What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

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stevelau1911
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What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

Post by stevelau1911 »

I've been adding foliar feeding to my vegetables which seem to absorb nutrients through their leaves, and I've been using a mix of kelp, supernova, and miracle gro, all fairly diluted to avoid burning, usually by around 8-9PM when the sun is not going to keep the pores closed. Does that sound like a good fertilizing regiment?

I know it does seem to make vegetables more lush and a darker green, but I think there may be something that can really turn them into monsters. I've been foliar feeding about once per week.

I used to use a regular squirt bottle which was way too time consuming especially as my plants grew bigger so I resorted to getting a hand pump sprayer, but the one I use still seems to be a bit slow at getting the water out, but it is better than a squirt bottle since It's a bit faster, and I can pump it, then hold onto a button to keep the water flow going.

This is the exact model I use. It works alright now, but becomes kind of useless later in the season when plants produce many more leaves, and the misting rate is still super slow.
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canadianplant
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Re: What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

Post by canadianplant »

There are 2 that I know of... *check the net for proper instructions and amounts.

Seaweed and or kelp meal. Ive been using it this year and it seems to work really well. Not too much of a chance of burning unless youre crazy with it and make it super concentrated.

Another way is to make comfrey tea. The plant has massive deep roots that are used to break up hardpan. The plant absorbs these minerals. You basically "steep" the comfrey plants (in flower) in water for a day or 2, stirring every few hours. You can spray directly on plants or use it to fertilize the roots..

The last one I know of is compost tea. Use very finished compost, wrap it in cheese cloth and dump it in a bucket of water. It has to sit somewhat covered for a few days and it needs oxygen. You also throw in a teaspon of molasses as food. You can then either stir it every few hours, or toss in an aquarium airstone which does the work. Once the tea sits for a few days and smells like wet forest, you pull the cheese cloth and compost out and use the "tea" as the fertilizer.
Alan_L
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Re: What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

Post by Alan_L »

canadianplant wrote:The last one I know of is compost tea.... and compost out and use the "tea" as the fertilizer.
I thought compost tea was relatively low in nutrients, and that it was the bacteria that was the main benefit to using it?

(Also, I know that studies have been done that seem to show that compost tea doesn't really provide any additional benefit when compared to straight top-dressing the soil with the compost. Anybody see any newer studies that confirm or refute this?)
stevelau1911
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Re: What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

Post by stevelau1911 »

I have tried worm tea myself a couple years ago, and it really didn't work any better than laying the stuff down and top dressing all my plants. One thing that I have found that seems to be having an effect only after a week of usage is the gypsum as it doesn't look like there is any more puddling, even when it is constantly raining on the areas where I applied.

I also tried digging into the an area where I applied gypsum vs an area where I didn't, and it looks like the area with the gypsum application causes the clay soil to be more workable as it is no longer plain sludge. I might need another pallet of that stuff.


I have also found out that it wasn't that my foliar feeding wasn't effective. It was just the lack of sunshine, along with endless rain that has caused a lot of my plants to decline. In the past 2 days, it has been mostly sunny with temperatures in the mid 80s, and some of my vegetables are looking about twice the size as if they've been held back for a long time. Aside from the size of the plants, they also look more firm, and a darker green than they were on Thursday. Now that we are truly into summer, I doubt that cool, cloudy, and wet conditions will be an issue.

Another thing I'm trying now is to slowly increase the concentration of miracle gro & kelp in my foliar spray just to see how much these plants can handle.


One other application I want to try out is to see if I can spray my diatomaceous earth onto some of the vegetables that are starting to get attacked by flea beetles. The only thing I'm afraid of is it clogging up my sprayer, but I could just use it on one of my cheap squirt bottles to try out. I use this stuff on my vegetables because the hardcore pesticides tend to burn off the ends and set back my vegetables, and I don't want to consume that stuff.

This is the stuff I've been sprinkling on which doesn't seem to cause any burn, but seems fairly effective so far.
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canadianplant
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Re: What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

Post by canadianplant »

Alan - Usually it is used in conjunction with normal top dressing and for bioload, but will still have some nutrients if the compost was made properly. You think you can find the study you mentioned and link it please?

Steve - worm compost is the same. You cant expect to dump only say, nitrogen fert and expect it to work properly right? Using the organic methods in conjunction work quite well for me so far. I only havnt tried compost/comfrey tea because i have blood/bone meal, used manure/compost and use my seaweed fert every 2 weeks.

Most of the time, these type of feed seem to have an instant effect, but (wrongly) seem to have no long term effects. Usually they help acculumate nutrients in the soil and help breed soil life. The more you use at the same time, the more effective it seems to be.
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Re: What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

Post by Alan_L »

Nothing conclusive. Lots of "informal" studies of compost tea in disease prevention on roses. Found this quote from an OSU report:
While it can contain some nutrients and micronutrients, compost tea should not be thought of as a fertilizer. A healthy, biologically diverse soil promotes more efficient nutrient cycling, which can eventually reduce the amount of fertilizer nutrients required. Compost tea should not be viewed as a fungicide or pesticide either. Research has not shown that compost teas can prevent foliar diseases through foliar sprays in a consistent fashion. Compost tea is more accurately described as a soil or foliar inoculant to be used in combination with other good organic gardening practices and inputs.
Full text here:
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/dougla ... ompost-tea

I just Googled "compost tea study".
canadianplant
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Re: What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

Post by canadianplant »

Ahhhh yeah, thats exactly what I was thinking. As I was saying its best used in conjunction with other fertilizers.

Thanks for the link!
stevelau1911
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Re: What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

Post by stevelau1911 »

With some more days with some sunshine, I'm finding that the leaves on the luffa vines are starting to turn dark green, and almost too heavy to support themselves as they have been getting bigger/heavier. The space between each leaf however looks a bit stunted, but the vines and leaf stems do look thicker after several sprays with the foliar hand spray.

I haven't updated with any pictures recently, but it does look like there has been a clear difference made after 2 weeks. It doesn't look like any of my moso seedlings that I foliar fed have made a difference, or the test tomato plant either. Only the vine producing melons/ gourds seem to be making a noticeable change so far.

I hope that an abundance of nitrogen in these plants doesn't hinder the fruit production, but if fruits don't manage to form in a couple weeks, then I might have to stop the foliar spray.
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Re: What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

Post by canadianplant »

What did you end up using steve?
stevelau1911
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Re: What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

Post by stevelau1911 »

I've been messing around with different water solubles on different plants, and so far, it looks like plain green miracle gro is having the best results as a foliar feed. Based on how green this stuff turns the leaves, it doesn't look like I really need to foliar feed them any more than once every 3-4 days.

One thing I've wondered about is would foliar feeding bamboos serve any purpose? I'm not sure if bamboos can absorb nutrients through their leaves.
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Re: What would be the best foliar fertilizer for vegetables?

Post by bambooweb »

stevelau1911 wrote: I'm not sure if bamboos can absorb nutrients through their leaves.
Foliar feeding Iron worked for me.
Since my pH is high I normally hade yellowing leaves in the fall due to Iron deficiency. A spray with chelated Iron would green up the leaves within a week.
After a couple years of adding sulfur compounds to the soil the leaves have stopped turning yellow so I only need to do this on new plantings.

Bill
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