thank you for your information. Do i also don't have to change the soil of my indoor pots ? If they decompose over time, don't the roots get less and less air, if i just add more soil on top ? And doesn't the pH of the soil gets more and more acidic ? So many questions...
1) You do not need to change the soil 2) It will slowly get less - add some compost to top it up and dig it into the soil 3) pH won't change much. In a soilless mix pH is very dependent on the fertilizer you add.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 Thank you for taking your time to reply. Would you say, that for most indoor plants, real soil is superior to something like pumice, which i currently use ? The latter will will always stay the same, it won't shrink and the roots will get enough air. What i don't understand is, you don't have things like earth worms in a pot with soil, which help keep the soil fluffy. Would you consider making a video about it ? Best regards
Great Video as usual 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 the science is explained and the hype is refuted and now the on-line “experts” need to watch this before they post their next pseudo facts.
The "experts" say that you should fertilize trees and certain bushes only twice per year, and other plants bi-monthly or monthly. Also, stop feeding about 6 wks prior to first frost. If plants in the ground have nutrients available all year, why stop feeding at a specific time or why only feed only twice per year? Isn't the plant able to decide if it wants or needs the fertilizer?
"The "experts" say that you should fertilize ......." That is not really true. Lots of people say those things, but real experts say you don't have to fertilize any plants unless your soil has a deficiency. ua-cam.com/video/_NJK3LFeFhc/v-deo.html In colder climates plants slow down in winter and need fewer nutrients - that is why you normally don't fertilize in fall or winter.
Thank you for your videos. I’ve learned a great deal. I have a mature (over 20 years old) orange tree that is health. It flowers and have a ton of fruits each year but the fruits have very thick rinds and the fruits is drier than it should be. What type of deficiencies is causing this condition? Thank you.
The NPK ration of: 3-1-2. I'm going to put that on your gravestone. I've think you been around awhile. And this is the thing I will always remember about you. And... as you point out generally you/(a.k.a., they) need some Nitrogen, at mark 13:38, in the video. However, in potting soil, since it's not native soil, it may need some other nutrients like calcium for tomatoes. Fertilizer with pretty pictures and different "MUST HAVE" NPK numbers on the packaging suck a lot of people in to spending big bucks. Just general care, watering, mulching, weeding, some fertilizer, goes a long way.
Nothing against synthetic fertilizer I use it for flowers but prefer organic for vegetables but I also wouldn't want to put a triple or more dose of synthetic fertilizer on my plants but wouldn't be to concerned if it happened with organic fertilizer wouldn't do that but wouldn't be concerned
Virtually no gardener performs proper controls. Without them they should not be reaching any conclusions. Gardeners are a poor source of scientific facts.
Excellent tutorial video. Can Jack's 20-20-20 be used for hydroponics? I seen it used once by a University for a hydroponic raft, or was it Peter's? Thank you.
I couldn’t figure out which link to use for determining which type of nitrogen I should look for in fertilizers. I have extremely alkaline soil. Ph 8. I mix lots of peat moss in, but that just brings it to 7. Which nitrogen product is best for not raising the ph?
1) peat moss will not make soil acidic. www.gardenmyths.com/does-peat-moss-acidify-soil/ 2) Urea or ammonium are both acidic. But if you need to adjust soil pH a lot, use sulfur.
I will disagree with you one 1 point ---- milk ---- I grow tomatoes in container/pots I water exactly the same way each time ----- I get almost 100% blossom end rot when I add 1/2 cup skim milk in 1 gallon of water and give each pot some after I water I get almost 100% ZERO blossom end rot ---- so what you state is 100% wrong in my case. There is some variable you're not seeing.
Made sense of the different and conflicting info I’ve collected. Thank you!
Thank you for giving your knowledge to us. And I thank you so much for explain things simply , clearly and with good pronunciation that any one can understand. 👍
Talking about an eye opener! Your video(s) do just that. Learning and relearning never case. Thank you.
I grow lots of indeterminate tomato plants (52 this year) in 7-gallon pots in my greenhouse (2 plants per pot). The organic fertilizer I mix into the potting soil at the start of the season is sufficient for the entire season, EXCEPT for nitrogen. When the first green tomatoes start forming is when the plants usually start showing signs of nitrogen deficiency (leaves begin to become less green). At that point I start fertilizing with urine once per week for the rest of the season. I put 2 quarts of urine in a 2-gallon watering can, fill it with water, and give about 1 quart per pot.
Jack's 20 20 20 is good for veggies
Urine 🙄
For nitrogen I add used coffee grounds they are an absurd percentage nitrogen
I have sat and worried about this or that in the garden, and you’re right, if they’re in the ground, and they’re growing, what could they possibly need. I have some beautiful tomato plants, they’re big and bushy, because I am not taking all the suckers off, I am experimenting was this so my first year of taking it seriously. Some of my tomato plants are huge, and they look so healthy and I was worried for nothing. Now, we had a hot dry summer, and I probably didn’t water enough at the beginning, and maybe even a little too much through the major heat we had in June, so, I am paying more attention to that. Also, in my containers, I add old grass clumps, turned upside down, some grass clippings, and some of my own dirt mixed with a very small amount of potting mix. My tomato’s are beautiful, but my squash….I will never do squash in pots again, if I don’t have to.
one of the very best gardening channel. I will recommend to anyone who wants to learn and get better in growing plants at home
I found your channel from Maritime Gardener and wow I am so grateful. I just finished my second season container gardening (22 gallon self-wicking) and I have learned so much from you. Lots of these channels giving lots of misinformation. I appreciate their effort but Ive done a lot of stuff that wasn't necessary. Do you know anyone as knowledgeable as yourself for those of us doing container gardening? Would most of the education you give work for my containers since Im not watering from the top? I live in a townhome and grow everything vertically do to space. Thank you for work :) Excellent channel.
Most of my info also applies to containers. I try to generalize gardening, and understand the why. If you learn the why - you can easily adapt to other situations.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 Its channels like yours and Gardening With Leon that gave me the courage to try gardening. Hands down, its brought me the peace and joy in life. Its hard for to explain what gardening does for the soul. I wish everyone would try it. Again, thank you for your work. Ive come to love your channel.
I love making compost, but Walmart 10-10-10 used sparingly works great on vegetables.
What brand did you get? Im currently looking for some.
@@ericwilliams1124 walmart sells a brand called Expert 10-10-10.. it's in a plain white bag .
Can you tell me if we really need to fertilize our lawns? How about if you just mulch leaves into the lawn in the fall? I just love your videos and have been binge watching them. Great information thanks so much!
Just remove the weed collecter and let the weeds fly out the back. That will give the weeds enough nutrients usually. If you want the greenest lawn possible fertilizer is probably needed though.
Thanks for all of the great information
What a wonderful and educating video!
Thanks for sharing all the exceedingly educational information.
Thank you sooo much. Zone 3
Hi Robert, thank you so much for this informative knowledge on fertilizers. one question is, when you say the NPK ratio to be 3-1-2, do you mean the ratio on the fertilizer bag or just the ionic form of NPK? when i do the math, i found normally the 15-15-15 or 20-20-20 fertilizer has the ionic NPK ratio of about 20-8-16 and that is nearly 3-1-2. so should i just grab the balanced formula?
We still waiting the answer.
Another great video, Thanks for sharing
That’s content and information ... thank you
Excellent review
I guess I've been doing it right from the beginning. I make my own compost with several tons of vegetables, fruits, greens, grass, leaves and twigs, cartons, chicken droppings, carcass remains, sawdust etc (I keep some chicken too) with some ash and charcoal. All kitchen scraps and any paper waste goes there too. I also use small amounts of aged sheep manure from time to time, whenever I can get hold of it... The only synthetic fertilizer I use in small amounts is ammonium nitrate. The abundance of carbon in the compost material helps adsorb it and slow down its dissolution and travel to the deeper layers of the ground, thus giving more time for the plants' roots to make good use of it... My soil is about 10% compost, 40% raw sawdust, 10% sand and only 40% natural black soil... It's fluffy and soft, well aerated and absorbent and full of earthworms... While you can always feel a faint smell of rotting and decay in it (since compost and scraps are regularly added (especially before wintering), my vegetables are growing like crazy in it, as if they are on steroids!
What about aquarium water and aquarium filter waste? What's the best way to use them?
In my experience with aquarium water, i storage in gallons or buckets, and then I use for watering my plants with a 1/2 teaspoon of fertilizer because, aquarium water don't content enough nitrates and micro nutrients to feed plants.
Robert, you mentioned we can re-use container soil, how can we address the buildup of salts from fertilizer, as well as any possible diseases that might be in old soil?
If you are using softer water there is no build up. With hard water most of the build up shows as crust on the top of the soil - just scrape an inch off each year. But with the amount of water used in most containers, salt buildup is not a big problem. I have hard water and don't see any buildup.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 Thanks for your reply!
Hi! Your videos are awesome! I came here to learn about the differences in pH with different synthetic fertilizers, mainly those that do not contain sulfur. But in the video you said that this information will be in another video, have you already done it? Can someone share a link? Thanks from Argentina!
Thank you so much. Are foliar fertilizerssuitabled for indoor house plants?
What i do with my soil when am done with it i disinfect it
by putting the soil in a a big
Mattel pot and puting the pot no fire over night i live it for a
about a month or more .
Hi, I've been watching several of your fertiliser related videos and my what I have taken away is compost is enough plus nitrogen.
What are your thoughts on homemade comfrey liquid feed?
Thanks
Lee (UK)
You say most plants like a npk of 3-1-2. I see on palm fertilizers 2-1-3 is very common. Do palms like the extra pottasium or is it a bit higher in pottasium since these fertilizers are from Florida and the soil there often lacks pottasium.
Could you please make a video specificly about vermicompost?
I wonder if there are benefits compared to "normal" compost?
I'll put it on the list, but for now: www.gardenmyths.com/vermicompost-is-it-great/
Thank you for your information. Do i also don't have to change the soil of my indoor pots ? If they decompose over time, don't the roots get less and less air, if i just add more soil on top ? And doesn't the pH of the soil gets more and more acidic ? So many questions...
1) You do not need to change the soil
2) It will slowly get less - add some compost to top it up and dig it into the soil
3) pH won't change much. In a soilless mix pH is very dependent on the fertilizer you add.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 Thank you for taking your time to reply. Would you say, that for most indoor plants, real soil is superior to something like pumice, which i currently use ? The latter will will always stay the same, it won't shrink and the roots will get enough air. What i don't understand is, you don't have things like earth worms in a pot with soil, which help keep the soil fluffy. Would you consider making a video about it ? Best regards
Great Video as usual 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 the science is explained and the hype is refuted and now the on-line “experts” need to watch this before they post their next pseudo facts.
What about a fertilizer with Amino Acid Chelated ?
If you think your compost is finished add 5 lbs of urea per cubic yard to see what finished compost really looks like.
Humic/fulvic acid+water soluable seaweed/kelp
The "experts" say that you should fertilize trees and certain bushes only twice per year, and other plants bi-monthly or monthly. Also, stop feeding about 6 wks prior to first frost. If plants in the ground have nutrients available all year, why stop feeding at a specific time or why only feed only twice per year? Isn't the plant able to decide if it wants or needs the fertilizer?
"The "experts" say that you should fertilize ......." That is not really true. Lots of people say those things, but real experts say you don't have to fertilize any plants unless your soil has a deficiency.
ua-cam.com/video/_NJK3LFeFhc/v-deo.html
In colder climates plants slow down in winter and need fewer nutrients - that is why you normally don't fertilize in fall or winter.
Thank you for your videos. I’ve learned a great deal. I have a mature (over 20 years old) orange tree that is health. It flowers and have a ton of fruits each year but the fruits have very thick rinds and the fruits is drier than it should be. What type of deficiencies is causing this condition? Thank you.
The only way to know about a deficiency is to test the soil, and maybe even the fruit.
The NPK ration of: 3-1-2. I'm going to put that on your gravestone. I've think you been around awhile. And this is the thing I will always remember about you. And... as you point out generally you/(a.k.a., they) need some Nitrogen, at mark 13:38, in the video.
However, in potting soil, since it's not native soil, it may need some other nutrients like calcium for tomatoes.
Fertilizer with pretty pictures and different "MUST HAVE" NPK numbers on the packaging suck a lot of people in to spending big bucks.
Just general care, watering, mulching, weeding, some fertilizer, goes a long way.
What we can add in collected rain water to make it more efficient complete garden plant food with 6.5 pH?
fertilizer
I always look forward to your videos 💚🙃
How about difference in isotopes..
Nothing against synthetic fertilizer I use it for flowers but prefer organic for vegetables but I also wouldn't want to put a triple or more dose of synthetic fertilizer on my plants but wouldn't be to concerned if it happened with organic fertilizer wouldn't do that but wouldn't be concerned
I wish you can submit how to make natural or organic fertilizer at home from natural materials not only the chemical fertilizer.
Thanks sir
Many independent gardeners have verified the usefulness of compost tea. It's extremely weird that you would tell people otherwise.
Virtually no gardener performs proper controls. Without them they should not be reaching any conclusions. Gardeners are a poor source of scientific facts.
Throw a handful of nitrogen in the compost tea and it works great. I've done this vs control of just tea. No comparison.
Excellent tutorial video. Can Jack's 20-20-20 be used for hydroponics? I seen it used once by a University for a hydroponic raft, or was it Peter's? Thank you.
Look at the ingredients - not the brand name.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 Got it. Thank you.
I couldn’t figure out which link to use for determining which type of nitrogen I should look for in fertilizers. I have extremely alkaline soil. Ph 8. I mix lots of peat moss in, but that just brings it to 7. Which nitrogen product is best for not raising the ph?
1) peat moss will not make soil acidic. www.gardenmyths.com/does-peat-moss-acidify-soil/
2) Urea or ammonium are both acidic. But if you need to adjust soil pH a lot, use sulfur.
Tell this to the banana tea people. Lol
There is a big push now on yt to use urine in the garden. Have you heard about this? Your thoughts?
Urine has always been used in the garden.
www.gardenmyths.com/the-full-scoop-on-composting-poop/
Good job
I will disagree with you one 1 point ---- milk ---- I grow tomatoes in container/pots I water exactly the same way each time ----- I get almost 100% blossom end rot when I add 1/2 cup skim milk in 1 gallon of water and give each pot some after I water I get almost 100% ZERO blossom end rot ---- so what you state is 100% wrong in my case. There is some variable you're not seeing.
Synthetic fertilizer is the way . money save
Ask someone who grows top shelf weed if this guy knows what he's talking about ? Only good thing he said was test your soil.
He actually said not to test it, soooo
The hydro industry is full off lies so you go and buy that 200£/5L canna boost or any other snake oil that don’t do nothing.