Potato Fetiliser

Furny

Hi
I've just been watching a few clips on-line in preperation for putting my spuds out in there rubble sacks/re-useable bags probably next weekend.
Everyone mentioned the fertiliser, do you all buy special potato fertiliser? (i only have general purpose powder & tomato liquid) so wondering if i need to source some before next weekend.
Also where would i place the bags on my decking in the shade? (i have a coldframe also).
Thanks in advance.

balloo_2

There are lots of farmers offering free well rotted manure some are selling it but B&Q sell bags of it. when i used to watch my dad planting potatoes in the garden he would open a shallow trench lay a thin layer of manure cover it with a thin layer of soil then put the seed potato's on that and cover them and he always had a great crop of pots so i would imagine the same thing could apply to bags. Dont forget to leave room to earth the stems up later on.

A._Badger

Furny wrote: »

Hi
I've just been watching a few clips on-line in preperation for putting my spuds out in there rubble sacks/re-useable bags probably next weekend.
Everyone mentioned the fertiliser, do you all buy special potato fertiliser? (i only have general purpose powder & tomato liquid) so wondering if i need to source some before next weekend.
Also where would i place the bags on my decking in the shade? (i have a coldframe also).
Thanks in advance.

Some people like to include a general purpose fertiliser in the bags (Growmore, blood, fish and bone etc) but I'm not keen on that approach, personally - it's impossible to get the dosage right and there is the possibility of burning delicate shots if they come into direct contact with the granules.

You could use a slow release fertiliser (Osmocote or one of its many clones - Wilkinsons do one) but you can't tell when these are exhausted so, even though it's fiddly, I use a liquid fertiliser - in my case Phostrogen, or Chempak 4. Don't use one high in nitrogen, however, or you will get excessive leaf growth at the expense of tubers.

Hope that helps.

Furny

Hi
I have Growmore multi purpose soluble plant food & a Wilkinsons own liquid Tomato feed.
So is the Chempak a general slow release fertiliser or a tomato one(like i have) just sussing if i need to buy another fertiliser sounds like i do!.
Thank you so much.

A._Badger

I don't know Growmore soluble - only the traditional, granular form which you apply dry and, occasionally, as a ready-made liquid version.

Assuming what you have offers the same balance as conventional Growmore (7-7-7) it's perhaps not ideal for potatoes, but it wouldn't harm them.

Chempak formula 4 and Phostrogen are both high potash feeds and come as powders, which you dissolve in the watering can. This is almost always the cheapest way of applying liquid feeds, but it does mean a bit of fuss every time you water and it means you need to use a can, not a hose - which is the advantage of slow release fertilisers. With those, you just add the feed when you plant and (in theory) just water from then on.

Tomato feed would do, but it would cost a lot more to use than a powder that you dilute.

Furny

I do apologise when checking the box it's Miracle-Gro all purpose slouble plant food that i have.
The UK Fertiliser Decleration says its 24-8-16
Rol Fertiliser Decleration is 25-3.5-13.3
I hope that means something to you.
i have a big 4kg box of it.
Sounds like a wise investment would be one of the potash powder feeds because i didn't know what i was buying i just bought the liquid but i'll look out for the powder now.

A._Badger

Yes, I'm afraid it does: it means it is very heavily biased towards Nitrogen, so will not be the most suitable feed.

Just to clarify (and oversimplify!) the three figures relate to the ratios of the three main foods your plants need (in this order): Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (aka potash) which are usually show as N:P:K ( you can blame chemistry for that odd notation, I'm afraid).

Generally speaking, you can assume that Nitrogen encourages leaf growth, Phosphorus makes roots and Potassium develops flowers and fruits.

From this, you can see that the feed you have is biased towards Nitrogen, so will boost leaf growth, which makes it more suitable for leafy vegetables and non-flowering houseplants.

A far more suitable fertiliser for general garden or pot use (in my opinion at any rate) would be Phostrogen, which has a ratio of 14:10:27, so is more suited to the encouragement for fruits and flowers.

Just as an aside (and not meaning to be unkind), had you considered buying a book on gardening basics? A lot of the questions you are asking would be answered far quicker (and sometimes perhaps more reliably) by something like Dr Hessayon's Gardening Expert, which is very cheaply available in paperback. It might save you a lot of trouble and time.