Daniels plant food

I recently posted about Osmocote controlled release fertilizer (CRF) and mentioned that I also use a liquid feed fertilizer along with it. Well, the one I'm using today is called Daniels Plant Food and it's working great for us. They have formulations for home gardeners, professional growers as well as for garden centers. All of their products are produced from a seed extract so they're extremely organic which is why I chose them. Keeping away toxic chemicals is not only safe for you, it's safer for the plants. I mean really, avoid fertilizer burn by simply avoiding the chemicals that run the risk of burning plants!

The home gardener version is the same basic formulation as their standard professional version, 10-4-3, only it comes in a much smaller container. It's available online from many sources and local retailers are offering it more and more. For those of you that are professional growers, call your local distributor to see if it's available, I use BFG Supply here in Chicago.

Application rates for the home version are listed on the bottle and are quite easy to follow. For professional mix rates it can get a little difficult, but with 10% N it's not too hard to figure out the math. I use Dosatron injectors and they have a nifty little calculator on their site to calculate the amount of concentrate and the injector settings. If you're using Dosamatic, I bet they have something similar.

When I purchased my first injector for the spring season this year I went looking for something to replace the fish emulsion I had been using. While I absolutely swear by fish emulsion, especially in the home garden, it simply can't be mixed and used with an injector. I was after something organic in nature to reduce the risk of burn, reduce runoff issues and be able to use on vegetable AND ornamental crops. The only one I found was Daniels.

One thing to keep in mind about this fertilizer is where the Nitrogen comes from. The type (yes, there are a couple type of N) is of a source that doesn't "green" up plants at low rates like a chemical fertilizer. It'll provide all the nutrients, major and minor, that your plants need but if you want lush green foliage you'll need to increase the strength. I'm finding that 50ppm N is good for normal use, but an increase to 100-200ppm every week greens up the plants rather nicely.

What you don't know how to calculate ppm of your fertilizer? Well, use this calculator to figure it out. Plug in the NPK of Daniels there (10-4-3) then fiddle with the teaspoons per gallon until you hit the desired rate. Don't worry, I'll be explaining the types of Nitrogen and application rates for different crops in a future article.

All in all, if you're a sworn MiracleGro person today, try dumping that chemical backwash for a season and give the organic option a try. Not only will you see a difference, you'll feel better about it.