cheapest plant food
 

We have a lot of plants in pots in our garden and get through a lot of
fertiliser. The cheapest used to be the boxes of the powder Phostrogen in
our supermarket, but now we cannot see that anywhere locally.

What is the cheapest fertiliser to get hold of at the moment? We wouldn't
mind buying bigger boxes than the ones that go to local shops, although
obviously we dont want it on a commercial scale. Thanks.

cheapest plant food
 

In article ,
D. T. Green wrote:

What is the cheapest fertiliser to get hold of at the moment? We wouldn't
mind buying bigger boxes than the ones that go to local shops, although
obviously we dont want it on a commercial scale. Thanks.

Well, the cheapest fertiliser is that which you produce yourself :-)

But you can almost certainly get 10-25 Kg sacks of generic NPK
very cheaply if you chase around. Try Tuckers Seeds or LBS.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

cheapest plant food
 

On 20/05/2012 14:05, wrote:

Well, the cheapest fertiliser is that which you produce yourself :-)


I swear by pee as fertilizer now and it is free. From the research I've
done it is quite a balanced fertiliser in NPK terms plus it has trace
elements. I simply use an old large necked detergent bottle as a urinal
and each days collection gets made up to a watering can full with water
from the water butt. It is surprisingly odour free, presumably because
of the dilution and the way the ground / plants take up the nutrients.
It gets used mainly on the vegetable garden. Each day a different row of
plants gets a feed. They cycle takes around two - three weeks before a
row gets another feed. It works very well. For anyone on the squeamish
side I ask the question: Is it any worse than putting on horse, cow or
chicken manure?! Pee is free and is effective.

cheapest plant food
 

David in Normandy wrote in news:4fb8e417$0
:

On 20/05/2012 14:05, wrote:

Well, the cheapest fertiliser is that which you produce yourself :-)


I swear by pee as fertilizer now and it is free. From the research I've
done it is quite a balanced fertiliser in NPK terms plus it has trace
elements. I simply use an old large necked detergent bottle as a urinal

Well, actually, I have to use extra large ;-) .My eyesight is not what it
used to be!

and each days collection gets made up to a watering can full with water
from the water butt. It is surprisingly odour free, presumably because
of the dilution and the way the ground / plants take up the nutrients.
It gets used mainly on the vegetable garden. Each day a different row of
plants gets a feed. They cycle takes around two - three weeks before a
row gets another feed. It works very well. For anyone on the squeamish
side I ask the question: Is it any worse than putting on horse, cow or
chicken manure?! Pee is free and is effective.


I agree, but I thought, perhaps wrongly, that only leafy growth would
benefit. Such as brassicas.

Thanks for the tip (oh!matron!)
Baz

cheapest plant food
 

On 20/05/2012 16:22, Baz wrote:
David in wrote in news:4fb8e417$0
:

On 20/05/2012 14:05, wrote:

Well, the cheapest fertiliser is that which you produce yourself :-)


I swear by pee as fertilizer now and it is free. From the research I've
done it is quite a balanced fertiliser in NPK terms plus it has trace
elements. I simply use an old large necked detergent bottle as a urinal

Well, actually, I have to use extra large ;-) .My eyesight is not what it
used to be!

and each days collection gets made up to a watering can full with water
from the water butt. It is surprisingly odour free, presumably because
of the dilution and the way the ground / plants take up the nutrients.
It gets used mainly on the vegetable garden. Each day a different row of
plants gets a feed. They cycle takes around two - three weeks before a
row gets another feed. It works very well. For anyone on the squeamish
side I ask the question: Is it any worse than putting on horse, cow or
chicken manure?! Pee is free and is effective.


I agree, but I thought, perhaps wrongly, that only leafy growth would
benefit. Such as brassicas.

Thanks for the tip (oh!matron!)
Baz

It has more than just nitrogen - I've forgotten the NPK ratio but it is
maybe biased towards leaf growth, but I've found it to be a good general
purpose fertiliser, potatoes, runner beans, leeks, brassicas, carrots,
asparagus, peas etc. It didn't work well with strawberries, but was
maybe a little too concentrated for them.

cheapest plant food
 

David in Normandy wrote in
. fr:


It has more than just nitrogen - I've forgotten the NPK ratio but it
is maybe biased towards leaf growth, but I've found it to be a good
general purpose fertiliser, potatoes, runner beans, leeks, brassicas,
carrots, asparagus, peas etc. It didn't work well with strawberries,
but was maybe a little too concentrated for them.



Well thats good enough for me. I will give it a go.

Thanks.
Baz

cheapest plant food
 

On 20/05/2012 18:35, Baz wrote:
David in wrote in
. fr:


It has more than just nitrogen - I've forgotten the NPK ratio but it
is maybe biased towards leaf growth, but I've found it to be a good
general purpose fertiliser, potatoes, runner beans, leeks, brassicas,
carrots, asparagus, peas etc. It didn't work well with strawberries,
but was maybe a little too concentrated for them.



Well thats good enough for me. I will give it a go.

Thanks.
Baz

Don't make the mistake of putting it on too strong though or it will
burn the plants. Approx 10% pee is strong enough. Best applied at the
base of plants and repeated every three - four weeks. Since using pee as
fertiliser I've had huge potato crops. Other plants such as runner beans
and peas really do well too; I guess these are particularly nitrogen hungry.

A quick google search brings this NPK ratio up: 10:1:4

So it is biased towards nitrogen / leaf growth but also has a
respectable phosphorous and potassium content.

cheapest plant food
 

On May 20, 6:01*pm, David in Normandy
wrote:
On 20/05/2012 18:35, Baz wrote:





David in *wrote in
.fr:

It has more than just nitrogen - I've forgotten the NPK ratio but it
is maybe biased towards leaf growth, but I've found it to be a good
general purpose fertiliser, potatoes, runner beans, leeks, brassicas,
carrots, asparagus, peas etc. It didn't work well with strawberries,
but was maybe a little too concentrated for them.

Well thats good enough for me. I will give it a go.

Thanks.
Baz

Don't make the mistake of putting it on too strong though or it will
burn the plants. Approx 10% pee is strong enough. Best applied at the
base of plants and repeated every three - four weeks. Since using pee as
fertiliser I've had huge potato crops. Other plants such as runner beans
and peas really do well too; I guess these are particularly nitrogen hungry.

A quick google search brings this NPK ratio up: 10:1:4

So it is biased towards nitrogen / leaf growth but also has a
respectable phosphorous and potassium content.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Still not a good idea for your house plants

cheapest plant food
 

On May 20, 12:54*pm, "D. T. Green" wrote:
We have a lot of plants in pots in our garden and get through a lot of
fertiliser. *The cheapest used to be the boxes of the powder Phostrogen in
our supermarket, but now we cannot see that anywhere locally.

What is the cheapest fertiliser to get hold of at the moment? *We wouldn't
mind buying bigger boxes than the ones that go to local shops, although
obviously we dont want it on a commercial scale. Thanks.

Bought: bags of rotted poo bought from peoples houses
Truly cheapest: All your compostables, either compost them or dig them
into the soil as is. One neat and no work option is to place smallish
pens about the place, and dump into them. As it rots it goes straight
into the nearby soil


NT

cheapest plant food
 

I've been using my 'pee' as a feed for some of my crops (and also a compost
activator) - I also had heard that it was (almost?) all nitrogen and would
only support leafy growth.

Glad to hear this may not be the case and that use on a wider range of my
plants may be a good idea.

Regards

Jamie.


"David in Normandy" wrote in message
. fr...
A quick google search brings this NPK ratio up: 10:1:4

So it is biased towards nitrogen / leaf growth but also has a respectable
phosphorous and potassium content.

cheapest plant food
 

Judith in France wrote in news:53e19a0b-fd21-
:


'scuse me, can I use pee that has oestragen in it?


NO. We want strong robust plants, not floppy mambypamby ooer I feel faint
sort of things! Only joking.
Now, if you go fishing....

Best wishes.
Baz

cheapest plant food
 

wrote in message ...

In article ,
D. T. Green wrote:

What is the cheapest fertiliser to get hold of at the moment? We wouldn't
mind buying bigger boxes than the ones that go to local shops, although
obviously we dont want it on a commercial scale. Thanks.

/Well, the cheapest fertiliser is that which you produce yourself :-)
/
/But you can almost certainly get 10-25 Kg sacks of generic NPK
/very cheaply if you chase around. Try Tuckers Seeds or LBS.

I use NPK 13:13:13 from the local farm supplier. I don't dig it into the
soil. It's 90% water soluble, so it gets diluted 100g of NPK to 5 litres of
water. So a 20kg sack lasts me about 2 years on the allotment.
I prefer to remove the watering can rose, which helps to prevent leaf splash
and also avoids the rose holes getting blocked.
Everything gets a fortnightly feed.

cheapest plant food
 

"Bertie Doe" wrote in message ...



wrote in message ...

In article ,
D. T. Green wrote:

What is the cheapest fertiliser to get hold of at the moment? We wouldn't
mind buying bigger boxes than the ones that go to local shops, although
obviously we dont want it on a commercial scale. Thanks.

/Well, the cheapest fertiliser is that which you produce yourself :-)
/
/But you can almost certainly get 10-25 Kg sacks of generic NPK
/very cheaply if you chase around. Try Tuckers Seeds or LBS.

\I use NPK 13:13:13 from the local farm supplier. I don't dig it into the
\soil. It's 90% water soluble, so it gets diluted 100g of NPK to 5 litres of
\water. So a 20kg sack lasts me about 2 years on the allotment.
\I prefer to remove the watering can rose, which helps to prevent leaf
splash
\and also avoids the rose holes getting blocked.
\Everything gets a fortnightly feed.

You're right it's 25Kg sacks. I've just phoned the local farm supplier and
the prices have gone up a bit, but well worth the investment:-
a) NPK 13:13:21 Ideal for root crops - £10.55p + vat
b) NPK 15:15:15 Ideal for surface crops - ditto price
c) NPK 18:12:20 Ideal for gardens and allotment - £14.99p + vat

Next year I may try c) it costs a bit more but the numbers are slightly
higher for N (Nitrogen) K (Phosphorus) K (Potassium). Here's a word of
caution about overdosing with Nitrogen:-
http://landscaping.about.com/cs/lazy...ping/g/npk.htm
If in doubt, I trial with a half dose of 50g per watering can, at
fortnightly intervals.

cheapest plant food
 

"NT" wrote in message
...
Bought: bags of rotted poo bought from peoples houses
Truly cheapest: All your compostables, either compost them or dig them
into the soil as is. One neat and no work option is to place smallish
pens about the place, and dump into them. As it rots it goes straight
into the nearby soil


NT

Good afternoon,

I've heard of people moving their "dalek" plastic compost bnis about once
they have spread the contents to improve the soil below (increased worm
activity is one of the big advantages, I imagine).

However another thing people sometimes refer to in grow-your-own is
"nitrogen robbing" when organic matter rots in the soil (often mulches, wood
chip, etc), using up nitrogen (I think I've understood what the term refers
to in this scenario) - do you consider this to be a problem, or would you
dig in the compostable material well in advance of planting anything above?

Or another option, if planting "nitrogen fixers" such as legumes, is this
not even a concern, as their need for extra nitrogen is much less.


--
Regards,
Jamie D.

All the way from sunny Lincolnshire.

cheapest plant food
 

On May 22, 3:19*pm, "Jamie D." wrote:
"NT" wrote in message

...

Bought: bags of rotted poo bought from peoples houses
Truly cheapest: All your compostables, either compost them or dig them
into the soil as is. One neat and no work option is to place smallish
pens about the place, and dump into them. As it rots it goes straight
into the nearby soil

NT

Good afternoon,

I've heard of people moving their "dalek" plastic compost bnis about once
they have spread the contents to improve the soil below (increased worm
activity is one of the big advantages, I imagine).

However another thing people sometimes refer to in grow-your-own is
"nitrogen robbing" when organic matter rots in the soil (often mulches, wood
chip, etc), using up nitrogen (I think I've understood what the term refers
to in this scenario) - do you consider this to be a problem, or would you
dig in the compostable material well in advance of planting anything above?

Or another option, if planting "nitrogen fixers" such as legumes, is this
not even a concern, as their need for extra nitrogen is much less.


The nitrogen robbing effect of wood chippings is well known, but imho
I think its overblown. I've tried all sorts of approaches, including
dumping stuff down, covering it with a foot of soil and planting there
immediately, and that went ok, despite the risks. One year I put a
large pile of wood chippings down and planted cabbages right away, the
worst possible combination, and they grew just fine. So now I just
dont worry about it, unless the plants concerned are especially
termperamental.


NT