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Hello everyone! I’ve always had a few plants around the house that… | Anything about plants | Planta community

CaraNewPlantMom

Hello everyone! I’ve always had a few plants around the house that have allowed me to neglect and never die. As I empty nest, I have ventured down the road of letting go of my kids and filling the void with plants! 😂 I have lots of questions however! Main question for now…. soil I have bought and repotted with has feed in it for up to six months. This app tells me to fertilize. Can some kind person please explain this? I haven’t done it at this point as I don’t want to kill my plants! Thanks!

1 like 5 comments

5 comments

  1. ADDeejay

    That’s a great question! I don’t know the amount of time to wait with the miraclegro stuff, but I will say, you don’t want to overfertilize. I’ve come to find that most plants need half the amount it says to. Also, I’m relatively new myself and I am finding that if I don’t mix the soil myself it usually kills my plants.

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  2. Alex

    It’s probably a slow release and you could wait to add fertilizer until after 6 months. That’s my guess! I usually add a liquid fertilizer every so often instead, but either is fine I think!

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  3. CaraNewPlantMom

    Thank you both for the advice! I think I’m going to take the approach of letting my plants communicate to me their needs before I do anything more.

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  4. 9s

    A few more things to consider: fertilizer in soil feeds the SOIL. healthy soil will have better water retention and feel light and airy. A lot of bagged soil contains things like worm castings/fertilizer pellets that help keep the soil full of nutrients. When Planta is suggesting you to fertilize, it’s asking you to feed the PLANT. If you checked fertilizing with watering, you’ll be using water soluble fertilizer that will be poured into your soil and absorbed by the roots. This is more like directly giving your plant nutrients, kind of an energy boost. Waiting for your plant to tell you it needs fertilizer can sometimes be detrimental because plants will suffer all around if it’s nutrient related. Instead, I suggest you try something that’s lower dosage until you get more comfortable. Miracle grow (the blue powder) is 1-1-1 and I’ve used it aggressively in the past and never had problems with it. I would start there until you get more used to looking for signs of what your plant may want.

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    • CaraNewPlantMom

      Thank you! That’s very helpful. Are the soaking banana peels, coffee grounds, epsom salt, etc a good alternative, or would you still suggest 1-1-1 feed?

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