Fertilizing Help for Unknown Plants

[Brittany Murphy]

Hello! Moved into a new house two months ago (Cleveland area in Ohio) which has 2+acres of wooded/beautifully landscaped yard. The woman who lived here before us knew A LOT about plants and she spent 12 hours a day in her garden (the neighbors told us). Anyway, the yard was pretty overgrown so I have been working on cleaning up a bit, but now is the time to fertilize as the yard has been neglected while vacant the last couple years.

QUESTION: The garden center gave me Plant Tone Fertilizer and Holly Tone Fertilizer. Some of the plants in the yard are marked and many are not. How the heck do I figure out which fertilizer to use on which plants??? I am new to gardening and LOVE it, but have so much to learn. I don't even know what I can trip at this point or what needs to wait for fall..so many vines in yard and many different kinds of unique plants.

Thanks in advance for the help! I will start posting photos very soon..

 

[marlingardener]

Brittany, how fortunate you are to have a landscaped yard just waiting for you to enjoy!
Until you get the plants identified, don't fertilize. Post photos here and someone will be able to help identify them. Applying the wrong fertilizer at the wrong time can seriously damage even established plants, so please hold off. You still have plenty of time to do spring fertilizing if needed.

 

[Brittany Murphy]

Brittany, how fortunate you are to have a landscaped yard just waiting for you to enjoy!
Until you get the plants identified, don't fertilize. Post photos here and someone will be able to help identify them. Applying the wrong fertilizer at the wrong time can seriously damage even established plants, so please hold off. You still have plenty of time to do spring fertilizing if needed.

Thanks, marlingardener!! I am so excited and so anxious but also overwhelmed. Will try to go through the yard and get photos today to post this evening. Thank you!

 

[headfullofbees]

If you use some of the organic fertilisers in the organic gardening forum, you can do no harm, but will do good.

Here's a fertiliser mix which will do all plants good:
Make a batch of actively aerated compost tea with 2 ounces of unsulphured molasses, whilst it is brewing, give your soil a drench of Epsom salts (one small handful per watering can) and buy or (preferably) make some seaweed extract.

You cannot overfertilise with these ingredients, and they do ALL plants that I can think of good.

When you DO find out what they are, you can move onto a more specific regime if required, but that alone will keep them happy for a considerable time.

 

[ChanellG]

Here's the thing about fertilizer, it's just plant food. If you think of it like people food, there are certain things you can eat that are kind of neutral and certain things that have a high concentration of something that might not be good for you.

That said, you could use a mild strength of a general purpose fertilizer no, but it may not be necessary to fertilize at all. Missing one season won't harm your plants and it will give you time to sort them all out and find out if any have special requirements.

Some may need more soil acidity, some may need more nitrogen... look for a local garden group and see if you can get someone to come to your house and help you identify the plants that you have.

 

[Brittany Murphy]

If you use some of the organic fertilisers in the organic gardening forum, you can do no harm, but will do good.

Here's a fertiliser mix which will do all plants good:
Make a batch of actively aerated compost tea with 2 ounces of unsulphured molasses, whilst it is brewing, give your soil a drench of Epsom salts (one small handful per watering can) and buy or (preferably) make some seaweed extract.

You cannot overfertilise with these ingredients, and they do ALL plants that I can think of good.

When you DO find out what they are, you can move onto a more specific regime if required, but that alone will keep them happy for a considerable time.

Thank you!!! Really appreciate the information.

 

[Brittany Murphy]

Here's the thing about fertilizer, it's just plant food. If you think of it like people food, there are certain things you can eat that are kind of neutral and certain things that have a high concentration of something that might not be good for you.

That said, you could use a mild strength of a general purpose fertilizer no, but it may not be necessary to fertilize at all. Missing one season won't harm your plants and it will give you time to sort them all out and find out if any have special requirements.

Some may need more soil acidity, some may need more nitrogen... look for a local garden group and see if you can get someone to come to your house and help you identify the plants that you have.

That is a great idea! I really could use someone to come to the house and walk through the yard with me! That is EXACTLY what I need. Thank you so much!