Choosing the right fertilizer is confusing. There are so many varieties, different colored bags and NPK ratios. Here is the truth: most fertilizers are nonsense, and fertilizer companies will hate me for exposing this deceptive marketing trick. Save money, simplify your life, and don’t get fall for slick marketing.
• See ALL my Fertilizing videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1gY7BoYBGIGp0XbmUDUVdDY-TNWg1mdw&si=JkW4z9DgRKbmxd4e
These are some lower cost bulk fertilizers to help lower costs*:
Alaska Fish Fertilizer [5-1-1] (Gallon): https://amzlink.to/az0Jhw8liNoe3
Espoma PlantTone [5-3-3] (36lb): https://amzlink.to/az0gylQKIH3hO
Espoma PlantTone [5-3-3] (50lb): https://amzlink.to/az0dh0dYaye1l
Espoma HollyTone [4-3-4] (50lb): https://amzlink.to/az0iTFJEKBxvw
True Organic Tomato & Veg [4-5-6] (25lb): https://amzlink.to/az0RnUR4ZoW1C
True Organic All Purpose [5-4-5] (25lb): https://amzlink.to/az0Jy7uovMSCE
True Organic Citrus & Avocado [4-5-4] (25lb): https://amzlink.to/az0JwTkJZRjsg
Espoma Organic Bone Meal (10lb): https://amzlink.to/az0KAuCOZcPgQ
Espoma Organic Bone Meal (24lb): https://amzlink.to/az0y2buTDTWr2
High Yield Bone Meal (20lb): https://amzlink.to/az0HBh8lJLk5s
Azomite Trace Minerals (44lb): https://amzlink.to/az0qPn4i34Eol
Espoma Organic Blood Meal (17lb): https://amzlink.to/az0MTvND6GP0F
Jack’s All Purpose [20-20-20] (25lb): https://amzlink.to/az0F6FgxdhKjO
Jack’s Blossom Booster [10-30-20] (25lb): https://amzlink.to/az08lv7ZJFnUu
GrowMore [20-20-20] (25lb): https://amzlink.to/az08vLO3zprFC
• Full Amazon Store: https://amzlink.to/az0yli4Cz0iXX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 Intro
0:50 How To Read Fertilizer Bags
3:05 Does NPK Ratio Matter?
7:11 Fertilizer Marketing Tricks
10:36 How To Save Money On Fertilizer
12:02 My Money Saving Fertilizer Hack
14:52 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about how to fertilize plants, vegetable gardens and fruit trees, want to learn more about growing fruit trees or the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and “how to” garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!
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ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
Zone 8B, 34.1°N Latitude
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© The Millennial Gardener
#gardening #garden #fertilizer #vegetablegardening #vegetablegarden
32 Comments
If you enjoyed this video, please LIKE it and share it with family and friends! Thanks for watching 🙂 TIMESTAMPS here:
0:00 Intro
0:50 How To Read Fertilizer Bags
3:05 Does NPK Ratio Matter?
7:11 The Big Fertilizer Scam!
10:36 How To Save Money On Fertilizer
12:02 My Money Saving Fertilizer Hack
14:52 Adventures With Dale
The "everything is a chemical" is a stupid argument. Most people are meaning synthetics/petrochemically derived chemicals. Organic is neither. That's the point. You may be able to argue that it doesn't matter, fair enough, but thinking you made a 200 IQ move for policing language intentions is bizarre and silly.
I buy my soil at a local store for $3.47 per cubic ft and doctor it up with my own recipe of dry amendments. 1 set for flower and a different mix for bloom. Low cost with great results 👍🏾💯
I started using 15-15-15 fertilizer and my peppers got big leaves, but they were not flowering. Then got 10-50-10 to induce flowering. And a few weeks later I got 0-0-50 + mag, sulfur & boron to avoid flower dropping and get big peppers. Peppers are growing, but to be honest I'm still not sure if it's really making some difference.
You're right about people using the word "chemical" as a negative toned word. In lawn care I often hear "lawns take all those chemicals" and I ask people "what chemical comes out of your shower that you spray on yourself and wash with?" Confuses them big time. Also, that TRU fert you showed, it STANKY! Not the smell I want around things I'm eventually going to eat. Stank is awesome for lawns, but not for peppers IMO.
Give plants a balanced formulation, they’ll take up what they need. Nature goes on living without a second thought to human interference.
Can you make a video about preparing garden bed soil that previously had disease? My summer garden was infected with intense powdery mildew and I’m nervous to start my spring crops.
Love your channel ❤️
With Alaska tho that a fish emulsion which is made with heat u loose alot of aminos are lost a much better one is gs plant foods fish n kelp .which is a hydroslat.made with ferminting process a cold brew .much more aminos .great stuff highly recommend gs plant foods fish n kelp .I also use crown jewels all purpose 5 5 5 has cal mag too .and micros micorizal the green pack good nutes and worm tea them my nuted
Winter report, sort of off the fertilizer topic. Harvested carrots today and have broccoli ready . Everything in my garden survived too hard freezes. Cold weather gardening is a blast. ( 8 b coastal) thanks for the inspiration.
Maybe the soil needs to be tested first
we need to get this guy to do a weight loss video with no bull shit now! Thank god someone is saying the quiet part out loud. Weight loss is the same. It's calories in vs calories out and that's absolutely it! quit getting scammed in the exact same way as this video. Much respect man.
dihydrogen oxide is the most dangerous chemical on planet earth! please beware of this dangerous chemical with both covalent and hydrogen bonds!
FABulous video.
I'll take blue water and big fruit.
Thanks again for this reminder on fertilizers. Have a question. Recall our tomato harvest was sparse this year. I’m in the Atlanta area and had a weak harvest. I think part of my issue was starting my tomatoes from seed too late. This year I’m planning to start them later in January. My question…recall your video that showed one of your tomatoes that withstood the weather best. Which brand was that? I could search back videos but thought you might recall. I’m getting ready to order my seeds from Totally Tomatoes this week. 75% of my garden is tomatoes with peppers. Cucumbers, squash and lettuce rounding out the rest. If you have any other tomato likes I appreciate it. I love to make tomato sauce so like a big harvest. It makes the best sauce. Take care.
I like the 40 pound bag of triple-10 from the local farm feed & seed supply. Cheap and perfectly effective.
Saw that 999,000 and had to go to my other channel and subscribe. Watching your videos give the greatest in depth information on the topic being discussed. Your videos has been the greatest contribution to my gardening for the past 3 years. Stay true to being you when it comes to gardening. 2026 is going to put you on a level very few will ever achieve. Especially with the way produce is being tampered with.
I needed that info today!!! Just changed my order.. you saved my garden!!!! GOD Bless you!
I’m always skeptical of fertilizer for all of the reasons (to be suspicious) you’ve detailed. Aside from starters, I stick to rich compost and soil I have been maturing for years. Food and forage waste, when properly composted, is spectacular for plants.
Thanks for another great video, especially the end with Dale! Im a container, Fig grower I’ve been using your regiment of all-purpose miracle, grow bloom, booster, and tomato and herbs. I want to use all organic fertilizer this year. I’ve been looking online but cannot find the same. NPK as to the miracle grow products. Could you advise me what to use? Thanks, Tom.
Thank you for the video. It is very informative. I use all purpose fertiliser and add urea, which is highly soluble in water, when I grow leafy vegetables, instead of buying a fertiliser specifically for leafy plants.
As a hydroponic gardener, the more advanced method for fruiting plants like peppers is to use the "leafy green" fert while the plant is still first growing "flowering" fert once you see the first buds. I'd be curious if there was a difference in price in all those varieties of organic fertilizers you showed there? Got to hit those sales off season!
10 gallon bucket – 1 cup spoiled milk , 2 cups urine , 2 cups wood ashes ….. fill to top with water , mix well. you're welcome !
Feel like this either could have been a lot shorter as it is without evidence, or had more actual evidence that slight changes in NPK don't make a difference.
I've bought all these on sale! L0L
Nice video and informative, but the YouTube AI filter on your face made you look like a cartoon. Wth?
Congratulations on reaching the 1 million subscriber mark! It's a very well-deserved milestone. Great video by the way.
I try to stay away from fertilizers. I mostly just use garden compost and composted animal manure. Nice video.
Great info thank you
Phosphorus stays in the soil for a very long time, and can build up and become toxic. I had been gardening in Northwest Florida, in raised beds, for years, always adding fertilizers each season, before I finally got a soil test from the University of Florida Extension Service. I was shocked. My phosphorus was off the charts, so I had to quit adding phosphorus for a while. In fact, all of my nutrients were high except Nitrogen, which washes out with a good rain. Potassium stays in the soil as well, but not as long as phosphorus. I would recommend, “Soil Science for Gardeners,” by Robert Pavlis, to understand how fertilizers work in the soil. Love your channel. Keep up the good work!
Excellent content as usual! Could someone smarter than me tell me if someone with a fish/shellfish allergy can use fertilizer with fish contents?…will it transfer to the food as it grows to cause an allergic reaction?