Fertilizing Suggestions

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Posted by Old Bob on April 23, 2009, 9:50 am
 
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I had a soil test done on my vegetable garden at the University of
Wsconsin Extension.  The results stated that I need to add .30 lbs/sq
ft of Nitrogen, no additional Phosphates, and to add .2 lbs/sq ft of
potash.

To do this they say
 "Nitrogen: Apply .4 lbs of regular (high N) turf fertilizer per 100
sq ft to meet plant nitrogen needs" and
"Potash:  Apply 1.0 lbs of winterizer turf fertilizer per 100 sq ft to
meet plant potash needs".

I am trying to translate this into what I should purchase and am left
more than a little cold.  Any suggestions on how this might translate
will be appreciated.

BTW, my garder is ~ 299 sq ft and the main crop is paste tomatoes.


Posted by trader4 on April 23, 2009, 11:34 am
 
Which makes no sense, as that would be an exraordinary rate.   They
likely either said or meant .3lbs/1000 sq ft.






Typical fertilizer meeting that very open spec would be about 30% N,
which is probably what they meant.    Applying it at that rate would
give you 1.2lbs N per 1000 sq ft. which sounds like a high amount for
one application.   Usually, you don't apply more than 1lb per
application.  It also doesn't square with the analysis from above.




and

And that would seem to be off by a factor of 10X too.  Plus, if you're
applying nitrogen from the first advice, then with the typical
winterizer fertilizer you're also putting down more N, which makes the
advice all the more conflicting.




Which then just adds to the confusion, because the advice they gave
you appears to be targeted at turfgrass.


You can figure out what the product contains from the label on the
bag.  The fertilizer is labeled with 3 numbers, N P K, given in
percent.

N= nitrogen
P= Phosphorous
K= Potash


So, as an example, if you have a fertilizer that is 32 5 7, and you
apply it at a rate of 1 lb per 1000 sq ft, you will be getting .32lb N
per 1000 sq ft.

Posted by dicky on April 23, 2009, 8:05 pm
 .4lbs/100sq ft x299 sq ft = 1.146 lbs of nitrogen spread over your 299
sq ft garden
1lb/ 100sq ft x 299 sq ft = 2.99 lbs of potash spread over your 299 sq
ft garden.
Not a lot of fertilization needed....most bags of fertilizer are about
20 lbs, so you will probably end-up buying enough to last you 10 years
or so.