North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Fruth" <jfruth@uslink.net>]

   The reason why I mix my fertilizer is because:  I've got a broadcast 
spreader and I have to guess what setting to set it at so it'll be spread 
evenly throughout the area that needs it.  This was easy when I first moved 
to this farm because the soil was very depleted.  There was so much 
fertilizer to spread back then that I set the spreader to its highest 
setting and, if there was any left over, which there always was, I'd go back 
over with a whirlybird spreader to finish it.
   Nowadays, things are very different.  My soil is 'up to snuff' and I 
don't have very much volume/weight of any one fertilizer to spread in any 
given year.  Even when I mix everything together, there is still not enough 
to do entire areas on even a low setting.  There is three holes in the 
bottom of the hopper through which the fertilizer drops and, last year, I 
had to plug two of them because there wasn't a low enough setting to 
accomplish the task properly.
   I have four different mixes:  berries, trees and garden (garden includes 
the asparagus patch, strawberry patch and areas where I'll plant seeds). 
The fourth area is the low pH area.  There is a different fertilizer 
recommendation for each of these areas.  I mix the fertilizer in the four 
batches.  Then I measure out a weight of fertilizer intended for a, small, 
specified square foot area in each of the four areas.  It is in these 
(small) areas where I figure out what setting I need for each of the total 
areas.  This is a 'by guess and by golly' way of doing it but it works.  If 
anyone has a suggestion as to how to do it better, I'm open to trying it.
   Occasionally someone asks me why I go through all the trouble and 
expense.  If I ever begin to wonder, I have only to look at the gardens and 
orchards of the folks who don't do it.   Let the tourons do the talking; my 
place gets an almost parade of cars during the growing season of visitors to 
the area who have come to see an oasis in the middle of a farming area that 
can't grow a good crop of wild hay.  All day long, they drive by really 
slowly, turn around and drive by really slowly again.  Lots of them stop to 
feast their eyes.  I try to not have anything to do near the road because I 
don't have time to talk to everyone.  My farm is off the 'beaten track' and 
isn't mentioned in any of the tourist attraction literature so someone is 
telling all these people where it is - word of mouth.  As for the locals, 
some are convinced I work magic here and I'm almost tempted to erect a sign 
saying, "Eye of newt and toe of frog; wool of bat and tongue of dog."

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
www.bberryfarm.com
(218)568-8483 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My Cell]

Hi, Mark,

    This may or may not be obvious, and of course depends on what
fertilizer blends are available to you, but you don't really have to do
any MIXING.  All you have to do is make more than one application of
what you have.  That is, first, you could apply a blend that was fairly
close to what you needed.  Next, if you needed more phosphate, for
example, you could simply add the necessary amount of superphosphate in
a separate application.  This just makes it simpler to keep track of
how many pounds of what nutrient you have applied without having to
figure everything out first on paper and then go to the trouble of
mixing.

--"Bob Melvin"