How Much Fertilizer?

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Kungpaodog

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I have some 20-30-20 fertilizer that I on using when my hops start to grow, and I know the dilution to use, but obviously if I use two gallons at the proper dilution, that is twice as much fertilizer into my planter than if I were to use one gallon. So how much do I use or is that not an issue if the dilution is correct?
 
Mulch them well, give them some compost and they will do fine. In my opinion fertilizing hops tends to be overkill. Once they are established almost any amount of neglect will not kill them.
 
Impossible to answer without knowing the dilution. The exact requirements do depend on your soil. I've got acid clay that won't grow anything without fertilizing. The alternative would be to dig out to about three feet and backfill with compost. And it would all wash out next winter anyway.

There are feral hops in the area, but the cone yield is very small.
 
Thanks for the input. Sorry, I don't think I was very clear. My hops are in containers and I am using the container hops plan from BYO. The article suggests using fertilizer "just before they need it, if growth slows or if the leaves discolor" and I think the assumption is that the hops will get less nutrients in a container than in the ground.

The suggested concentration is a half teaspoon per gallon of water. I plan thoroughly soaking my pots when the soil starts to get dry ( I have good drainage in these planters.)

Do I use enough fertilized water to soak the whole pot? Or less?

I'm not much of a gardener, I just put stuff in dirt and keep it wet, which has worked out alright for me, but I want to get the best growth out of my hops possible (don't ask about last years anemic tomatoes.)
 
Thanks for the input. Sorry, I don't think I was very clear. My hops are in containers and I am using the container hops plan from BYO. The article suggests using fertilizer "just before they need it, if growth slows or if the leaves discolor" and I think the assumption is that the hops will get less nutrients in a container than in the ground.

The suggested concentration is a half teaspoon per gallon of water. I plan thoroughly soaking my pots when the soil starts to get dry ( I have good drainage in these planters.)

Do I use enough fertilized water to soak the whole pot? Or less?

I'm not much of a gardener, I just put stuff in dirt and keep it wet, which has worked out alright for me, but I want to get the best growth out of my hops possible (don't ask about last years anemic tomatoes.)


I have followed the research done by the Oregon State University Extension Service. They studied the nutritional needs of hops which indicated that hops need quite a bit of fertilizer when in the "growth stage". See figure 2 in this page: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/fg/fg79-e.pdf

I used this information into a fertilizer plan for my hop garden and added lots of horse manure to the top of my hop garden, approximately 100 lbs of 15-15-15 slow release fertilizer, and Miracle Grow at every watering. When the hops are done growing and have started to set the first hop flowers, I am going to switch to a 0-15-15 fertilizer to encourage flower development.

So far, this has worked pretty well for me. This is a picture of my hop garden from this morning:
P1030597.jpg

P1030594.jpg
 
OK, I'm officially jealous. That's one awesome hops garden! I've got one half inch sprout, and I think it is below 40 degrees here today.:mad:

Thanks for the great link!
 
OK, I'm officially jealous. That's one awesome hops garden! I've got one half inch sprout, and I think it is below 40 degrees here today.:mad:

Thanks for the great link!



The secrets for my success so far are fully visible in the photo: On the left side there is a fresh pile of horse manure as well as all over the beds, an empty box of Miracle Grow above the pile of manure and a hose-end sprayer for the fertilizer. Better life through chemistry and poo......
 
Amazing, calpyro. Mine aren't even ready to twine. Doesn't help that there was another frost yesterday and I'm looking at another week (at least) of cool, cloudy drizzle.
 
Amazing, calpyro. Mine aren't even ready to twine. Doesn't help that there was another frost yesterday and I'm looking at another week (at least) of cool, cloudy drizzle.

Frost is not good. I have had frost warnigns a couple of times a week, for the last month. I have only had a few leaves damaged. Nothing too bad.
 

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