When to fertilize?

This is my second year winter sowing but still don't have a clue about when to fertilize the seedlings. I vaguely recall something about after they've been in the ground for 2 weeks? Does that sound right? I'm still pretty new to gardening and don't want to burn the little guys.

Joanne

Start with a very dilute fertilizer mix, and start fertilizing when first true leaves appear.

Karen

Thanks Karen. It didn't occur to me to dilute it first. Glad I asked!

Joanne

Joanne: The cotyledon, or seed leaves, contain enough nutrition to get them to that stage. When first true leaves appear, they need supplemental food.

Karen

Any suggestions on what type of fertilizer to use?

You can use whatever you prefer, just make it a weaker than normal dilution. If you like Miracle Grow, use that.

I try to use organic. I've used Terracycle spray and that works well for me. It's a very weak fert right out of the bottle. Expensive though.

I got a bottle of fish emulsion for next time. Mine should be fed again, but the containers are still too wet so I won't use that yet.

Karen

Thanks for the info! My containers are soaked too from the rain we had over the weekend. Hoping that they get a chance to dry out a little before the rain we are expecting for the next few days.

This message was edited May 6, 2008 9:24 AM

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