If you found this video helpful, please "Like" it and share it to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 The Best Garden Fertilizer For Vegetables 1:09 Fertilizer Rank #1 4:52 Fertilizer Rank #2 8:52 Fertilizer Rank #3 12:31 Fertilizer Rank #4 16:30 Fertilizer Rank #5 19:41 Fertilizer Rank #6 23:15 Adventures With Dale
I agree totally and you kept it simple enough beginning gardeners can understand and grow their own food. I've been doing this a long time now and I don't know everything and with age you tend to forget some of the things you knew lol
I'm sure, but the days of acreage and farm animal ownership are, unfortunately, fading away quickly. Chickens, for example, are the first things banned in all our neighborhood covenants, and *all* the neighborhoods where we live have covenants unless you're very well-off and/or own old land from generational holdings, so it's a no-go for the overwhelming majority. Land ownership is fading away quickly, so we have to make use with the small plots we have, and that will require understanding how to use these products efficiently.
@@TheMillennialGardener most people choose where they live. Many of us have sold our postage sized subdivision, living with an HOA to move to the country where we can have animals and a garden and be much more self-sufficient. I moved from a3 of an acre in a subdivision to only 2 acres 15 minutes away, but my lifestyle completely changed. Most people aren’t willing to give up the modern luxuries of living two minutes from a grocery store in five minutes from a Walmart in exchange for self sufficiency.
I grew a nice garden last year and all I used was chicken coop waste. This year I didn’t use anything from the coop . I went and bought bone meal, blood meal, fish fertilizer and some all purpose fertilizers and my garden Sucked this year!!! I have never been so disappointed with myself. All the hard work and time and money was a complete waste. I have never had all of these bugs and pest come into my garden like they did this year. I’m not blaming the fertilizers in the soil amendments. I’m just saying I did not use any of that stuff last year and we had a very nice harvest and this year we added all these things and we didn’t get hardly anything.
My papa had AMAZING gardens. Plants fourishing. Always. He used to say this to me when I asked him how he keeps the plants beautiful? He said “I feed and build the soil, not the plants”.🤙🏼👍🏼🙏🏼❤️
Ive been learning to grow things for the past 2 years and I swear, every time I have a question about things, you magically come out with a video about the question I had. You gotta be reading my mind or something
I honestly try to make my videos as seasonally relevant as possible. 4 out of 5 videos, I try to make them about what's growing on exactly right now. I mostly just film what I'm doing at the moment.
Just a reminder to everyone: Fall will soon be here and Walmart will be significantly slashing prices on bags of all-purpose fertilizer in order to dump them before winter. Seems to me that last Fall I picked up $13 bags for $8 so keep your eyes open.
My favorite part of this video- “because I like in an HOA””and than the 👀 ..so clear to understand where you stand on the darn HOA demands 😂 As always I appreciate your work!
@@1OKToni wow. I just happened to go into my Walmart for some more planting trays when I saw their sale. I was able to buy bags of worm castings and other products for less than a third of the price. Some were $2:50, $3.00 and $4.50 a bag.
I have been gardening for the better part of 50 years now, and I can say without hesitation that the Espoma line is by far my favorite and PlantTone is indispensable. I put it in all my container mix, all my planting holes, and use it to top dress all plants in the ground. I usually go through about 250lbs every year, and have done so since I can remember. I do use my compost in addition in each of those applications. I even like the smell of it, although most folks don’t. The only thing I don’t use PlantTone for (usually) is my indoor plants because I have hundreds of them and the odor would be somewhat overwhelming indoors - for indoor plants I use the MG organic line.
I make a ton of compost every year. I push up the manure and hay from the animals every year and let it age. Also have a couple compost bins right next to my garden for grass clippings, hay,coffee grounds and things from the house. My raised beds are filled with it. At planting I add a blood meal bone meal mix. Works for me.
Thank you! I finally understand the differences and why my container gardens ALL failed last year and nothing (even weeds) would grow in them this year. We had record amounts of rain every single week for the entire summer. Now I realize that all the nutrients were washed out.
Container gardens typically require the most fertilizing. I fertilize my containers much more than my in-ground garden due to the containers washing out in rain storms. Container gardening has many upsides, but they're definitely more maintenance and require more care.
@@louiel8711I’m all container gardening too. So much rain here in Michigan. I did pretty good with my garden this year. But now I know to add more fertilizer in my containers.
@@louiel8711that sounds really expensive. You should switch to masterblend combined with calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate. Superior results for a fraction of the cost.
Dude! That was a great breakdown! I wish I could send u a pic of my corn! You advised me to give weekly fertilizer to my corn a couple months ago! The corn came out GREAT! Thank you again from CT! 🌽 🌽
Awesome! I'm glad to hear it! I skipped summer corn this year, because it's so hot here, but I planted fall corn and I'll be looking forward to an October harvest!
I’ve had raised beds for a few years. It’s so hot and dry where I live, I’ve had to use drip irrigation and shade cloth. Compost fills most of the garden beds but I’ve had good luck using Bone Meal, Blood Meal, some granular fertilizer and water soluble fertilizer. I’m still working on the needs of each plant type and enjoying the small harvest of fresh vegetables!!😄 Thank You for sharing your advice and knowledge!! It certainly helps!!
Good list of fertilizers there. I'd also like to add that I'm "nerdy" enough to actually the read the labels. I'm a big fan of the Jobe's Fruit and Nut organic granulated fertilizer. I use it on my apple trees, roses, and tomatoes. Because its higher on the P and K than the N, it's great for getting plants to flower...It extends my roses blooming season...and produce fruit and (certainly important with tomatoes and Apples.) The high calcium content helps make for disease free plants and crunchier apples...AND it's frequently on sale on Amazon being as low as about $7 a bag for a 4lb back...typically 4lb bags sell for $11 to $14 so an organic fertilizer selling for $7 is about 40% less than the typical price. Another cool fertilizer "hack" so you don't end up paying more than you should...READ the labels...All the Jobe's Organic granulated fertilizers (that aren't single ingredient like bone meal) uses the SAME proprietary mix of beneficial fungi and bacteria. Espoma is the same way...they have their own proprietary mix of fungi and bacteria that the use the EXACT same concentration of in their granulated fertilizers...They do differ in macro nutrient and micro nutrients (that AREN'T the beneficial fungi and bacteria) such as the level NPK and calcium, magnesium, iron, etc... Why is this important? Because the Jobe's Fruit and Nut fertilizer is the EXACT same thing as their Fruit and Citrus fertilizer...the only difference? THE PACKAGING! Go ahead read the labels for both...you'll see that I'm right! So just buy whichever is on sale or in stock! Espoma does the SAME thing. Compare the ingredients on these 3 fertilizers: Holly-tone, Azalea-tone, and Berry-tone. You'll find they are the EXACT SAME! So which one should you buy for your blueberries or rhododendron or whatever acid loving plant you want to feed? Whichever's on sale...Use the Berry-Tone on your azaleas and maples if you like...or the Azalea-tone on your blue berries and raspberries...with those 3 particular fertilizers they're the same thing, just like Jobe's Fruit and Nut and Jobe's Fruit and Citrus are the same...
Thanks for your valuable advice. My garden didn't do as well as I would have liked and I'm pretty sure it's the fertilizing that I failed on. Started with a good compost mix but I didn't fertilize properly and didn't take into consideration that rains would wash away nutrients. Live and learn. My first year with raised gardens and I'll still count that as progress but I focused too much on set up and planting and not enough on maintenance.
I have had great success using Alaska Fish Fertilizer and Viagoro Organic Fertilizer on my container garden. The Viagoro contains both blood and bone meal as well as feather meal, chicken dung and potash.
Excellent video! I have used just about all the fertilizers you presented. I have found that the Miracle grow products( cheap, inorganic) are fantastic for my hanging baskets of flowers. Use miracle grow in the garden on the grow bags like as you said they are constantly getting washed out. Early spring before I plant i like using a compost, and something like Espoma PlantTone , bone meal or blood meal, or All Purpose Fertilizer or Dr. Earth before planting. I plant probably over plant in my raised beds, and will fertilize with a water mixed one Fish emulsion in mid season on my heavy feeders. So in any given growing seasons I usually have several types of fertilizers to select from. Really enjoyed the video, but really there is a use for just about all of the above.
I love how you welcome all different POV’s and inputs. I know I can always come to the comment section and get a bit more knowledge. You’re so great and keep doing what you’re doing because I’m learning so much from your videos!!
The close up on the mention of HOA is hilarious. I guess the best use of the cheapest fertilizer will be for perennial ornamentals like grass, flowers, bushes, and non-fruit trees. One container bed has been stunting/killing whatever plant I placed in there and I'm deducing it to be nematodes (evidence of root knot on my root veggies). I finally got some fresh compost ready to go, so I'm hoping that mixing it in will change the ecosystem (since granular and liquid supplementation didn't prevent the withering/stunt/death of the plants). Man, I was hoping to get some nice watermelons, or go a second year of my overwintered bell pepper plant.
HOA's are a blessing and a curse. They can be pushy and annoying, but I also grew up on a dead end street where our neighbor had a bunch of old cars rotting in the front yard, so I don't miss that very much 😅 Building a perimeter fence "fixed" my HOA problems. Try adding a bag of the crab and lobster shell meal to the bed and mixing it throughout. You may also want to go a year without planting nightshades and cucurbits in it. Stick to lettuce, brassicas, carrots, peas, string beans, etc. I haven't had RKN's affect those crops. It's the tomatoes and peppers that get the root knots for me.
I've been gardening only a few years, but I'm an engineer/scientist by trade so I've spent countless hours learning the science behind soil, composting, gardening, etc. I think this video is hands down the most concise, correct, complete summary of fertilizers for a home garden.
This year, I have new planters for tomatoes and I started with FoxFarm Potting Mix and then have been adding pureed bananas and eggshells every couple of weeks and bone meal. Lately, it's been that plus Jack's Tomato Feed liquid with some of Jack's 20-20-20 when it rains hard. I have used BT and soap water spray for pest pressure. A good 3" layer of shredded pine bark for top mulch. When I pull these plants, I've used a 50% shade cloth for hot spells too. I found that a good prune of some leaves from the plant in early August boosted the plants to stop being lazy in the heat and pump up the fruit and ripen them. It worked. I will top dress with more FoxFarm Potting Mix, and probably add some Espoma Plant-tone and Azomite in too and cover for the winter to be ready for Spring. I'm in zone 6B Indiana.
Just FYI egg shells take about 2 years to break down into nutrients the plant can use. Your Jack's fertilizer is what's saving your plants and making them grow. Azomite also takes an extremely long time to become available.
Wow what great info you gave us! I understand what all those different products are used for now! I have most of them laying around and never know which one to use. So a BIG THANK YOU! VERY INFORMATIVE AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND!!!
My local Walmart had all their fertilizer on clearance. $5 for the same brand blood meal and bone meal along with all other fertilizer some $3. Purchased enough for next year.
i put all four of these in the hole of all my plants- bone meal, blood meal, crab and lobster meal and Azomite. It’s made a huge difference in my container garden.
I've been watching your videos since roughly late last year before the growing season. Your advice really helps out for general information that I need. This was the cherry on top that I needed!
This was very helpful! With all of the different fertilizers on the market, it's not easy figuring out which is best for each situation! I will use this video as a referral tool before I go buy a fertilizer. Thank you!!
I use Trifecta Plus from MI Gardener. It is both a slow release, and extended release. I've found it to be really complete. I do also use blood and bone meal, and have occasionally used Azomite.
Generally agree with your priorities, but I think it’s difficult to rank when products are intended for different uses and applications. Compost is clearly gold medal! For me, homemade leaf mold is a must. Regarding lawn fertilizer, I do use 21-0-0 from Lowe’s for my onions and garlic. It’s very effective, cheap, and faster acting than most lawn fert. I believe it is mainly ammonium sulfate.
I followed your video about fish emulsion, it really worked and we have been enjoying the veggies in our garden. Also, my calamondin in a container grows more blooms.Thanks so much!
yes, and its that time of year to watch the garden center at Wally World to put garden stuff on clearance. I always snag clearance fertilizer. And also check HD weekly for fertilizer clearance, they were seriously clearing out blood meal at mine and of course I bought it all.
Love your videos,very informative..I follow you extensively for my fig trees…I experimented with my potted celest (at least I believe it is) I put a 12” x 3/4 pvc pipe into the soil ,about every 10 days when I fertilize I add some honey with a pint of warm water….just for the he’ll of it..thinking the sugars will be absorbed by the plant….when I picked the fruit it was amazing….the top of the fruit taste like a honeydew and the bottom taste sweet like honey….a nice golden color
Thank you for explaining the different types of fertilizers and their most appropriate use. Fertilizers have gotten so expensive now that it helps to understand how to get the best use for your dollar.
The fertilizers have gotten more expensive, but the sales have also gotten better. I'm noticing higher MSRP's, but when they do go on sale, the discounts are deeper. I've been posting a lot of them lately if you follow my Community Posts. A lot of online sellers are clearing out their inventories leftover from the year, and when they go on sale, they've been pretty good.
Fantastic coverage of an intimidating subject! Some time in the future, could you maybe cover your fertilizing regimen for the different types of plants (nightshades, root veg., greens, etc.)? I know you include this info in each how-to, but it would be interesting to get a comprehensive view so that we could get a feel for how differently you treat each crop type. I imagine given the quantity and variety that you grow in your beautiful garden that you have a digital schedule. True?
Azomite I don't think comes from rare anything. It's volcanic ash that gives a very good balance of trace mineral that plants need. This exists all over the world, but you need deposits to make it easy to extract. I believe it's also available immediately for plants, unlike the other amendments. Also, for raised beds and containers it's a good way to replenish what the plants took away so amendments are important. For Azomite this is what it says and is a lot more than just the main things listed: Organic Trace Mineral Powder w/ 67 Essential Minerals for Your Garden Bulk Fertilizer Powder-Be Green and Grow Your Own Food. Great for blending into soil mixes, hydroponic systems, Irrigation System Injection with Agitation, Greenhouse Potting Soil, Fertilizer, Home Gardens, Potted Plants. I personally mix it in with new beds because I don't buy the best stuff I can to make a deep bed, I'll buy an inexpensive organic compost, mix it with Black Kow soil mixed with a sandy soil and a touch of clay soil and it's mixed together. I get it to about 50% compost, 25% black kow and 25% sandy soil and that makes an excellent medium. I also add a little vermiculite, no perlite. It helps the soil to hold water a little better since the base is a sandy soil. I like this mix to be in the top 12".
I think between my experience this year, and research I have a plan for next year. This year has gone pretty well overall having 2 4x8 raised beds in a community garden. After I cleared out the weeds, and overwintered onions and carrots left by the last plot tenant, I put compost from the store and some Milorganite in the beds and used a claw to break up and soil a bit. When I planted, I added a tablespoon of Happy Frog Tomato and Vegetable organic fertilizer in each hole along with some worm castings. I then applied MiracleGro all purpose every other week after the first month since my mom had an extra bottle and gave it to me. Once I got flowers, I switched to the Fox Farm Tiger Bloom every other week. I’ve had a pretty productive harvest and there’s more to come. I had some issues with my San Marzano plant but I don’t think it’s just in the cards for this climate in SE Wisconsin and another tomato plant that got some blight (but I still got some fruits off of it). I had 2 pepper plants die that weren’t pest related and replaced those spots with other plants that have done very well. I think next year I’ll use an organic all purpose during the year and just scratch in after the initial planting. And maybe amend with some bone meal since I had some end rot on the San Marzanos and my Sugar Rush peppers. I did have success using the Happy Frog fertilizer at my mom’s house scratching it in during the season since I couldn’t make it over as much as I wanted to. Kept the plants looking pretty good overall.
I’ve been a longtime user of compost/manure and the Espoma line, but you sold me last year on the Alaska fish emulsion. Smells like hell, works like a dream. I’m about to order my next jug. I’m with you on the front lawn thing. I don’t have an HOA (curb appeal in my neighborhood is… spicy), so at some point I’m replacing my lawn with pollinator plants and native fruit trees.
Agree. I use almost the exact same stuff. I did switch to agrothrive from the 5-1-1… It’s basically the same stuff plus micros the 5-1-1 is missing. Using HOSS seed micronutrient booster as well.
The one thing I would say is that even the synthetic water soluble fertilizers can be beneficial to the soil if used in the right way. Because of how plants feed soil microbes through their roots foliar feeding those fertilizers at a dilute rate instead of applying them to the soil will allow them to feed the soil indirectly by first feeding the plants.
I like the water soluble stuff for seedlings, up to the point of transplanting into their next size up container, in which case I still use water soluble but then I switch to organic (Miracle Gro Pro) because I'm putting everything into deep raised beds where plenty of soil life can exist.
You didn’t mention Jacks/Peters water soluble that you use. It is something I use. Always gives my plants a major boost. I also buy it in the Winter, when they slash the price:-)
It's superior to every other fertilizer. But most people don't want to hear that. They want to use the expensive organic stuff because they think it's safer or healthier.
Awesome vid as always! I, too, am Team F*ck Lawns. Some of the very plants that are deemed "weeds" in our lawns (clover and the like) were only deemed undesirable by weed control and lawn seed companies decades ago. There's nothing wrong with them! Hell, dandelion greens are edible! /rant Very interesting to learn the pros and cons of different fertilizers.
I agree with everything you brought. I do mostly bags and have to water every day. I wish i could set up drip but the dynamics don't work, I move stuff around all the time. I have started using Jack's 20-20-20 maybe twice a month as well as Agrothrive, both fruit and flower and all purpose every week. I have 6 month old peppers in 5 gallon bags chugging along still producing.
In my opinion, the best fertilizer would be something like masterblend combined with calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate. You can use this until your compost breaks down and starts feeding your plants. Compost will help build the soil. I suggest adding the masterblend once in awhile anyways, just for the micronutrients that your compost may be lacking.
I use doctor earth and i have no problem. But I do add a lot of kitchen scraps. I just gotta get these Florida bugs under control. Now using bug netting
It's impossible to keep the bugs off your tomatoes and pepper plants in Florida unless you use insect netting and have no holes for them to sneak in, or you spray super toxic big spray almost daily
Very informative when and how to use those various fertilizers. Very helpful. Since you have a bunch of fig trees, do you also dry your figs? Dale always gets fed really well. Thank you for sharing your video.
This year, I made a ton of fig jam. In previous years, I've dehydrated them. I have a video on that here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M_UBfb_eekI.htmlsi=Am2rB9Q7KBhfBVDS
Great explanation that came at the right time for me. Our garden has struggled and the level 2, 3, 4 seems to be where we need to focus. But I’m unsure when to apply. Do you have a video of a schedule of application. Maybe a baseline plan for fertilizer application and amounts. Our 10 years of experience needs a boost along the front range of Colorado. Thank so much.
I noticed that the Miracle Grow Organics has Potassium Chloride in it. Dr. Carey Reams said to never ever use fertilizer containing Potassium Chloride (also known as Muriate of Potash).
I realize from watching your video that my ever-growing hunch may be correct. Because I'm container gardening, I'm watering out the nutrients from the soil. I have to water pretty much every day or a number of my plants begin to wilt, it's just so hot. My plants are healthy, but a bit small and the leaves on some (just a few) are turning yellow slowly over time. I think it helps to mention that to keep fertilization and micro-nutrition in your soil as a container garden, get a drip system. Between that, no shade cloth, and NC insects I'm lucky that I had any success. (disclosure: FF liquid, DTE granular mix / bone meal, compost and worm castings)
Agree 100%. Use half of what you displayed PLUS worm castings, bat guano, seabird guano, Alaska 0-10-10 and some more. Usually buy what's on sale (time to search about now) or in large packaging. You can't go without fertilizing your garden. But do it in moderation and not exceed the instruction doze. Happy gardening!
The key is finding the balance between what the plants need to maximize production, but not to waste. Problem is, it can vary with weather, so it’s always a challenge 😂
@@TheMillennialGardener There was a talking point that you had a good chance to mention in this video, and that is that a lot of people do high density planting in raised beds and it doesn't matter how good your soil is when you start or you do no-dig, high density growing will start pulling stuff out of the soil even if you add amendments at planting, so I think a refresh after a year or two of intense growing is probably a good thing. Azomite is good for this. It's about the most complete for all the minerals a plant may need, but there's also kelp based amendments too and they're highly regarded. I do both in lesser amounts. For the main things the plants need that's why you add the fertilizers that need to be broken down (N-P-K). Good video.
Another great video! Thanks for breaking it down for us. Question for you, I live in ontario Canada zone 6b, our winters get down to -20-25 degrees Celsius. When would be the best time to roto till the garden and mix in compost with manure and some fertilizer. I've heard fall and I've heard early spring. Thanks again! follows your videos this year and my garden has been 10x better than another years!
Thanks for the informative video. I’m about 70 miles west of you in Columbus County. Fertilizer application is still a mystery to me and I seem to always under apply. Developing a new, Fall garden plot, we’ve shifted gears trying to incorporate regenerative gardening practices. I’m using organic fertilizers exclusively,. Check out Jarhead Farm in Tocoa, GA. I’m also following Cliff’s method in this garden.
Can you do a video about when you amend soil? It’s my first time gardening and it’s in containers in my balcony, which has a ceiling to it so my nutrients won’t get washed out with rain. But I am wondering about how different plants uptake different nutrients (nitrogen fixers, whatever that means, etc) and what kind of amendments should be added based on what you grew last time and what you want to grow next. Currently I’m growing lettuce spinach dill calendula and green onions in different containers
Hello & Thanks a bunch for this post. It came right on time for my question. I know have a complete understanding of compost. However l have left one 4x4 ft garden bed to lay bare all summer long, so it has just been baked by the sun. Can you please tell me how to bring that bed back to life🙏🏽
Recently I was watching an old video and you were asking about Dale and Thunder with anxiety I did leave a message if you haven’t done this yet they have thunder vest on Amazon❤ love your videos and Dale 😊
I am building a raised garden from scratch. I would like to put some type of top over it for shade and heavy rain protection. What would be your recommendation? Will shade cloth be ok or would it need to be something more solid? I live in southwest Missouri and keep in mind I’m 80+ years of age. Guess I’m a late bloomer 😊.
Great video. I have a cheap granulated 8-24-24. I grow tomato and peppers mostly in containers with coco coir. I just did this today. I put it in a blender and powdered everything with 15g premixed micronutrients per kg (1000g) of fertilizer. Does this sound like decent technique for a coco and container setup?
You never have suggested manure or compost combination. Elaborate please! We are 15 years in our garden and try to improve soil quality at every process. We are in north Phoenix and have produced good soil finally, our biggest detriment is city water and ph which you don’t speak of much. We capture water when we can, it doesn’t rain. We are prepping for our fall garden and anxious to get past the extreme heat.
