Greetings, we have a product available to us here in Oz. called 'urea free blood and bone'. It works like powdered gold! The bulbs go crazy after a feed and they love it. The only other magic I use is woodash, applied once every 2 years and again the bulbs love this! I use the KISS principle for our fertilizing regiem. Best wishes, Dash. Daryl 'Dash' Geoghegan, Mainly Amaryllids Garden, P O Box 173, Barnawartha,Victoria,3688, Australia. +61 02 60267377 Visit my web site @ http://www.users.bigpond.com/plants_man/Home.htm Now with Online Payment Method Email the Australian Bulb Association at: support@ausbulbs.org ABA Web Sites: http://www.ausbulbs.org/ Checkout http://www.ausbulbs.org/bulbgal/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lee Poulsen" <wpoulsen@pacbell.net> To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 7:44 AM Subject: Re: [pbs] Fertilizers--TOW > >So what do the rest of you do? Does anyone still use bone meal? How > >about the mixes you buy at the stores that are advertised for bulbs? > >Has anyone done a test with planting using two kinds of fertilizer? > >Do others feel that bulbs hate phosphorus and if so which ones? Who > >uses miracle grow and how often? How about manure? We had some > >osmocote horror stories from Uli's Hippeastrum a number of years ago > >and from Diana Chapman too if I remember correctly, but are some of > >you having success with this? How about nutricote which is supposed > >to release fertilizer slowly and not be temperature dependent like > >osmocote? Who uses liquid feed only and how often? > > I tried bone meal for a couple of years, but didn't notice any > difference in growth, and like others have said, it attracted the > dog, so I quit using it. > > I used to use Osmocote, but at half the recommended rate, and I quit > after all that discussion some time ago about the problems it has > when it gets too hot and things are watered a lot. > > Someone back then recommended a different product, called Apex, and I > finally tracked down, using the Internet, a farm supply chain in > South. Calif. that carried it. The only problem was that they only > have stores at the periphery of the L.A. metropolitan area (which is > huge). So I made a drive out to a store one day, discovered that > since it comes in bulk, it is *much* cheaper than Osmoscote, and it > comes in many different N-P-K configurations. I bought two 50 lb. > bags of it and each bag has lasted a long time, even with all the > pots I have. Right before Jennifer moved away, I got her to get me > two more bags of it right before one of Cathy Craig's potlucks. > > I got the 21-5-12 plus minors formulation after hearing all the > things that have been discussed over the years, and it turns out that > Apex formulates and markets its products for the Australian market as > well, which uses a different methodology for measuring the N-P-K > contents. According to the bag label, in Australia, the formulation > is 21-2.1-9.9 This is supposed to be a good formulation for > Australian natives as well, according to Apex. They also make > different lengths of duration for the time release and and although > it is dependent on temperature, Apex gives a rating table for a range > of temperatures. I got the formulation that lasts 9 months at 70 deg. > F. (10 months at 60 deg. F., 8 months at 80 deg. F., 7 months at 90 > deg. F.) > > I use it at the rate of 1/2 tablespoon per "gallon" of pot > size---which is half the rate suggested on the Osmocote packages. I > apply it when shoots start to appear in the autumn for winter growers > and in the spring when shoots start to appear for summer growers. > Everything seems to be growing much better since I started this > regimen, and one appplication lasts most of the growing season for > the winter growers. One bag is enough for all my pots and plants for > more than 12 months of growing seasons. Best of all it only costs > US$30 for a 50 lb. bag. > > I know this is pragmatist's experience, but it seems to square well > with what others have written from a more scientific poitn of view. > > -- > --Lee Poulsen > Pasadena area, California, USDA Zone 9-10 > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php