Which Plant Food?

Furny

Hi Folks
Can a General Liquid Purpose Plant food be used for all my container veg/plants or do i really need really to buy a seperate liquid tomato feed for my fruiting plants (peppers,toms,courgettes etc?).
I was looking at them all today when the hortucultural s/a asked if i "needed help" (i so did!) he told me i didn't really need the two that a general purpose should do & he used it on everything!" fine "i thought" i'll save the £ "but i came away & the doubt set in, i'm not sure, it's my first time so want to try get it a BIT right.
I know the likes of Alan Titmarsh suggest the two different ones but the s/a laughed & said it's just to get us to buy different feeds etc! help! what do you all use?

A._Badger

Furny wrote: »

Hi Folks
Can a General Liquid Purpose Plant food be used for all my container veg/plants or do i really need really to buy a seperate liquid tomato feed for my fruiting plants (peppers,toms,courgettes etc?).
I was looking at them all today when the hortucultural s/a asked if i "needed help" (i so did!) he told me i didn't really need the two that a general purpose should do & he used it on everything!" fine "i thought" i'll save the £ "but i came away & the doubt set in, i'm not sure, it's my first time so want to try get it a BIT right.
I know the likes of Alan Titmarsh suggest the two different ones but the s/a laughed & said it's just to get us to buy different feeds etc! help! what do you all use?

If you want to use just one feed, a packet of Phostrogen (easily available) will do the job perfectly well. If you want to save money, Wilkinsons do a clone of it which seems just as good for a lot less money (and, at a guess, I'd say it's made by Chempak, who are the real experts at liquid feeding).

Even if you can stretch to buying two feeds, the other one should be either an equally balanced one, or one high in Nitrogen and they are hard to find so, if I were you, I'd stick with the Phostrogen formula, which has worked for generations.

Hope that helps.

Furny

Thanks for reply, much try get OH to take me to Wilkinsons for some gardening bargains (16miles from us though) so i had to settle with the closest DIY/store today that i could get my feeed from.
The one i bought was Homebases own green 2 ltr btl of Liquid Plant Food.The blurb says Ideal for use on all indoor & outdoor flowering & foliage potted plants.It contains added potash ensuring an ambundance of longer lasting flowers & magnesium keeping leaves green & glossy.
The other was the tomato liquid feed (Homebases brown btl grow your own range) but the s/a reckoned i only needed the green one, so didn't get that one, Do people think this is right then?

A._Badger

Furny wrote: »

Thanks for reply, much try get OH to take me to Wilkinsons for some gardening bargains (16miles from us though) so i had to settle with the closest DIY/store today that i could get my feeed from.
The one i bought was Homebases own green 2 ltr btl of Liquid Plant Food.The blurb says Ideal for use on all indoor & outdoor flowering & foliage potted plants.It contains added potash ensuring an ambundance of longer lasting flowers & magnesium keeping leaves green & glossy.
The other was the tomato liquid feed (Homebases brown btl grow your own range) but the s/a reckoned i only needed the green one, so didn't get that one, Do people think this is right then?

Ignore the weasel words and sales blah. What matters are three numbers which show the ratio of Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potassium (N,P and K in chemical notation) and which have to be stated, by law, on the packet.

These will usually be shown as something like 10-10-27 - which tells you that Nitrogen and Phosphate are in equal proportions and that Potassium (aka 'Potash') is higher. This is a good, general balance, suited to most fruiting and flowering plants.

Additionally, look for added trace elements - not just as a vague phrase, but as a nice, long list.

I'm afraid I have no idea what is in Homebase's own fertiliser but if you could put the NPK ratios up here, I might be able to help.

As an aside, ready-mixed (liquid) feeds are usually very expensive to use compared with powder types.

Hope that's some help.

Furny

Hmm,the bottle doesn't even list the ingridients/contents just the blurb mentioned says whats in it. Not sounding too good now,hoping i haven't bought something more for flowers. Regarding price it was £3.99 for 2ltr.

A._Badger

I looked at their website and it isn't even listed (though other fertilisers are). I'm very surprised it doesn't have an analysis on the packet somewhere (though they are sometimes hidden away underneath).

I suppose all you can do is use it, following the instructions, and see how you get on. A liquid isn't going to go very far and it's unlikely to kill anything.

When it's used-up, I see Homebase has a powdered feed of its own. Have a look at the analysis and compare it with the one on the side of the Phostrogen packet., If it's similar, you might want to buy that. If you're feeling flush, buy the Phostrogen.

RHYSDAD

I use Growmore for general purpose (7:7:7) and Tomorite soluble plant food for the toms, chill's and cues (24:8:16).....

About NPK here

A._Badger

RHYSDAD wrote: »

I use Growmore for general purpose (7:7:7) and Tomorite soluble plant food for the toms, chill's and cues (24:8:16).....

About NPK here

I know Tomorite is very popular but I have one reservation about it. Unless they have changed the formula since I last looked, it has no trace elements in it and I, personally, feel tomatoes and other plants need them - especially when grown in more or less inert soilless media, like peat and peat substitutes.

For that reason, I personally, prefer Chempak tomato feed, which I note Gardening Which? also seems to like best.

Just a thought!

RHYSDAD

A._Badger wrote: »

I know Tomorite is very popular but I have one reservation about it. Unless they have changed the formula since I last looked, it has no trace elements in it and I, personally, feel tomatoes and other plants need them - especially when grown in more or less inert soilless media, like peat and peat substitutes.

For that reason, I personally, prefer Chempak tomato feed, which I note Gardening Which? also seems to like best.

Just a thought!

Just checked and does indeed include trace elements...

NPK plus boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdene and zinc.

Furny

Thanks for replies so far folks.I got to Wilkinsons & they had a 4kgbox of Miracle Gro general purpose plant food on promotion to £3.99 so invested in that (may return the other & try get back £ back if i can.) Also bought some of the tomato feed in the end.

A._Badger

RHYSDAD wrote: »

Just checked and does indeed include trace elements...

NPK plus boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdene and zinc.

I'm really glad to see that.. I remember discussing it with someone at the manufacturer years ago and being told 'tomatoes are in for such a short period, we don't think it's necessary'. At the time, I switched to Sangral, because that did have but I suspect Sangral has now long gone!

I'm glad they've changed their mind.