Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Hydrangea Feed

sue.harden1sue.harden1 Posts: 33
in Plants
Just brought a Vanille Fraise - what’s the best hydrangea feed to use please?
thx 
«1

Posts

  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    Are you growing your plant in a pot or in the ground?  I grow another similar variety, Hydrangea paniculata Limelight, in the ground.  After pruning them last month I gave them a few handfuls of blood fish and bone and applied a composted organic manure as a mulch.  It really depends on the quality of your soil, mine is sandy and needs improving to support hungry shrubs like hydrangeas.
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    A general feed and mulch in Spring is all that they need [ assuming they are in the ground and not a pot ]
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I agree - a slow release food in spring [I also use B,F&B] and mulch. My soil is heartier though - clay, so it needs very little for things like hydrangeas. I rarely feed mine at all - they just get some organic matter added. Poorer soils will need more help. 

    In a pot - totally different though @sue.harden1 . They're reliant on you for everything.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited April 2023
    Plant roots take-up needed foods as a solution in water.  Anything organic like bllod, fish and bone will need to decompose a bit before it become soluble.  And needs to be incorporated in the soli.  I think Growmore is probably the best and cheapest NPK, applied to the surface and left for the rain to carry it down to the roots.

    The necessary trace minerals should already be in your soil.  Magnesium might the next most needed (apply as Epsom Salts) but probably not.  Blueing is not an issue with paniculatas.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    edited April 2023
    Growmore is a synthetic fertiliser.  I'd rather use an organic fertiliser that breaks down gradually and naturally like blood, fish and bone.  Applied to the soil in late February/March, its nutrients will have broken down and become available for the plant to take up as it is starting to regrow in Spring.
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited April 2023
    My dog and the badgers and foxes are attracted to the smell of BF&B.  BF&B, if not properly sterilised can contain all sorts of noxious ills.  Nowt wrong with synthetic per se.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    We all have our own preferences, I know my brother’s Labrador likes BF&B too!
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • sue.harden1sue.harden1 Posts: 33
    Thx all - Hydrangea is planted in a container 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It'll need more sustenance then. I've never grown them in pots as they aren;t terribly well suited to that, but it's dependent on you, as I said earlier, so you may need to give it a bit more. I've had them in raised beds, but they weren't fed in those as I'd still rather make sure the growing medium was good - ie manure/leaf mould/good soil etc. They may have had the odd sprinkle of BF&B every couple of years.
    If you must feed, be careful how much it gets - too much artificial food can create a loft of very soft growth which is then more susceptible to swings in temperature especially into autumn/winter. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    I'm coming round to thinking that plants, like humans, don't need as much food as we give them.  Good compost (John INnes No3, ) may be all your plant needs.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Sign In or Register to comment.