Hi everyone! I have a whole slew of veggie seedlings growing away right now - tomoatoes, cucumbers, chilis, broad beans, sweet peppers, etc.. most of these are in modules/small pots having already been potted on or pricked out. Can anyone pls. advise when I should start giving these little chaps some liquid feed? (I use Miracle Grow). thanks for the help! :)
Rox, are they going in containers or the ground? I assume the broad beans are going in the ground?
As for the others if they are going to go in to containers of potting compost, or growbags, they should not need feeding until they flower - the compost usually has nutrients added I think.
I am putting some toms on my lottie eventually and I may try not even feeding them! Or only using a bit of blood fish and bone.
thx Moggle - most of the veggies are staying in containers (I have a VERY small garden :-[), but the broad beans will go into a raised bed I'm constructing this weekend. First year attemping them, so really looking forward to the results! :D As an experiment however, I'm keeping 2 of the broad bean plants (Sutton) in one large pot each to compare notes on yield, quality, etc... Will be interesting to see what happens! :)
Rox,
Apart from the beans, which will be in the ground before they need more nutrients. The others should need a weak feed but not for at least 3 - 4 weeks after you put them in their last pot - there should be enough nutrients in the compost to cover the first period.
They all need a general fertilser until they flower - I would use Maxicrop as opposed to Miracle grow as it has more trace elements - it is more expensive.
When they start to flower then you need a high potash feed - Maxicroip Tomato is good - even better make your own comfrey liquid which is free.
Phil
For a general purpose fertilizer, I use chicken poo. For potash I will be using Comfrey once my plants have settled down. I will be buying comfrey feed until then. But hey, I am a militant organic grower. :)
I am the same as you redclanger, I use organic peleted chicken manure for just about everything and it does very well. I also grow comfrey and infuse the leaves in water and make a liquid feed wwhich is very good for everything. I also chop comfrey leaves and place them in a trench where I grow my runner beans
How often to you use the comfrey infusion? Osprey 480
The chicken pellets tend (the mixes vary from brand to brand) to be nitrogen rich so are not too bad early in the season and for leaf crops.
For plants in containers, weekly is the normal rate to apply liquid fertiliser, the solid stuff once a season should be enough at about 120gms/sq m (a handful every couple of yards of yard wide bed)
Phil