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fish emulsions

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allXbutXgone

so i decided to try something a little more organic this year, because im honestly not that fond of miracle gro liquid fertilizer anymore, its way too easy to burn plants.

i went up to my favorite local gardening store and looked around for worm castings which they apparenlty were out of and i ended up with a bottle of alaska fish fertilizer.

(one pint $6.99usd not too bad i suppose)

all purpose deoderized fish emulsion. let me say real quick that if this is deoderized i dont want to know what it smelled like before.

its got an npk rating of 5-1-1

i followed the bottles guidelines since it says on the bottle that it wont burn plants and used one tablespoon in one gallon of water, mixed it up and poured it in my watering can ( a mountain dew bottle with holes in the cap ) and soaked down the soil of all my plants since everyone was nice and thirsty. thankfully once its diluted it didnt smell that bad, but after the 14hours or so that its been since i watered them it seems i can already see a bit of a difference in the onces that looked a bit N deficient.

does anyone else around here use fish emulsions? any wise words of wisdom?





ilovebeer
 
I'm using Neptune's Harvest brand fish emulsion. I fear I've overdone it with my plants however. I gave it to them at the 1 tablespoon per gallon dosage once a week for 3 weeks. This seemed so dilute to me, I couldn't see how it was gonna hurt them. My problem was probably due to overwatering more than the fish fert, but either way, the leaves on the plants subjected to that regimen are looking a little yellow in spots. However, the plants I'd decided to neglect due to some leafspot issues earlier in the season look nice and green now and have bigger happier leaves than those I've loved to death! live and learn. I've still got my goal of 2 good plants per variety though, and as this is my first year from seed, I'm still happy with my progress. For now, the overloved plants will be only receiving water, and only when they show the beginning signs of wilting.

Let someone else with more experience chime in though. YMMV
 
I often use fish emulsion early on, but am always cautious of critters when I do. The stuff is stinky and will attract all kinds of unwanted creatures and they'll enjoy digging up your plants to find the source. Another point is you should only mix up what you are going to use right away, as organic mixes will go funky quickly.
Also when they say non burning that doesn't apply if you over-fertilize, I believe any nitrogen fertilizer can burn if overdone
 
I just bought a quart of the Alaska fish fertilizer. I only payed 5.99 at ACE. Potawie, what kind of creatures will I be looking for? It better not be the stupid raccoons!!!!! I will get them one of these days!!!!!!!!
 
ah man i got screwed haha, i'll have to keep an eye out when im out and about to see if i can find it cheaper anywhere else. i've never seen porcupines around this area, racoons from time to time and definitely rabbits, both in the yard. across the street in the woods tho theres fox and deer but they dont ever seem to come too close.
 
It says it's de-odorized, but it stinks to high heaven! I guess I'll be sittin' out on the back porch waiting for the raccoons to show up. Maybe it will lure them out of my attic so I can finally patch up their secret passage way to get up there!!!!!!!
 
I agree it stinks! I said that to my boss at the Nursery I work at and he actually said he enjoys the smell because it reminds him of the beach.... I am getting used to it though!
I use it on my chillies that are in my shadehouse every 2 weeks, i find that a day or 2 after they stand up really well and have good colour to them so it must work well. I do find though that it still needs something else so i give it a bit of slow release fertilser too.
 
LOL - I used to put Actual fish into the bottom of a four foot hole as kids growing tomato bit of crushed stone on top and good soil..... once the plants reached the fish it exploded (we never feed them anything !)
Dads old trick.
Now I use Charlie carp, seasol and superthrive. Bit of PK for fruit weight and health.
 
POTAWIE said:
I often use fish emulsion early on, but am always cautious of critters when I do. The stuff is stinky and will attract all kinds of unwanted creatures and they'll enjoy digging up your plants to find the source. Another point is you should only mix up what you are going to use right away, as organic mixes will go funky quickly.
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i must be lucky. the only diggers i get were squirrels burying for winter.

chilliman said:
LOL - I used to put Actual fish into the bottom of a four foot hole as kids growing tomato bit of crushed stone on top and good soil..... once the plants reached the fish it exploded (we never feed them anything !)
Dads old trick.
Now I use Charlie carp, seasol and superthrive. Bit of PK for fruit weight and health.
Click to expand...
i'm trying this method this year actually. i saved some feeder fish used in cycling my fish tank, and assorted fish/shellfish bones, aquarium remnants including water. We'll see how that goes.

I use fish emulsion and seaweed as my ferts. I'm mixing it up this year with other stuff. i never burned any plants, but overwatering was happening a bit.
 
I did the "fish in the bottom of the hole" thing many years ago but now I believe that by the time the roots of most plants reach the fish, they no longer need much nitrogen
 
LOL - yep though things like molasses, Rhizo`s & H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) are still feeding the microorganisms in soilless hydro.... :wink:
 
every other watering you say?

that could work, and is definitely more often than i was planning, i dont like to over fert ha.

but i like the fish in the hole idea, i wish it wasnt clay right under our soil
 
allXbutXgone said:
every other watering you say?

that could work, and is definitely more often than i was planning, i dont like to over fert ha.

but i like the fish in the hole idea, i wish it wasnt clay right under our soil
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Thats what we have ! Or used to! CLAY
Easy... You need GYPSUM, and garden lime (breaks down the clay).
Dig your hole FIRST...4ftx2ft ( no easy way by hand )
drop fish/compost in bottom.
Couple of hand fulls of gypsum and lime over dug out soil.
Buy a couple of good bags from shop, MIX ! throw in some TRACE ELEMENTS while your there. Potassium, phos, magnesium, etc though the fish & soil will take care of most
Place crushed river stone ontop of fish/compost this acts as great drainage. ( dont use concrete or brick they soak up water ){}
Fill back in loose, and plant.
Alot of work but great results you dont need to FEED only water and a bit of PK to finish fruit ! - this for me was used BECAUSE i had clay to deal with !
I also used Superthrive at the start to get things rolling.

THOUGH MOST CHILLI ARE SHALLOW ROOTED - so your hole dose not have to be that big - I use alot of hormones and growth stimultors and hope for the best !
 
I used the fish emulsion - every other week and Tomato-tome every week at the recommended doses. I believe that is one reason my seedlings got so large, at least compared to last year. The toms were large enough to transplant (10" or taller) in just four weeks from the time they sprouted.

Mike
 
chilliman said:
LOL - yep though things like molasses, Rhizo`s & H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) are still feeding the microorganisms in soilless hydro.... :wink:
Click to expand...

In soilless hydro there are probably very few living micro-organisms, especially if you are using H202.
 
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