On 6/26/2009 10:34 PM, Paul M. Cook wrote:
Got me a tub of 5-5-5 pure organic fertilizer. Bone meal, blood meal,
gypsum, potash, cottonseed meal and grape pomace. For my plants by height
it says to use 1/4 cup per foot. Seems like a lot but it is pure organic.
So I just work a 1/4 cup measure into the soil in each pot? How often do I
do this?

The product is Nurseryman's Bumper Crop Booster. It was recommended by a
little old Japanese guy so I figure it has to be right.

Paul

5-5-5 is quite weak. Blood meal by itself has more nitrogen while bone
meal by itself has more phosphorus. Cottonseed meal is merely repeating
the nitrogen. Gypsum adds calcium, which is alread in bone meal. I'm
not sure what the pomace adds other than perhaps compost.

You will have to dig this into the soil of each pot so that the soil
bacteria can work on the organic nutrients and convert them into
something that will disolve and that plant roots can absorb.

In general, the bone meal will be wasted because it needs to be at the
tips of plant roots. The phosphorus will not disolve. Instead, bone
meal should have been blended into the potting mix before any plants
were put into it.

I'm not sure that potash is really needed with a potting mix that
contains good compost. The compost should provide all the potasium a
plant will ever need.

Gypsum is another thing that should not be necessary. It is generally
used on heavy clay, with which it reacts chemically to make porous and
granular.

If I want a blended fertilizer, I use a house-brand lawn food. No, it's
not organic.

For potted plants, I blend blood meal, bone meal, a pinch of iron
sulfate, a pinch of zinc sulfate, and a pinch of Epsom salts with peat
moss, coarse sand, and a little compost to make a potting mix. The
nutrients are there before the plant is in the pot. I find that I need
to repot the plants before the nutrients are exhausted.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary