organic organic ferts suggestions

T

thismembername

I am currently using neptunes harvest about once a week, dyna grow silica, worm castings as fast as i can make them. All i have left for ferts is a bottle of slow release MG from when i wasn't organic.
 
I am looking at buying fox farms happy frog all purpose fertilizer because its organic, does anyone else have any suggestions or comments?
 
Please note that
 
  • I know what the difference between fertilizer and soil amendment is
  • I have my soil tested about once every two years, and my soil is primarily clay. Amending the soil is an ongoing battle. I'm low usually in nutrients across the board.
  • I add compost, mulch, egg shells, used coffee grounds, and bone meal every year.  This year I dumped 3 yards of compost.
 
What, exactly, is the issue with your plants? Are they not growing? Not flowering? Not setting pods? Having clay soil, compost, peat moss and coarse sand will help break it up but you don't want to over fertilize it.
 
Photos will help. How long have they been in the ground? What are your soil temperatures like up in NC? The soil may just be too cool for rapid growth at the moment. Perhaps try putting down black plastic "mulch" or utilizing a greenhouse or indoor growing until the soil warms up?
 
thismembername said:
stunted growth, not as big as I assume they should be, i'll take some pics
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Where in NC are you? I'm in Charlotte and, until late this past week, it's been colder than usual and we've gotten a crap ton of rain so my plants are lagging a bit too but I know it's the weather, hell it got down to 39 the other night. If you're near me, it's supposed to be in the high 70's to mid 80's the next 10 days with some rain so I'd give it some more time. I usually use fish ferts and Botanicare but haven't started because it's been too cold and rainy.
 
Really all you need is bone meal, the Neptunes harvest and castings. You can water with aact tea and should be good to go. My plan next season is to go strictly organic and by this I mean...Not having to buy any ferts. Not sure my compost will be up for the task but I at least want to try.
 
thanks for all the suggestions.
 
@capt poopiepants   - i work in Charlotte, i live right up the road. yeah, crap ton of rain, around 70-80 ish on good days. do you have a facebook capt?
 
i was going to take pics today, but whatda know, its raining again.
 
I did get out and work some in the garden. The plants are about 2 feet, they have been in the ground since April 20th, they were started in doors. The plants right now are about 2.5 feet tall. They all look really healthy, just not as tall as i would like.
 
What i did today was i pulled off all flowers and pods, i had about 15pods between around 20-30 plants i am actively watching. These pods were around mid size, probably two weeks from maturity. Hope that doesnt matter.
 
I pulled off all/most flowers and pods, and topped them. I am hoping to put them back into a growth spurt.
 
thismembername said:
 
I pulled off all/most flowers and pods, and topped them. I am hoping to put them back into a growth spurt.
Click to expand...
 
I think you will love the results! I did this with my Butch T and it is now bushier with more branches than I thought possible.
 
i was able to grab some pics outside real fast with an umbrella.
 
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the plants with pods still on them is the plants i couldn't get to yet due to the rain, i will pick all those off tomorrow or the next day.
 
OP, because you mentioned that you soil tested, and were low in nutrients across the board, have you heard of, or considered Azomite yet?
 
 I know it can be found at a couple of online stores but i'm seeing Ebay still has it dirt cheap. A little bit goes a long way too.
 
It won't really give you the three improtant minerals, NPK, you'd have to get that using another product.
 
thismembername said:
thanks for all the suggestions.
 
@capt poopiepants   - i work in Charlotte, i live right up the road. yeah, crap ton of rain, around 70-80 ish on good days. do you have a facebook capt?
 
i was going to take pics today, but whatda know, its raining again.
 
I did get out and work some in the garden. The plants are about 2 feet, they have been in the ground since April 20th, they were started in doors. The plants right now are about 2.5 feet tall. They all look really healthy, just not as tall as i would like.
 
What i did today was i pulled off all flowers and pods, i had about 15pods between around 20-30 plants i am actively watching. These pods were around mid size, probably two weeks from maturity. Hope that doesnt matter.
 
I pulled off all/most flowers and pods, and topped them. I am hoping to put them back into a growth spurt.
Click to expand...
Is right up the road Huntersville? I live in Huntersville (work at the nuclear station) but nobody's heard of it so I just say Charlotte. I have a facebook account but haven't been on in over 4 years so it's easier to just PM me on here and I'll reply in a day or two.
 
I haven't started indoors like you and your plants are way ahead of mine but I would think it's due to the weather recently. Do your plants have a lot of blooms and only a few are holding or are they not blooming much? I'm not a pro like some guys on here but personally I'd pick the pods and pinch off blooms until at least late June so all that energy goes into plant growth as the temperature starts going up. I usually pinch off blooms until they're about 2 ft tall but they fall off anyway for about a month and I start getting ripe pods in mid August, then they go crazy in the August heat and I go from picking 2-3 ripe pods a day to a dozen or so per plant.
 
Late last June I had to give this pumpkin hab a haircut due to a bad aphid attack...
 
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I didn't think it had a chance at all, and just gave it fish ferts, 6+ hours of direct sunlight a day and kept pruning/pinching blooms and here it is 7-8 weeks later...
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It was over 3 ft tall by late Sept and I got a lot of huge pods off it. I'm willing to bet your plants will blow up once it gets warmer.
 
StupidJerk said:
I was thinking about picking up some azomite myself. Anyone have any success stories?
Click to expand...
Never did an A/B comparison but i've been using it for a few years now. 
 
As always, the info on their website should be taken with a grain of salt... self promotion. My guess is the obvious: it would work best for those whose soil needs it most.
 
I like it because, minus the NPK, it seems like an all-in-one solution (70+ minerals) and it is so inexpensive, two of the biggest reasons i keep recommending it. I put it in all of my soils, including seedling potting soil.
 
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