HelpfulGardener.com

I was out of my usual radius today, stopped at a garden center (shocker I know!), and did the usual browsing. I did get a bottle of
Lady Bug brand, John's Recipe liquid fertilizer. Anyone used this? It is weak on NPK (3-1.5-2). I figure I can use as directed on the seedlings. Ingredients are fish emulsion, seaweed, molasses & more. It's not advertized as organic, but looks good for the basil babies and miriad of other starts.[/b]

A follow up on this. I hope this isn't Snake Oil! The company is Lady Bug out of Austin TX, is small and has some outlets away from there. It isn't official organic that I can tell, but organic in casual sense, if this makes sense.

I mixed some up and watered the seedlings and the indoor basil. Tomorrow plan to get the 4" babies. There's about 5 flats of those now. As low as the # are (NPK 3 - 1.5 - 2) I don't see any burning, and then again, no fast growth! It is suggested as a foliar feed, so splashing some on leaves when watering shouldn't hurt as with MG.

I'm not sure why it's not labelled "organic"; maybe the ingredients themselves aren't certified as organic? Here's the page on John's Recipe liquid fertilizer, in any case.

My experience with similar liquid fertilizers (e.g., the fish-seaweed blend on this page) is that they can be diluted at half-strength and still help the plants. This discovery is due partly to my native...thrift--yes! that's what we'll call it --partly due to my reluctance to harm tender seedlings, and the balance is made up by years of hearing "fertilize weekly, weakly" in the world of cymbidiums. Not to worry: I got the "weakly" part of the message, anyway....

So use their label directions, or use even less of the fertilizer per unit of water; I'm sure the plants will appreciate whatever you do for them.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9