Fish the Flats!
Applying liquid fertilizer mix
for optimal soil/plant nutrition
What? A nourishing fertilizer that is rich in calcium, nitrogen, & other essential minerals & microbes in liquid form to drench and spray.
Why? This regimen is for your seedlings/starts. Why? To insure their “early childhood nutrition” at this crucial stage of growth. This regimen will help you achieve nutrient-dense vegetables and long-lasting flowers with immunity from stress & disease—by starting early.
Start this regimen immediately to your seedlings in flats, pots, cell packs, & soil blocks. You can also apply onto plain potting media even before you sow seeds (up to 8 weeks before sowing seeds). This gets those beneficial microbes fed & multiplying!
When: Apply every 10-14 days I actually do weekly applications to my seedlings. When it’s time to tuck plants into outdoor soil (which you’ve prepared with compost and organic granulated fertilizer), I recommend you continue applying this liquid. This “fish mix” is not a substitute. But it is a readily available, easily assimilated superfood for vegetables, flowers, herbs. So, it’s great to apply as drench & spray throughout the growing season, ending the routine in early September. Why hope that soil microbes can supply all nutrition in our cold soils with long daylight?
The Recipe:
Measure one gallon of water into bucket. Add the following and mix very well. Then pour mixture into watering can &/or sprayer.
VERSION 1 with Alaska Fish Emulsion 5-1-1
2 Tbs Fish Emulsion 5-1-1 Follow directions on container
1 tsp Maxicrop soluble kelp First pre-mix powder + a little water in separate container
1 tsp calcium extract see separate recipe: egg shell extract*
1-3 cups Actively Aerated Compost Tea if you have it
1-3 cups worm tea if you have it
or compost tea leachate tea that you make by soaking some high-quality compost in water for an hour.
Stir all this very well or ingredients will settle at bottom.
VERSION 2 with Pacific Gro Oceanic Hydrolysate 2-1-0.3
¼ cup Pacific Gro** 2-2-0.3
1 tsp Maxicrop soluble kelp. First pre-mix powder + a little water in separate container.
1 tsp calcium extract see separate recipe: egg shell extract*
1-3 cups Actively Aerated Compost Tea if you have it
1-3 cups worm tea if you have it or compost tea leachate tea that you make by soaking some high-quality compost in water for an hour.
Stir very well or ingredients will settle at bottom.
How much? How? One gallon is usually plenty for a garden or small orchard. Use a watering can with a rose —and aim for foliage and around root zone for duel foliar & drench application. Then use it all; don’t leave it sitting for hours!
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* Or substitute Liquid Calcium purchased from a garden store, Down to Earth brand
**Other ways to apply Pacific Gro Oceanic Hydrolysate:
for spraying dilute 100:1; for potted plants dilute 50:1