Wondering how to apply fertilizer for large abundant vegetable crops? This video shows my tips for how much plant fertilizer to use in self-watering raised beds and containers. After years of testing, I show my easy method for refreshing potting mix soil year after year. By restoring the nutrients, you can enjoy a bumper tomato harvest, massive bell pepper yields, delicious large ears of sweet corn and huge watermelons!
The best natural fertilizers include homemade compost and worm castings. But perhaps you’re still learning how to make compost. Maybe you don’t have the space and resources required. Or you just want an easy fertilizer for plants. There’s nothing wrong with buying a quality blended organic fertilizer. Two brands I’ve used include Espoma and Jobe’s. But it’s important to know how to apply organic NPK fertilizer at home. That includes understanding how to calculate fertilizer rates.
This video can help you to learn the basics of fertilizer in the context of sub-irrigated planters. Rather than a comprehensive guide addressing each macro and micro-nutrient that plants need, these tips show how simple it is to just select a product, apply it and the enjoy the results!
00:00 – Gardening Planters with High Yield (Bell Peppers, Watermelons, Lettuce, Cucumbers)
01:16 – Bagged Compost & Manure vs Homemade Compost & Worm Castings
03:06 – All-Purpose Organic Fertilizers & Time-Release
04:15 – Annual Vegetable Formulation + High Nitrogen (Corn & Kale) vs Low (Tomatoes)
05:25 – Confusing Fertilization Rates (Jobe’s All-Purpose vs Espoma Garden-tone)
07:37 – Organic Nutrients to Match Retail Potting Mix (Miracle-Gro)
08:40 – How Much to Use for SIP Raised Beds & Containers
09:44 – How to Mix Fertilizer in Soil for Best Results
11:26 – Techniques for Maintaining Soil Health
12:32 – Supplementation with Liquid Feed Fertilizer (Organic vs Synthetic) NPK
13:07 – Water + Sunlight + Nutrients = Happy Gardening!
• How do you know the best fertilizer choice for growing in your garden?
• What do the NPK numbers mean on the side of a fertilizer bag?
• Do certain plants need more nitrogen or phosphorous?
I really like the primary fertilizers tested in this video because they have an excellent balance of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Sulfur (S) and Magnesium (Mg). You don’t need to sweat it. The ratios are already figured out for you.
• Should you use organic versus synthetic fertilizer?
Even if you don’t have a worm bin for making castings or any place to put a compost pile, you can still select organic fertilizers if you want to keep everything natural and organic. However, that doesn’t mean a synthetic (chemical) fertilizer is bad. These can grow strong, healthy plants. And both options work well in self-watering garden beds. You can even mix and match. It’s totally up to you.
The nice thing with a blended, all-purpose organic fertilizer is that you don’t have to get bogged down with buying individual components. I’ve seen gardeners who buy blood meal, bone meal, rock phosphate, green sand, rock dust and more. Then they have to blend it all to get a balanced nutrient mix. I’ve done this and it’s a pain! Things like Epsoma Plant-tone or Garden-tone already have everything plants need, ready to go. That includes calcium and magnesium. So I’ve been able to skip dolomitic lime applications without experiencing BER in my peppers or tomatoes.
Personally, I prefer organics in my SIPs, when mixed into the actual soil. But when using a liquid feed, a synthetic (like Miracle Gro Plant Food) can be highly effective. It can work quickly to restore the health of plants that are suffering from nutrient deficiencies. It can be applied as a root drench or even a foliar feed. There are also organic liquid fertilizers like seaweed or fish emulsion. These might come at a premium price though. And you should read the guaranteed analysis on the label. Some products make big claims but offer very little in the way of macro-nutrients.
#Fertilizer #OrganicFertilizer #LiquidFertilizer #SelfWateringPlanters #WickingBeds #Albopepper
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25 Comments
Learn more about how to use a self-watering planter:
Self-watering Planter Basics: DIY Gardening with Sub-irrigated Wicking Beds
https://youtu.be/CXyV-XsQWNE
Self-watering SIP Sub-irrigated Raised Bed Construction (How to Build)
https://youtu.be/Lp9Jdyno9hI
SIP Raised Bed (Update 1) + Self-Watering Containers + How-To Monitor Moisture Levels :
https://youtu.be/5orIjYKFRgE
SIP Raised Bed (Update 2) + Watering & Aeration Screen Explanation
https://youtu.be/VJ2T6gUv8Gc
SIP Raised Bed (Update 3) + Winterizing Planters & Totes
https://youtu.be/aKrjC5sC5cU
Fertilizing SIP Potting Mix. Read more about how keep up your SIP soil: https://albopepper.com/setting-up-sip-potting-mix-fertilization-year-1.php
Hi Al,
I am working through a few approaches to raised bed gardening for my next backyard (coming soon). Your videos are amazing and your website as well!! Thank you for the continual flow of knowledge! I was wondering if adding red wiggler worms to a large SIP garden bed would work and/or be beneficial? I have had great success with them in a traditional raised bed which was raised on legs. I would welcome your insight!
Thank you,
Nathan
You answered my question — I was just thinking maybe I should put the fertilizer in my reservoir but I'll do a side dressing to be safe! Awesome content 👍
Wow ty for the information so helpful
This is my fourth time watching this video. Im a pretty new gardener (3 years) and I have hit a crossroads. I put out 13 tomato plants and have only gotten 4 small tomatoes. I have 6 okra plants that are together (for fertilization) and Ive gotten no okra. I have SIP tubs and I am almost positive my micronutrients are gone. Its been a hard summer learning but I've been forced to critically think. I am going to to make the "mix fertilizer" that you use. I was going to just empty out my 13 tubs and start over with new potting mix but in three years I will face the same thing again. I'm ready to have success again. Thank you.
Your video is much appreciated!
I have Earthboxes, Grobuckets and recently have started making my own SIP's. Your decade of use and your results speak for the common sense use of fertilizers 👍👍👍in SIP's.
My method of fertilizer has always been liquid. I dont like miracle gros ratio of NPK so I find a granular time release with the ratio I prefer and dissolve it into boiling water. Once cooled if I have any solids left they get filtered out. I found with a 6-12-12 tomato fertilizer at 1.5 KG I can add about 7.5 grams or 1/2 tsp per 16ozs of water. It roughly equals what miracle gros outdoor ratio is at 16 Oz's. About 0.025-0.050-0.050 per 7 days. If I'm growing in optimized conditions I can double it but it tends to cause root growth to slow down if its unoptimized.
Hadn’t heard of salt build up in the soil. If potable water from a public water provider is used for irrigation, it almost undoubtedly is treated with chlorine as a disinfectant. The rate is really low, but would potentially build up over time and react with other nutrients in the soil to create salt.
Is there a reason why you don’t add fertilizer to the reservoir?
thanks for all the tips. Can't wait to try the SIP's this upcoming season!
This video is amazing. I don't think people appreciate how much work would've went into doing all this data-collecting. 5 star video, you got yourself a new subscriber.
Amazing video! Your work and dedication does not go unnoticed! Great job man!
I really like your videos, they gave me some great ideas for this spring and maybe summer. I worked in a hydroponics shop for years and love seeing the DIY recycle and reuse mentality you have and display. If you want to look into a more organic time release fertilizer look at Nectar for the Gods One Shot. They use a bunch or meals, kelp and worm castings bound in molasses so it releases as the molasses, which our root microbes love, dissolves over time. I don't know if it's organic because of the minerals technically but it's all naturally derived
Don’t the wooden spacers leave openings which invite mosquitoes to lay eggs in the bucket?
Why not use liquid fertilizer in the pipe?
🥇 You sir are a hero. Nobody breaks growing down to the basic concepts the way you do, and yet you never skimp on the details and technical considerations. There is no comparison
I have a question about my potting mix which is 4 yrs old and hydrophobic. Have you ever heard that you could water with soapy solution to fix this? I would like to fix this before I add fertilizer if possible. I have 13 containers and I and I can't afford to replace all of the potting soil. Thank you.
What zone are you in?
What a cool guy 😎
Thank you for the great info. You mention at the end of the video that you wouldn't add the liquid fertilizer to your wicking watering system – why not?
I'm hoping it's not too late to start…. So I've watched this video a bunch of times and you even responded to some questions that I had and I was so excited to get started. Right after I posted my questions, two of the nurses quit where I was working and I ended up working everyday for a few months.. I did not get my fertilizer added. I still have it and it is the organic stuff that you talked about in this video. My question is since I'm just adding my fertilizers, do I need to go with synthetic fertilizer since I'm assuming that the organic takes a lot longer to start breaking down. I just want to get my garden going. If I need to buy synthetic fertilizer, would I just look for something that equals 3-4-5 or 3-4-4 or something close. I'm really hoping it's not too late to get ir going.
Fabulous video!!! Specific info, I was looking for.
just came across your vid. i grow lots of vegs would love to see more videos as well maybe some cbdthc plants just to grow. but would like more videos newer led, using coco, and so on with your beds and planers would be great
The research scientist in me is in LOVE with this video! Thank you!
So you are not organic? Yes you may produce bigger plants but it’s full of chemicals 😢