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.

[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/

[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.

[Gardeneer]

Unless you are growing hydrponically, there is no way that a backyard gardener can figure it out how much and what fertilizer to use. The best way, IMHO, is to read the lips of your plants.

The other thing is that I am not sure all of the elements that soil labs report are actually readily available to the plants. But I think doing a once-a-year soil test can be taken as guide line.

[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]

A handful of 10-10-10 around a tomato plant will get you about three trusses of tomatoes. Another handful when fruit first set will get you about 2 more trusses. I like to kick it up a notch or two by feeding extra n and k when fruit are maturing.

An old glasshouse tomato book from the 60's said to over apply nitrogen phosphorus and potassium at planting, and control the plant with the water. Pretty much what I've done for years. No complaints from me or my customers over the years..

[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.

[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...

[clkeiper]

Yep... We use all kinds of formulations depending on the stage of growth. 12-45-10 (from Millers) is about the first to go on once outside. 9-30-15, and then a crop finisher of 4-10-40. BUT the best thing we invested in this year was 2 1/2 gallons concentrate of liquid calcium (Nutri-cal) WOW, just WOW is all I can say. It has been the best year for nice raspberries we have ever had. The grapes froze out from a late freeze even after I covered them. The second cluster to come out is usually not worth the effort of growing them and maintaining them... We sprayed them after the new growth erupted and you would never know it wasn't the main cluster of grapes. We have struggled for years trying to get a decent crop even with fertilizing... but it is the calcium they needed.. We also apply it to everything else as we spray. it was the best investment we ever made for the crops. We grow to sell so I am depending on a good harvest. this makes such a difference. It also comes in smaller containers, but we grow on about 2 acres. One of corn and one of everything else+ fruit.

[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!