is it too late to fertilize my container plants? I have blooming and foliage type plants, all in containers. thanks
fertilizing in the fall
A very light application half application or less of fish oil with kelp is always good. I think you have ask an important question. As all plants go into their respective winter season they slow down and do not need much fertilizer. They do not need anything that would cause or exite new growth. Consider your light fall application to be like a bedtime glass of milk and cookie for one of your children.
The organic bedtime cookie for your plants will be appreciated and best if no results are observed. Your plants are approaching their natural rest period.
I just fertilized everything that I have in pots...and in ground. My hibiscus and brugs have been pouting thru the 100 degree summer we've had and are now ready to bloom. The tropicals enjoy the "cooler" 80s we'll have thru Oct. and early Nov. Everything is budding out here and ready to show off after the brief rains we had. The salvias and other perennials that I slashed back this summer are in full bloom now.
I'd vote for fertilizing now to enjoy blooms until Thanksgiving.
Adding fertilizer will do just what you said. That is what commercial growers do to sell a few more plants. Those plants however will remain high on fertilizer and not necessarily in their best condition to enter their rest periods. Late and heavy fertilization is what brings lots of commercially available fall flowers into bloom. Those potted plants even if placed in beds have a heck of a time adjusting to the period in their growing cycles when they should be resting. Here in the Northeast many of them die largely for that reason. I would think Thanksgiving to early March would normally be the rest period following root development in the Spring to Fall periods. When blooming there is less root development. The exact months vary even within different zones of a small state like Pennsylvania as compaired to Texas. When there is little or no root hardening off the plants will have less ability to meet the stress of the resting periods. If you have no winter this may be a factor of little or no concern.
I just fertilized the lawn two weeks ago with http://www.marshallgrain.com/marshall/product.asp?s_id=0&prod_name=Garden-Ville+7-2-2+Soil+Food&pf_id=PAAAAAENDMHMJECM&dept_id=3337 with some epsom salts and green sand thrown in.
Fertilized the container plants and roses with fish emulsion and alfalfa tea.
I think this is the perfect time to fertilize. The best times (IMO) are March, June, September. Because container plants quickly lose nutrients from frequent watering, many recommend adding some fertilizing nutrients once a month to containers.
From everything I have read and I read a lot, docgipe is correct in backing of on feeding this time of year. Her Winters come early but the plants in Texas know the days are getting shorter.
Your organic treatment will hang around longer and do more good than the usual chemical fertilizers. Your timing must be by past experience which seems very good. My advisement and practice has been to reduce organic applications to one forth the label instructions and drench as well as foliar feed weekly...weakly.
This year we had abundant rain. In fact last week was the first week we did not have rain since Feb. Today it is doing it again. Mowing grass every three days was a hoot. Even our football fields and golf courses are in excellent shape. Few of them watered much this year. If we get an equal amount of snow our total water concerns will well supplied.
Once a day on no rain days was ample watering even for the stacked pots on our patio.
Har har........see here. Last time I checked Doc is a guy. LOL A guy who loves flowers too.
Ordinary expectations would be for this stacked pot to be getting lazy and browned out. This year was exceptional nice and even rain off and on every week.
jammin...
I'd suggest you go to the TX A&M website....TAMU....and look up fertilizing for fall in Texas in the frequently asked questions (FAQ). Fall is the most important time to fertilize lawns, shrubs, and groundcovers (in TX) with a winterizing fert. And I concur with collin, the fertilizer in pots has leached out by the time the first cool breezes drift in. I love fish emulsion for most pots. The only thing I use that's plant specific is hibiscus food. We live on a limestone outcropping, so most everything eventually leaches away and has to be replenished. We have had only a tiny bit of rain this summer and 69 days of 100 temps....I'm ready to see some blooms!!!
Some lawns, trees and shrubs worked their way into this thread. The original question was only concerning potted plants.
Fertilizing lawns, trees and shrubs if done may certainly be done even into the late fall periods. I don't ever fertilize lawns, trees and shrubs but if I did I would agree with the late fall and early spring program. Our tree and flowering shrub with mixed permanent flowers and bulbs are under a deep mulch of some four to five inches of wood bark. The decomposition and composting of the mulch is adequate fertilization here. This includes a number of flowers and plants that many say can not do well under mulch. I never knew any difference over the past thirty five years at this location.
Ohmigosh, those stacked planters look amazing! I have been thinking about those because I have to do so much container gardening. I love the look of them, especially a group of them with some ornamentals and some edibles - and your mix is so pretty! I like they way they use vertical space - lots more plants in a small footprint.
I think you just talked me into buying those planters - just gorgeous!
A picture is worth a thousand commercials. ;)
Those planters happen to be NJ Planters. They may cost a bit more but they are very well designed and manufactured. I think they are still on the market.
I've read the aggie horticulture website and decided to do a light dusting of Color Star (controlled release fertilizer). Except on woody plants. thanks for all your help.