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Feeding advice

agoodrumagoodrum Posts: 39
in Plants
Hi all.  Could anyone give me some advice please on feeding annual bedding and evergreens/perennials in containers.
Is it better to feed every two weeks with something like miracle gro which I have regularly used or use slow release feed, such as the granules or fish, blood and bone or something similar?
Particularly with annual bedding I wondered if adding the slow release at the planting stage would mean no other feeding needed during the season.  
Or am I being a bit lazy.....😁
Same with the established container plants really.  
Although I do use tomato feed for flowering plants would that be too much with any other feed?
Thank you. 

Posts

  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    I would assume the compost/medium would support plants for about 6 weeks. We tend to use tomato feed watered on everything
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It largely depends on the plant. I use slow release stuff for sweet peas, but I also use tomato food later in the season because they're very greedy plants. They have manure in the pots as well if possible. Other annuals would probably be fine with just the slow release stuff. I don't grow a lot of annuals though, so someone else might be able to suggest advice for those. The ones I use are generally ones which need no extras.
    Shrubs and perennials are slightly different, and it's more about the growing medium itself. Shrubs need a good hearty soil based medium, and don't really need extra food, other than maybe a small amount of something like BF&Bone on planting.
    For perennials, it  will depend on what they are. I don't keep many in pots other than when I'm growing them on before planting out, so the compost they have each time is usually  enough. If they're staying potted long term, they'd need some new compost every year, and some of the slow release food might be useful at that stage too   :)
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  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I give annuals in pots slow release feed, to last the whole season.
    Heavy feeders: Sweet Peas, Dahlias, Cannas etc, get weekly tomato feed.
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  • agoodrumagoodrum Posts: 39
    Thanks for the replies folks.
    I think I'll stop with the two-weekly miracle gro feed and go with the slow release and tom feed where needed then.  
    Although today it is raining hard so looking out the window is all the activity my garden will get today!
    Thanks again. 
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