[pbs] fertilizer
Jane McGary
janemcgary at earthlink.net
Wed Nov 22 11:28:48 EST 2006
Verena asked,
How do you fertilize your bulbs? Do you fertilize at all? This may sound
>trivial to you all but as Im quite new in the 'business' Im not
>informed about such things yet.
It is not trivial, because many people neglect to fertilize their bulbs enough.
For the bulbs in my garden (and the rest of the garden) I apply a balanced
8-month-release pelleted fertilizer (including many trace elements -- a
formulation for the container perennial nursery trade) in mid-spring.
For the bulbs growing in the bulb frame and other contained situations, I
apply a balanced soluble fertilizer once in October with a hose-line tank
mixer, and in spring, a low-nitrogen "root and bloom" soluble feed three
times at 3-week intervals. This seems to keep everything pretty happy.
This advice will not appeal to the "no chemicals in my garden" contingent,
but I have found that some organic fertilizers promote rot in bulbs, and
bone meal and other animal products are inadvisable here because they
attract digging animals such as raccoons, coyotes, cats, and dogs.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA
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