How to apply fertilizer

My Vegetable seedlings came all up nice and also repotted them by now and now I should really start fertilizing them I have the plant prod all purpose fertilizer but im not sure how much I should use on each seedling and how much I should mix as I read a few times not to start with the full amount of fertilizer. I hope I make sense with my question.

Please help me!

Hi ednaf and welcome to Dave’s Garden!

Well, I don’t usually grow veggies (just flowers) but as far as fertilizing the seedlings, I doubt there would really be much difference. For most seedlings, 250 ppm (parts per million) is usually recommended.

The ppm is always based on the amount of nitrogen in the fertilizer. For example, if you were using a water soluble fertilizer with 10 percent nitrogen (the first number in the formula) you would mix about two teaspoons per gallon of water to come up with 250 ppm. If the fertilizer contained 20 percent nitrogen, you’d use only one teaspoon per gallon of water.

PPM formulas and calculators can be found on the web. If you find using ppm confusing, then a rough estimate would be to use about one half of the fertilizer that is recommended on the package (one fourth for really small seedlings).

Hope this is helpful,

Art

Hi Art, it sure was helpful. I'm so lost right now as this is my first year doing it and so far my plants are coming up wonderful I don't want them to die on me. Thanks again just one more question how often should I feed them fertilizer and then how much water do you give each little plant 1/4 cup would that be enough or more like 1/2 cup?

Hi again ednaf,

Well, as far as how often you need to fertilize depends on several things. For example, some growing mediums come with fertilizer already in them. In that case, you would not want to add much more. The size of the plants would make a difference also of course. As a general guideline, once every two weeks is often suggested. If your seedlings are in a sterile, soilless medium, with no fertilizer, you might want to add a small amount of liquid fertilizer once a week.

As for the watering, you just want the medium to be moist, not wet. Over-watering kills more seedling than all other possibilities put together! The roots need oxygen and too much water will not allow any room for that oxygen. Watering from the bottom is usually helpful when the seedling are small. Don’t over-water!

Art

Thank you Art. I will try my best you sure gave me enough information now it is up to me.

Happy Easter everyone!

I agree - over-watering kills more seedlings than all other causes combined. It causes root rot and damping off.

I could never bottom-water without clogging my bathtub drain until I stumbled on this idea. A pad of absorbent fabric (like cotton flannel or denim) under the seedling tray as it sits in a 1020 tray. Then EVERY cell or pot gets the same amount of water and I don;t have to fill the 1020 tray to have standing water.

I just water the flannel until it is quite damp. The grooves in the 1020 tray hold some water, but it only wicks up into the soil fast enough to keep the soil as damp as the flannel.

Medium and large air spaces in the soil tend to stay open (not fill with capillary or perched water) because the flannel wicks excess water DOWN and OUT of the soil just as it wicks water UP and IN to dry soil.

No plant runs out of water until they all run out of water.

http://allthingsplants.com/ideas/view/RickCorey/646/Bottom-Watering-Seedling-Trays-with-Cotton-Flannel-Prevents-Water-Logging/