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We use a fish and seaweed natural liquid fertilizer which provides the plants with immediate access to a balanced blend of nitrogen (2), phosphorous (3), and potassium (1) as well as micro and macro nutrients and amino acids. It can be applied as a foliar spray or soil drench. It is cold processed using various fish species and the oil and meal remains in the solution. We've chosen to use Neptune's Harvest organic fertilizer, but there's many brands out there. Neptune's came about as a need to put to use the gurry, or fish waste, created in the process of fileting fish for market. In 2015 Neptune's Harvest was presented with the Sustainable Industry Award from the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment. For these reasons, and our pleased experience with it, we've not explored other brands.
Neptune's Harvest Organic Fish-Seaweed Blend Fertilizer
One area of discrepancy we found is that the recommended application rates for farmers and gardeners are drastically different. For gardeners, they recommend applying once every 1-2 weeks throughout the growing season. For farmers (vegetable crops), the recommended application is 4 times per season: at planting, when primary leaves emerge, pre-blossom, and pre-harvest. We found that following the farming recommendations worked well, but that observing the needs of the individual plants worked even better. Over fertilization can cause as much distress (and environmental harm) as under, and for this reason we choose to apply only when necessary.
Depending on the nutrient levels in your soil, which can be determined through a soil test by your county's extension agency, liquid fertilizer can be a very economic solution to provide crops with the nutrients they need while the soil is rehabilitated with organic matter across seasons. We have found that the combination of slow and immediate therapies work well for most crops.
Slow: organic matter applications (compost, cover crops, mulching, interplanting)
Immediate: liquid fertilizer applications during plant lifespans (compost/vermicompost brews, lactic acid bacteria, fermented plant juice, fish-seaweed fertilizer products)
It's best to dilute with either rain, well, or filtered water when possible. It can be combined with LAB which acts as a probiotic of sorts, making the nutrients more easily excessible to the plants. With either a gallon sprayer or backpack sprayer we apply it directly to the plants either early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the plant's stoma are open. Watering before hand (or following a nice rain storm) can prime the plant and roots for contact with the fertilizer as well. We choose the sprayer because the finer liquid particles are easier for the plants to uptake when being applied as a foliar spray. If you want to drench the soil, any watering can or bucket will suffice. The choice between soil drench and foliar comes down to whether or not you want to utilize the xylem or phloem pathways. At a very basic level, the Xylem channel is from the roots to leaves, Phloem is from the leaves to the roots (though there is some communication between both channels). Some minerals, such as calcium and manganese have a higher uptake via xylem, and thus a drench application would be ideal. In the case of a fertilizer blend like this, we primarily foliar spray knowing that some of it will inevitably find it's way down the plant and into the soil as well.
When applied this way, we have noticed remarkable improvement in plant vibrancy, health, and growth numerous times, with numerous crops, within 24 hours of application. However, we encourage you to do your own research and find products that work best for the needs of your garden or farm.
