Anybody else using 9-45-15 "Starter" or similar?

[korney19]

Anybody else using Jack's/Peters Pro 9-45-15 "Starter" fertilizer or similar?

Flowers on a few varieties:
New Big Dwarf: 50+
Olive Hill: 40+
Korney's Cross F9: 40+
Oleyar's German:60+
Boudyo 6.82 (Big Zac) : 40+
Burracker's Favorite: 40+ including multiple King blossoms on same clusters...
Kellogg's West Virginia: 30-40 fruits already set...just as many more flowers...
Rose Quartz MF:200+
Dwarf Variegated: 60+
Butter and Bull Heart: 30+

What I didn't mention yet is that some of my plants are young, some I was still planting in the middle of July...my biggest plant can't be 42-48" tall yet, most are 2ft to 3ft tall indeterminates... Many mentioned have already set fruit in the #s above. Just got the irrigation up & running last week...

Anybody else have ridiculously high flowers/fruits so early??
Anybody else use 9-45-15 or 10-52-8 or similar?

[Hellmanns]

I use a high phosphate starter too, always have. Here lately I've been using 15-30-15.

[korney19]

Originally Posted by Hellmanns

I use a high phosphate starter too, always have. Here lately I've been using 15-30-15.

I used to use 15-30-15 Miracle-Gro befpre they decided to call it their Bloom Booster Formula. And now everybody that buys M-G is buying the worst possible N-P-K for tomato growing.

I remember using Schultz 10-60-xx In a red box, and Walmart had their own "Expert" brand 10-52-8. I don't remember using 9-45-15, maybe in the G-W days before signing up here.

[Hellmanns]

Originally Posted by korney19

I used to use 15-30-15 Miracle-Gro befpre they decided to call it their Bloom Booster Formula. And now everybody that buys M-G is buying the worst possible N-P-K for tomato growing.

I remember using Schultz 10-60-xx In a red box, and Walmart had their own "Expert" brand 10-52-8. I don't remember using 9-45-15, maybe in the G-W days before signing up here.

Yes, I buy the bloom booster now. I don't like the new formulation for growing tomatoes. I do use it for raising transplants, though.

[AlittleSalt]

That is a lot of flowers and quick too.

A lot of the fertilizers sold nearby are high in N. A lot people here grow hay. I saw a sign the other day advertising round bales for $38.50 each. Just a few years back during the drought people were having to get their hay from out-of-state. (I got sidetracked there.)

But getting back to-the-point, I wish it were easier to buy higher P an K fertilizers here locally. I'm old-school about wanting to buy locally first. But with results such as what you're posting, I won't mind buying online if need be.

[Antipodean]

not sure about the wisdom of such high P, as the attached link shows that its essentially a much lesser requirement than N and K. In my area, such fertilizers are banned, as soils are rarely P deficient and it can cause of all sort of environmental issues.

http://www.haifa-group.com/knowledge..._requirements/

[korney19]

Originally Posted by Antipodean

not sure about the wisdom of such high P, as the attached link shows that its essentially a much lesser requirement than N and K. In my area, such fertilizers are banned, as soils are rarely P deficient and it can cause of all sort of environmental issues.

http://www.haifa-group.com/knowledge..._requirements/

I remember at one time in my youth, my dad, mom & I vacationed in northeastern PA where both their homesteads are (see Oleyar's German tomato) and my uncle used to buy boxes of Tide laundry detergent for my mom to take back, evidently it must have had different formulations in different parts of the country, maybe a lower phosphorous formula for the Great Lakes...

[Gardeneer]

9-45-15 or 10-52-8 !!! ???

For starter it is normally suggested a low dose of P..
Secondly, No plants possibly needs 5 time more P than N.Me thinks.

When in doubt I'll just use 10 - 10 -10 .... 16 - 16 - 16..(1-1-1 ration)

For tomatoes I would like to get something like 1-2-3 or 2-3-4 ratio in fruiting stage. I think probably TTF is closest to that.

Now, I am not talking about growing flowers.

[kurt]

Those Mega Bloom high phosphorus count(I use a Safer Gro 0-50-30)are made for and used as a amendment for buds,flowering fruits,flowers etc.at that stage in the plants growth cycle.There are products to increase foilage growth to produce those Mega Blooms.So timing and stage is important for OPTIMAL RESULTS(taken from their literature)in applying such high numbers.In my opinion and from results push foilage with the low numbers at first and amend to higher and different foods as plant matures and stages.

Late edit:All my experiences above are in container growing regimens.The vector of the fert/igation/broadcast/foliar spray, furrow/trench/raised bed(you get the image),will affect absorption rates and the soil types etc.will garner different outcomes per gardner/grower.Hate to make a blanket statement/assumption as I tend to do.

[Hellmanns]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

9-45-15 or 10-52-8 !!! ???

For starter it is normally suggested a low dose of P..
Secondly, No plants possibly needs 5 time more P than N.Me thinks.

When in doubt I'll just use 10 - 10 -10 .... 16 - 16 - 16..(1-1-1 ration)

For tomatoes I would like to get something like 1-2-3 or 2-3-4 ratio in fruiting stage. I think probably TTF is closest to that.

Now, I am not talking about growing flowers.

All of the fertilizers that I have ever seen that were specifically labeled "starter"are high p.

When people around here grew commercial bell peppers, the company would send the plants and a starter fertilizer to add to the transplant water which was 10-52-8. The same fertilizer was stocked at all of the farm stores here and recommended for the acres and acres of burley tobacco we grew.

[bower]

I use bone meal as a starter which is 2-14-0, mixed into the bottom 2/3 of the container.
I use a small pinch in cell pack, a bigger pinch in the next pot up, and a seven ounce cupful dug into the planting hole. Use kelp and some blackstrap molasses for K, besides the compost contents which I think is balanced NPK.
Lots of flowers and fruit with the bone meal, and good roots filling the pots before transplant.
This year using pelleted chicken manure that is 5-4-3 for supplemental feeding of the full grown plants, as well as more kelp and molasses.

[korney19]

Originally Posted by bower

I use bone meal as a starter which is 2-14-0, mixed into the bottom 2/3 of the container.
I use a small pinch in cell pack, a bigger pinch in the next pot up, and a seven ounce cupful dug into the planting hole. Use kelp and some blackstrap molasses for K, besides the compost contents which I think is balanced NPK.
Lots of flowers and fruit with the bone meal, and good roots filling the pots before transplant.
This year using pelleted chicken manure that is 5-4-3 for supplemental feeding of the full grown plants, as well as more kelp and molasses.

When you say "mixed into the bottom 2/3 of the container..." are you saying the pots & cells before you transplant, or are you meaning you're growing in containers? I know organics need to be converted to inorganic form to be taken up by plants, whereas water-soluble fertilizers are taken up immediately. Are you using bone meal in container gardening?

[bower]

Originally Posted by korney19

When you say "mixed into the bottom 2/3 of the container..." are you saying the pots & cells before you transplant, or are you meaning you're growing in containers? I know organics need to be converted to inorganic form to be taken up by plants, whereas water-soluble fertilizers are taken up immediately. Are you using bone meal in container gardening?

I mean both - pots cells and yes I'm growing in containers, using bone meal in containers.
Bone meal has pretty much been the constant while I've been trying various other - strictly organic - ferts with it in varying amounts..

Kelp has been the primary source for potassium, but the form and amount varied quite a bit (fresh kelp coarsely chopped and mixed in wet; dry kelp crushed and mixed in; lots of kelp; not as much kelp! All depending on availability and opportunity. Rotted kelp is of course ready for action, and can be more or less dissolved and applied as a liquid too.
In a normal year it gets pretty hot in the greenhouse and I guess lots of worm action in the containers too, because there is not a shred of kelp to be found when I turn the soil at the end of season - all has been "converted" and taken up by the plants. If the soil is cold though it can be a problem and K deficiency as a result - which happened last year.

I've also used various chicken manure pelleted product, usually 5-3-2 I think but this year's is 5-4-3. Ideally, dug into the soil before planting, if not as a side dressing/top dressing. Tried it once and no question, improved the yield so now if I can get it, I'll use it.

For liquid organic ferts, fish emulsion supplies N and P, blackstrap molasses supplies K and micronutrients including calcium. No idea what the numbers are, just wingin it.

I don't use any chemicals because I never have done so, and I'm too old and stubborn to change.

[korney19]

Originally Posted by Hellmanns

All of the fertilizers that I have ever seen that were specifically labeled "starter"are high p.

When people around here grew commercial bell peppers, the company would send the plants and a starter fertilizer to add to the transplant water which was 10-52-8. The same fertilizer was stocked at all of the farm stores here and recommended for the acres and acres of burley tobacco we grew.

Pretty sure a strawberry-specific fertilizer has P #'s around 50-52 also...

[korney19]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

9-45-15 or 10-52-8 !!! ???

For starter it is normally suggested a low dose of P..
S4econdly, No plants possibly needs 5 time more P than N.Me thinks.

When in doubt I'll just use 10 - 10 -10 .... 16 - 16 - 16..(1-1-1 ration)

For tomatoes I would like to get something like 1-2-3 or 2-3-4 ratio in fruiting stage. I think probably TTF is closest to that.

Now, I am not talking about growing flowers.

I never heard about using low doses of P early; actually, I was taught that P is for "roots & fruits" & blossoms, N is for vegetative growth but should always be lowest of the 3 for fruiting plants, and K is for plant strength and cell wall development. Wouldn't you want the most roots as early as possible, flowers too?

As for "needs" of a plant, or needing 5x as much P to N, I'm not looking to just give a tomato plant only what it needs--I want every possible advantage to maximize my production, after all, I'm spending a THIRD of a year starting, nurturing and growing them!