Growfood.com » Searching for Fertilizers – Need Help

Searching for Fertilizers – Need Help

Q. I’m planning on doing a little bit of container gardening in my greenhouse this summer. I plan on using your soil-less mix as per your book “More Food From Your Garden” (out of print – I recommend The Mittleider Gardening Course)

I also bought your Micro-nutrients (www.growfood.com – Materials) to mix in with my fertilizer. I have searched high and low for 16-8-16, 20-10-20, 16-16-16, 15-15-15, 13-13-13, 17-17-17. I did find 20-20-20 but it is very expensive.

I also tried to find the 21-0-0 + 0-45-0 + 0-0-50 – with no luck either.

I did find a bag of 18-18-18 and was wondering if that will work. And if so, how much fertilizer mix would I need for each container that is 12″ round x 9″ deep?

My plan is to grow just cucumbers and tomatoes in the greenhouse. The rest will be grown outside in my raised (soil) beds. Each bed is 24″ wide x 10′ long. Thank you very much for your help.

A. Any combination from 13-13-13 up to 20-20-20 will work fine. And you can make your own by buying the three nutrients separately. There are several possibilities, just look at a Farm Supply store, if the big box and nursery stores don’t have them.

The 18-18-18 is good! Just mix it with the package of Micro-Nutrients according to instructions.

For applications in small containers see my article in the FAQ section of the Foundation website under Containers or Grow-Boxes at https://foodforeveryone.org/faq/index.php?page=index_v2&id=309&c=1

Your 24″-wide beds in the garden are 6″ wider than they should be for optimum planting, feeding, watering, etc. If you can’t make them 18″ wide I recommend you plant 4-6″ in from the outside edges, so you don’t waste fertilizers at least.