Re: Fruit Fuel
 

Having been to your house, I would say that method is a good match to the number of plants you are feeding.

The Miracle Gro Marketing Corp. actually has two dispenser products, one made for their Miracle Gro fertilizer packets and the other labeled "Ortho Dial N' Spray". The latter is a good product for dispensing liquids (I use it for pesticides) but otherwise a pain-in-the-calculator for your application.

Yes, the Dosatron is an investment in infrastructure. You could consider the Grow More fertilizer injector (requires investment in a 5+ gallon bucket): Grow More 1:15 Siphon Mixer, 0.75-inch shrink wrap. I use this inline for my Vacciniums and Orchids.

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

Well, no investment needed in another 5 gallon water bucket....
For now, I think I will stick with it, but next time I stock up on my fruit fuel, I will check back with you on the Siphon Mixer....
Btw: my new trees and the banana plants love the fruit fuel.

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

Sorry if I missed it but what do you charge for this fertilizer and how often or in what quantity do you recommend it to be applied?

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

Here's the details

Water-soluble version (recommended): Grow More 16-8-24 Fruit Fuel, 5-pound bag

Organic gardening version: Grow More Organic Fruit Fuel, 4.5-pound pail

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

I opened my newly-received bag of this fertilizer yesterday but it was clumped together like hard clay; obviously a lot of moisture had got in. Is it worthless or should it still be capable of doing its job? The clumps can be broken up by hand and most of the tablespoon I used dissolved in a gallon of cold water without any stirring. The color when dissolved in water was brown.

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

Actually, the only water in the bag was from the manufacturing process. The Calcium content in the fertilizer causes it to set. There is nothing wrong with the product, and as you noticed it is easily reduced to powder. The initial color of the product is grey, but will color the water brown due to the iron content.

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

Mine looked black almost in my auto-feeder, but I'm sure it works just as well as blue (Banana Fuel).. :^)

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

That's a relief! Thanks. I got concerned because I have a different Grow-More soluble fertilizer that is truly a powder so I assumed they all would be.

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

Banana Fuel did the same thing except got alot harder, but reduces in water really well.. :^)

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

Just wondering why the fuel wasn't made as granular as well?

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

The Organic Fruit Fuel is in granular form.

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

Will the Organic be available in a bigger bag soon?

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

Grow More would typically package granular in 15-lb and 50-lb bags. I am considering 20-lb. Do you have a preference?

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

I think we should add Fruit Fuel to the list of "Nursery Fertilizers" on the wiki: Info:Fertilizer - Bananas Wiki

On a more general note, is it ok to fertilize transplanted bananas before they start actively growing again? Or is it better to wait for them to resume growth before adding the fertilizer?

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

If they have roots, yes -- provided the dosage is appropriate for the plant size and season.

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

IDK what shipping would cost on 50lb, but I could use 50lb a year. And that is not even on the bananas.

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

In terms of nutrients that plants receive: 50 lbs of 4-4-7 Organic Fruit Fuel is equal to 12.5 lbs of water-soluble 16-8-24 Fruit Fuel. (Aside: the 4-4-7 has higher proportion of P and K because a portion of these will be bound up in the soil in a granular application.)

So in your situation, a 25-lb bag of 16-8-24 would be sufficient for your entire garden for a year. This ships anywhere in the U.S. by USPS LFRB (large flat rate box) for $15.80.

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

I was assuming I would use the granular 2 - 3 times a year. I prefer soil building over liquid. Mostly because Liquid needs to be reapplied every 1 - 2 weeks and I just havent had the time for that. Granular is just a easy way for me to be a little lazy.

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

That's how most people use the water-soluble.

Once a garden patch has been inoculated with soil microbes it is good for 7-10 years.

That's not true. The dosage is per month, which can be doubled or tripled and applied every 2 or 3 months during the growing season. People who apply more frequently to a large garden do so because they have an injection system.

For injection systems, the EZ-Flo is very expensive and very poorly rated (except by company advertisers). The Dosatron systems are about 2/3 the cost of EZ-Flo, used professionally for decades, and for a large garden will pay for themselves over the cost of organic granular vs. complete water-soluble in 1 to 2 years. For smaller gardens a siphon mixer with a 5 gallon bucket is the way to go.

Re: Fruit Fuel
 

I have been using a 55 gal Barrel as my mix batch and pumping it throught my sprinklers. I was using it quite often. Now that my sprinklers are not working correctly I was going to do 1 cup per 5 gal bucket per plant or matt.

Should be, but with City water, plant feeding, leechin gout and if I use other chemical fertlizer I like to always replace. I notice a difference so I do like to go that route still.

I am one of "Those" that are trying to push off "Chemical" based fertlizers.