Phosphorus Ammonia.... Dr. Tigger

A co-worker was telling me her sister uses a combination of phosphorus and ammonia on her veggies, plants, and shrubs. It makes them larger and stronger. She swears by it.

She takes a 5 gal bucket to the local Farmer's Co-op Fertilizer Plant. They give her the appropriate mixture of both in the bucket.


What are your thoughts on using this mixture on hostas?

They should be clean!
Nanook of the North going to the couch before I get sent there

Epson Salt works real good. I put it on my tomatoes & pepper plants this year and they were huge & very tasty. I haven't tried it on hosta, but think I might on a few of my older, more common ones, next year, just to see what it does.
Jan

Jan, this lady said she had to cut back her tomato plants this year. they grew over 5 feet tall and needed extra strength staking.

I don't know what the % is of each ingredient. that may make a difference for Tigger.

pupper / anticipating Tigger telling me its just a fertilizer combo and sic(ing) Nanook on my again

(waving Pupper's hairbrush in front of Nanook's nose...)
OK, Nanook, go get her! WRuff Wruff.

Not that I would know first-hand, but the chemist in me says it's just a cheapie fertilizer brew. Probably pretty hot, that I'd be afraid to put on many tender perennials. But that's me. My hostas (at least) are worth the extra pennies to buy a fertilizer put together by scientists.

(A hosta colleague, Warren Pollack, made an observant comment: he knows people who will spend $40 for a hosta plant, but are too cheap to buy the $12 bag of fertilizer that will cover the entire garden and opt for the $4 bag that ends up burning the plants.)

Tigger

I take it I can get off the couch now?
Nanook surmising that Pupper's clue might kill!

down nanook, down! sheeesh tigger, did ya have to tell her to go for the throat?

do I have to write 'a $40 hosta deserves a $12 bag of fertilizer' on the chalkboard a hundred times?

I appreciate the input tigger.

Tigger
I agree with you!! They will spend $40 on a plant at our nursery but won't buy the good potting soil for $6.99.They go to Wally World and buy it for 88 cents and wonder why their plant died!!
I would be afraid of that combo of ingredients too.
Hostandquilts
I use the epsom salts on the tomatoes and peppers too. It works by making the calcium in the soil more redily available to the plant, and calcium is what makes good fruits.