JaredZone9a

I accidentally deleted my note with recommended dosage.

Anybody care to share what your dosage is and what seems to work well for your plants?

crazy banana

3/4 cup diluted in a 5 Gallon bucket of water applied once every month to established plants in the ground.
Smaller or potted plants I use a tablespoon per Gallon of water.

JaredZone9a

Thank you!

smeash

That stuff gets expensive FAST when you have alot of plants! Good fert tho!

wstrickland1

My problem is there's pretty much no way 5 gallons is going to hang around the plant due to the slight grades I have throughout. This may be a very ignorant question but can you use the prescribed 3/4 cup diluted in 1 gallon? Reading the package it seems to allude to the fact that the higher concentration may be ok. I've been splitting it up in (5) 1 gallon treatments but after a couple it just runs away

JaredZone9a

I bet! :-)

JaredZone9a

Great question. I’ll let the more experienced chime in. I just did 5 tablespoons / 5 gallons. We’ll see how far I can push them when they mature more.


Are their some tale tale signs of over fertilizing?

Akula

Oh, yeah.
1. Leaves start jamming up-next leaf is coming out before the prior leaf has properly opened;
2, Crinkly marks on the leaves. Looks like the leaf has been hit with a waffle iron;
3, Twisted leaves;
4. Leaf opens and is extremely paie or pale in spots. These white areas are prone to sunburn;
5. Deformed leaves;
6. Cigar leaf begins to open or opens but the cigar/leaf collapses or breaks.

Usually skipping a fertlizer application clears the problem. Fast growth can also be due to unusually large amounts of rain.

One leaf per 7 days is about the right speed for most plants actively growing. Sometimes you can get away with 5 but that's when the problems start to develop. Also different plants can take different volumes of fertilizer before they encounter problems. Namwa and Patupi can eat a lot of fertilizer. Raja Puri not so much. Also the local rainfall conditions have an impact. Plants grown outdoors in the ground can take a great deal more fertilzer than plants in pots because of rainfall and leaching.

wstrickland1

So what are your thoughts on the amount you suggest but less water? Like I said 5 gallons won't stay where I need it. Maybe do it over the course of a couple of days?

smeash

The dilution ratio is likely to keep the concentration at a level that wont burn the roots. This is another reason i like the slow release granuals vs liquid fert. If you want to stick to that particular product, try maybe a gallon at a time over a few hrs so it soaks in and doesnt run off.

wstrickland1

Thanks that's basically what I started doing, just hoping for a magic bullet haha

crazy banana

Splitting it up is one solution. My banana plants are not on a level patch either. Our soil is rock hard and needs tons of amendments, usually loads of compost covered with a thick layer of mulch. Like with any other fruit tree we grow, the mulch is not supposed to touch the stem/pseudostem meaning we build moats around the plant that will distribute the water where it is most needed.

wstrickland1

I have to work on the moat thing 😞

crazy banana

Nothing fancy, just don’t mulch all the way to the stem.

JaredZone9a

Great description man. That helps a lot. Thank you for the detailed information. I think I may have over did a few already.

JaredZone9a

What are you currently using? I like to hear what others are using too.

brugman

Akula, thanks for listing those indicators of over fertilizing. You are spot on about Raja Puri not being able to take too much fertilizer, as mine has shown. My 2 dwarf Brazilian however have shown no ill effect of being pushed a little bit.

sirdoofus

I would agree with crazybanana, mulch, mulch, much mulch....water can still run off it underneath at first, but once the critters under the mulch get to work on the soil surface, it should soak right in.

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