"Nicholas Steel" wrote in message
om...
Some time ago I was in a nursery and had selected a bottle of Maxicrop
to buy.

A nursery staff member saw this and told me that he used to work for
the council and had a lot of experience spraying plants with
fertilisers. he siad that Maxictop was nowhere near as effctive as
Nitrosol.

This made me think that perphaps all fertilsers are not the same.

Your comments/experiences/rankings on the list below would be most
welcome.

We have tried various ferts at work on both grass and plants, and probably
the most noticeable change was of course chook poo and Ammonium Nitrate on
grass.
Still I will try give my opinions on the ones you have mentioned, purely
from experience.
However I do agree with another poster here that blood and bone seems to be
very effective

Aquasol
Can destroy good organisms in the soil, but if anything like MIracle grow
gives plants a good boost.

Nitrosol
Nevert tried it

Seasol
I haven't noticed much difference in plants that have used it compared to
others that have gone without.

Thrive
Never tried

Miraclegro
I had some Day Lilies, small that were root bound grown from pups, potted
them up into larger pots, good potting mix, and over a period of about
9months they didn't grow much in size at all. I put it down to them
originally being rootbound. Not even Dynamic lifter long life pushed them
along. Gave them to my parents, one hit with Miracle grow, and within about
2 weeks they literally doubled in size.

Maxicrop
We noticed no change in plants it was used on at work.

Osmicote
I use it, but not sure how good it is.

Dynamic Lifter
Good for lawn, but that's all I'd use it for

Blood and Bone
This I have noticed a difference on Azaleas and Camellias at work

We have also used Nutri-gro (organic fert and pesticide), Nitro Fert (like a
liquid chook poo, so it looks and smells like) with no results noticebly
visible. No doubt they do something good, as they all have nutrients, but a
quick read of the NPK sometimes reveal all low figures for levels of each
nutrient. But really not visible to the naked eye.
Guess really a good way to test would be buy a punnet of annuals, divide up
and try different ferts. Something I might actually do myself now I have a
collection of ferts here at home.
Really I guess it all depends on what you are after. A lush growth,
flowering etc. IMO in regards to NPK you want high in Nitrogen and Potassium
as they will affect the most noticeable parts of a plant, growth and
flowers. The Phosphorous is good for roots but I think it's pretty much not
needed apart from naturally occuring P in the growing media as if you get
good plant growth the roots will follow, unless you are growing bonsai.
I think Miracle grow is great personally but wouldn't use it more than once
a month max and try get good waterings between uses to flush soil.
Good luck