[Jamie Butterworth]

Hi all,
Does anybody no when i should start to use my fertilizer, or am i too late?
Any advise welcomed 

Tar, Jamie

[Yorkie]

Which fertiliser, and for which plants?

[sion01]

I put some sulphite of potash around my fruit trees today .Theyll get another small dose in March along with a deep mulch.Most organic slow acting fertilizers should be OK now as they'll still be around when the growing season kicks in but lay off any fast acting organic or inorganic fertilizer now the rain will have washed them away before the plant has had a chance to use it

[Jamie Butterworth]

Just manure and in my raised beds, they dont have plants in them yet but i thought i should getready for when i start planting my veg in spring?

[JayG]

Usual advice is to hoe in "fast acting" fertilizers, which includes Growmore and pelleted chicked manure about a week before sowing or planting out. As ever, this is particularly true if you have very light soil as nutrients wash through quickly and are lost to the plants.

(Having manured your soil don't go too mad either on the quantities of additional fertiliser you add; you can have too much of a good thing!)

[mumofstig]

You should dig in your manure as you do your winter digging, or some people dig and leave the manure spread on the surface for the worms to take down.

[DavidT]

I put some sulphite of potash around my fruit trees today .Theyll get another small dose in March along with a deep mulch.Most organic slow acting fertilizers should be OK now as they'll still be around when the growing season kicks in but lay off any fast acting organic or inorganic fertilizer now the rain will have washed them away before the plant has had a chance to use it

They wont actually, they are only active in the soil for about 4 to 6 weeks, then you have to reapply. Better off skipping the winter dressing and wait until March. 

[Jamie Butterworth]

Sorry, im a complete amatere at all this,thanks for the advice, so I should the fertilizer roughly a week before i begin to plant? 

[DavidT]

Sorry, im a complete amatere at all this,thanks for the advice, so I should the fertilizer roughly a week before i begin to plant? 

If you are using artificial fertilizer ( Growmore ) yes. If using natural fertilisers, ( fish, blood and bone ), about 4 weeks.

[mumofstig]

Oh...my fav Geoff Hamilton always used to rake in the FB&B as he was making the seed bed and then he sowed right away!
You know what they say about asking more than 1 gardener 

[DavidT]

Oh...my fav Geoff Hamilton always used to rake in the FB&B as he was making the seed bed and then he sowed right away!
You know what they say about asking more than 1 gardener 

You rake in the fertiliser, then sow the seed? HOW will the seed take up the fertiliser? It can`t until it sets roots. So why waste money?

[JayG]

Don't think this discussion is going to be helping Jamie much!

You've dug manure in, the success of the new growing season will be more to do with good old Mother Nature than whether you are a week early or late with additional fertilisers (you can always water with a liquid feed if you think your plants are struggling a bit)

I don't think any one of us on this site would claim to get things right all of the time every year but we still do it because we love growing veg and enjoy the challenge, and so should you.

[Jamie Butterworth]

Thanks JayG

[Salmo]

If you apply growmore or other inorganic fertilizer now the potash and phosphate element will stay around long enough for the plants to take them up when they are sown/planted. Nitrogen on the other hand is very soluble and may be washed out, especially if we get a lot of heavy rain or snow melt. The nitrogen in organic fertilizers such as blood meal or chicken poo/pellets are just as liable to wash out.

Any lost nitrogen goes straight into the soil water and ends up in our streams and drinking water which is not what we want.

[Trillium]

Oh...my fav Geoff Hamilton always used to rake in the FB&B as he was making the seed bed and then he sowed right away!
You know what they say about asking more than 1 gardener 

You rake in the fertiliser, then sow the seed? HOW will the seed take up the fertiliser? It can`t until it sets roots. So why waste money?

Geoff's point was to keep up the fertility of his previous dressings of BF&B and doing it while he was changing over plants/seeds was the best time rather than trying to work around plants. His earlier 'fertilizings' were just becoming available to the new plants/seeds, and the BF&B he was adding to the current planting would be for the following crop. Geoff planted intensively and constantly so he was always ahead with available feed for the plants. If you plant only one crop a year then Geoff's method isn't practical.

BF&B take roughly about 3 months to break down and become available to the plants. Fertilizers, as such, are immediate unless they're a timed release variety. So if you're using something like Gromore, then add it as a side dressing as the plants grow. This ensures the plant has a complete range of nutrients, but it doesn't guarantee a better taste. That's where your manure, compost, etc come in. If these are well rotted, they can be worked in now. If they're quite fresh, then they would  be worked into the soil in fall to let them break down.