Potting soil with added plant food

Hi Everyone,
I just went to buy potting soil at walmart and all they had was Schultzes african violet potting soil plus. Has anyone used this with success. I really wanted just plain potting soil because I want to try fish emulsion. Can I use the fish emulsion with this?

Thanks for any help,
Susan

Personal preference here, but I'm not too keen on Schultz's for violets. Okay, for houseplants. It is getting harder and harder to find soil(less) mixes without fertilizer. M'Gro is even putting it in Perlite which I think is ridiculous.

I'll mention a few that do not have added fertilizer as of this post:

Scott's for african violets
ProMix
Sunshine Mix

I'm sure others will have some good input on this.

hmmm their website says it has multicote slow release, good for 9 months. I think what it has is a 8-14-9 ratio of NPK - I'm not sure so you might look for numbers like that (3 numbers stringed with -) on the bag.

AV growers would have a better sense of exactly what level of fertilizer is okay. My guess is that if my numbers are correct, if you cut the mix with some perlite you should be safe using fish emulsion. My fish fertilizer is 5-1-1 at "full" strength, and it adds other trace elements. The combo of the two fertilizers seems still a safe number to me. In fact, if you have young plants, you most certainly want to supplement with fish because the nitrogen content of the Schultz fertilizer is relatively low.

A note of caution - do not use the schultz mix for pots that will be hot (like in the sun) - slow release fertilizers will dump the fertilizer out all at once when temps get up to around 85F or so. The temp varies between manufacturers but not by much. There may be technological improvements in the last year or two, but I haven't heard of any yet.

Thanks Snowrose and Keyring.
I kinda figured it not the best to get fertilizer with plant foot. Unfortunately, I live in a small town and that's all the choices I have. I will try adding the perlite to the mix and see what happens.

Would it be bad to put them on shelves in the window or would it be too hot for the plant food?

Best wishes,
Susan

I have a question , please.....
I got a little carried away ordering supplies, etc. from Selectivegardens (Optimara).....This plant food I got is a 20-5-10 and was quite pricey except to say that you only need 1/2 tps. per gallon. What would you use it on??????????????

since MI is north, I think you will be fine on the windowsill. They caution against use on shelves, but I think they would be okay. Adding perlite will help - also, try not to let the pots go totally dry, because dry roots get fertilizer burn much more easily.

Again, maybe one of the AV growers have experience?


20-5-10 is really high in nitrogen! I would probably use it on something that has a huge spurt of foliage growth in the spring. Do NOT use it on cactus! LOL. For gesneriads, you could use it on seedlings but first you should dilute waay down. When you want flowers, this would not be the formula to use....

I can't even figure out why they sell it....or better yet, why i bought....a lb. of it.....

It's probably for trees or something....

do you suppose it could be used on foliage plants (like althernathera sp???) we grow a lot of foliage plants here.....

That's outside of my "expertise"... And it might be time to hit the other forums....

I am just going to email selective gardens.....

for anyone interested.....Monique Holtkamp said that this fertilizer is generally sprayed on all green plants.....that excites me about all my houseplants and those on the front porch.....

What You Should Know about NPK and Fertilizer. What do the numbers mean?

Fertilizers show their nutrient content with three bold numbers on the package. Example 15-30-15. These numbers represent three different compounds: 1st=Nitrogen, 2nd=Phosphorous, and 3rd=Potash (Potassium), which we can also describe with the letters N-P-K. The three numbers listed on fertilizer labels correspond to the percentage of these materials found in the fertilizer.

What does each nutrient do? In addition to other properties, Nitrogen (N) helps promote foliage growth. Phosphorous (P) helps roots and flowers grow and develop. Potassium (Potash) (K) is important for overall plant health. Also important to use fertilizers that have micronutrients as well such as iron, copper, manganese, etc. Micronutrients will be listed on the label along with the NPK ratio if present.

It does not have the trace elements....I just think it would be fun to supplement every once in while a good spray of the high nitrogen......I always over fertilize every plant I have inside and outside.....bad habit....I am now waiting for all the gesneriads to get dry and flush them out thoroughly....will start doing this at least once a month.....on the other hand, they are blooming like crazy (LOL)

Thanks Snowrose that is very interesting. I think I'm going to go ahead and mix perlite in with it and than divide and repot some of my plants and put them in the new soil.

Maybe I will just do an experiment with one of my walmart noids and try the fish fertilizer. That way I won't be endangering all my pretties.

Also I think I will check around for some potting soil without plant food. and repot everything with fresh soil.

I am trying a couple of shelves of plants in my kitchen window now that is a bit warmer.
I planton taking a close look at them everyday to check for distress.

Thanks everyone for all the information, you guys really know your stuff.

Susan