Fertilizer rate

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I got soil test results back and they recommended the fertilizer to be applied to vegetable garden 1x/year... but I hear of people fertilizing their plants every 3 weeks? What is correct?
 
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I got soil test results back and they recommended the fertilizer to be applied to vegetable garden 1x/year... but I hear of people fertilizing their plants every 3 weeks? What is correct?
Soil test companies never take into account organic fertilizers. With synthetic/oil based fertilizers these fertilizers only feed the plant, they do not feed the soil. Organic fertilizers feed the soil. This is why synthetics are used so sparingly. I personally fertilize my vegetables every time I water them, not a lot but some. Some may think this is excessive but I fertilize the soil about 4-6 weeks before planting either seeds or plants. Then I fertilize seeds again when they have 1 or 2 sets of true leaves. I fertilize sets at planting. All of that fertilization was done with granular fertilizers. Then every time I water is use a liquid fertilizer. If it rains I don't fertilize. I also don't use the liquid at full strength, usually about 1/2. It all depends on what I feel the plant needs. On tomatoes I use granular again at bud/bloom stage and again when fruits are about 1/2 size. I try to maintain a steady even growth of all of the plants in my garden. I can't tell you how many times to fertilize with synthetics as the NPK ratios vary so greatly and damage can be done by fertilizing too much. With organics one doesn't have to worry about such things.
 
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Soil test companies never take into account organic fertilizers. With synthetic/oil based fertilizers these fertilizers only feed the plant, they do not feed the soil. Organic fertilizers feed the soil. This is why synthetics are used so sparingly. I personally fertilize my vegetables every time I water them, not a lot but some. Some may think this is excessive but I fertilize the soil about 4-6 weeks before planting either seeds or plants. Then I fertilize seeds again when they have 1 or 2 sets of true leaves. I fertilize sets at planting. All of that fertilization was done with granular fertilizers. Then every time I water is use a liquid fertilizer. If it rains I don't fertilize. I also don't use the liquid at full strength, usually about 1/2. It all depends on what I feel the plant needs. On tomatoes I use granular again at bud/bloom stage and again when fruits are about 1/2 size. I try to maintain a steady even growth of all of the plants in my garden. I can't tell you how many times to fertilize with synthetics as the NPK ratios vary so greatly and damage can be done by fertilizing too much. With organics one doesn't have to worry about such things.

Thank you for responding.. I am going to re-read your reply over many times bc it has so much good information I can learn from. I want to do all organic. I was low in potassium and magnesium so I applied Langebenite. And I added blood meal for nitrogen. I also put down 2" of compost. I didn't apply any phosphorus because the soil already is excessive in it. I did this a couple weeks ago and I've already started putting in little plants and sowing seeds. I'm a new gardener but I've been doing a lot of research to try and start off on the right foot. But woah there's a lot of complexities! I read somewhere that you have to be really careful with Langebenite even though its organic (bc of possible magnesium toxicity?) so I'm nervous about applying that regularly. I'm wondering if I should switch to something like potash or kelp meal... I guess as a new gardener I'm a little overwhelmed by all the options and scenarios. I just want to do the best thing for the plants and the environment but I don't want to lose my hair in the process! Haha!
 
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Thank you for responding.. I am going to re-read your reply over many times bc it has so much good information I can learn from. I want to do all organic. I was low in potassium and magnesium so I applied Langebenite. And I added blood meal for nitrogen. I also put down 2" of compost. I didn't apply any phosphorus because the soil already is excessive in it. I did this a couple weeks ago and I've already started putting in little plants and sowing seeds. I'm a new gardener but I've been doing a lot of research to try and start off on the right foot. But woah there's a lot of complexities! I read somewhere that you have to be really careful with Langebenite even though its organic (bc of possible magnesium toxicity?) so I'm nervous about applying that regularly. I'm wondering if I should switch to something like potash or kelp meal... I guess as a new gardener I'm a little overwhelmed by all the options and scenarios. I just want to do the best thing for the plants and the environment but I don't want to lose my hair in the process! Haha!
I have never used langbeinite. I am very leery of anything that has such a high ratio of potassium (0-0-22) and other minerals such as magnesium. Usually a lack of minerals is a rather rare occurrence and there are other products that are much safer such as Chelated Iron which also has most if not all of needed minerals. There are many manufacturers of good organic fertilizers that are formulated so as not to exceed requirements for plants. These fertilizers have every thing a plant will need in most circumstances so there is no need to have a bunch of separate soil amendments. I keep a fast acting nitrogen source (blood meal) on hand if a plant starts to show signs of nitrogen deficiency. I also keep Rock Phosphate on hand for a phosphorus problem and use it at planting tomatoes for bloom enhancement. And I keep Chelated Iron for iron choloris if it starts to appear. Organic matter in your soil is the single most important thing to have. With lots of organic matter and compost in your soil you will rarely need anything else except a good organic fertilizer. Please update your profile so as we all know where you are located
 
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Ahhh, you are literally the first person with any kind of experience to help me in this matter. I appreciate so much your input. I will not use Langebenite anymore! I will find a nice safe organic fertilizer to use instead. I just feel I need to be cautious about putting down anything that has phosphorus in it bc the soil results said my garden soil has excessive amounts of phosphorus in it. I will update my profile now. I literally just joined this afternoon so I'm still figuring out this platform
 
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Ahhh, you are literally the first person with any kind of experience to help me in this matter. I appreciate so much your input. I will not use Langebenite anymore! I will find a nice safe organic fertilizer to use instead. I just feel I need to be cautious about putting down anything that has phosphorus in it bc the soil results said my garden soil has excessive amounts of phosphorus in it. I will update my profile now. I literally just joined this afternoon so I'm still figuring out this platform
Don't rely too much on what a soil sample says. Most soil test companies use an acid test. This does a good job of telling you what is in or is not in your soil. In most cases it does NOT tell you what is available for plant uptake and this is what is important. What is your soil Ph?
 
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It said my pH is 7 and the buffer pH is 6.9. I attached a picture of my results just for fun.
 

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It said my pH is 7 and the buffer pH is 6.9. I attached a picture of my results just for fun.
You soil isn't bad at all. If I worried about anything it would be calcium, especially if you plan to grow tomatoes. Phosphorus is a little high but far from critical. And as I said before you don't know how much is available to the plants. And the only way to know is to get another specialized soil test or just start growing things.
 
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I am planning growing tomatoes. Thats what I've been most excited about growing. Is there anything can do to lower the calcium? i guess just avoid any fertilizers that have it in there?
 
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I am planning growing tomatoes. Thats what I've been most excited about growing. Is there anything can do to lower the calcium? i guess just avoid any fertilizers that have it in there?
Ever hear of blossom end rot? It is not a disease. It is a calcium deficiency but is not caused by a lack of calcium in the soil. The calcium is "locked" up in the soil. I have tons of calcium in my soil but the plants such as tomatoes, melons and some peppers cannot uptake it. Epsom salts does something that "unlocks" the calcium making it available to the plants. I literally cannot grow any tomatoes except cherry types without Epsom Salts. I sprinkle a couple of handfuls around the base of the plant at planting and that takes care of any blossom end rot. And ES is just good to use for all plants
 
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Chuck, I just went out to my garden and saw my kale and collards are turning yellow!!! It must be from the fertilizer because I grew kale and collards in the fall without fertilizer and they did well. Ugh. What can I do to help the soil so plants can be healthy? Should I take these plants out? Will the fertilizer fade away? I added it about 2 weeks ago. I added it according to what the box recommended. What can I do to reverse this problem? I added some pics so you can see the leaves.
 

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Chuck, I just went out to my garden and saw my kale and collards are turning yellow!!! It must be from the fertilizer because I grew kale and collards in the fall without fertilizer and they did well. Ugh. What can I do to help the soil so plants can be healthy? Should I take these plants out? Will the fertilizer fade away? I added it about 2 weeks ago. I added it according to what the box recommended. What can I do to reverse this problem? I added some pics so you can see the leaves.
This could be one of two things. It could be a nitrogen deficiency but this is doubtful because of your soil test. Your test showed 128 ppm of phosphorus. Anything above 50ppm is not good. Now a few questions for background. Where did you get this soil? Was it a garden previously, raw land or a lawn? Was the soil test done before or after you fertilized?
 
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I got the soil test done before I applied the fertilizer.

After I got the results of the soil test I applied Langebenite as directed on box. I also added Bloodmeal as directed on bag. I also, on half of the garden plot (the half that my kale and collards are), added some greensand that I got. It was just a little, or so I thought. I didn't think the greensand was enough to do anything at all because it was such a small amount. But I did add it in the area that the kale and collards are. Too much?! :(

I did add a 2" layer of compost too across the whole plot. It was 100%compost I got from a nursery. They said it was leaf mold.

The garden plot is a garden that is established and has been used sparingly by my parents over the past 20 years. They had never used fertilizer on it before, just compost. Last summer they grew tomatoes that didn't thrive (mom said the transplanted them out too late) and in the fall kale and collards. The kale and collards did fine. In the past it has grown many a vegetable ok but not gloriously. Thats why I was gonna try and boost their produce this season.
 
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I got the soil test done before I applied the fertilizer.

After I got the results of the soil test I applied Langebenite as directed on box. I also added Bloodmeal as directed on bag. I also, on half of the garden plot (the half that my kale and collards are), added some greensand that I got. It was just a little, or so I thought. I didn't think the greensand was enough to do anything at all because it was such a small amount. But I did add it in the area that the kale and collards are. Too much?! :(

I did add a 2" layer of compost too across the whole plot. It was 100%compost I got from a nursery. They said it was leaf mold.

The garden plot is a garden that is established and has been used sparingly by my parents over the past 20 years. They had never used fertilizer on it before, just compost. Last summer they grew tomatoes that didn't thrive (mom said the transplanted them out too late) and in the fall kale and collards. The kale and collards did fine. In the past it has grown many a vegetable ok but not gloriously. Thats why I was gonna try and boost their produce this season.
I THINK that what has happened is that the manganese and potassuim in the Langbeinite has has altered the takeup ability of the excessive phosphorus. The pictures show, IMO, excessive phosphorus. If plants grew OK last year there is no reason for this except for the Langbeinite. Greensand is a very slow acting group of minerals and I can't believe greensand could do what is shown. I think the best way to fix this problem is to raise your Ph a little by adding powdered dolomite or agricultural lime. I think, but don't know for sure, that your tomatoes and other spring crops will be OK. You will know if something is amiss with your tomatoes if the leaves start to turn a purple color.
 

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