Re: Fertilizers vs. Non-Fertilizers

CCREDUX@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Ran,
> Here is a bet==Take two plants---same cultivars, same soil, same light, same
> size---apply only water to one. To other apply Osmocote, 12-12-12 , foliar
> Miracid, and same amount of water. Do this until 1 week before your first
> frost date.
> I bet you a plant of 'Broadway Frances' that the latter will be TWICE as big
> as the other, come spring.
> Also, apply Osmocote in August to the latter. (Indeed, apply it in October!)
> 
> Clyde Crockett z5
> 
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> message text UNSUBSCRIBE HOSTA-OPENClyde
I have done all that over the 43 years I have been in this business.  I 
have watched all the results by myself and many others.  The theory that 
"bigger is better" and "faster is best" is , for me , in question.  I 
have observed the gardens that regularly apply heavy amounts of 
fertlizer, (especially avaliable nitrogen) and see the following. Heavly 
fertlized plants do grow much faster.  They become "soft" , and are much 
more likely to have slug damage.  The same plants will be more subject to 
wind damage and hail damamge.  They will show seasonal deterioation of 
the older leaves more quickly and on some varieties the tendancy to 
"fairy ring",(form dead centers on the clump)is greatly speeded up.  In 
"good soils, with the proper PH, and adiquate amounts of moisture, a 
large portion of the minerals that a Hosta needs, are already avaliable.
I have been able to demonstrate this in my garden for almost 18 years.  
In all that time I simply have never put fertlizer on any plant!  I 
realizt that condtions vary from place to place and many gardens require 
"feeding"  The best way to find out the answer for one's self, is to 
compair results with using verious methods.
Ran 
Ran
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