Anyone use Fish Emulsion

Boy does that stuff stink! It is working wonders on my Epis though. Are there some plants that you shouldn't use it on? Does anyone else have any results to share?

I use fish/kelp emulsion on just about everything in my garden, the vege's in particular love it. I'm currently using one by EB Stone and it reeeeeekkkssss for days afterwards. Too bad I bought a gallon of it :( The brand I was using before was Neptunes Harvest and the smell wasn't as bad and it faded much faster.

Hi,

I use it once a month on my potted herbs and also on my tomato plants before they start flowering. I always use the Alaska brand. It stinks for a day or two and then goes away.

I like Neptunes Harvest fish/kelp. I spray weekly.

I just started using it too - OMG! It sure does stink ;)
So far everything seems to have responded really good to it. - I started about 3 months ago and I have houseplants that have had no growth for the past 2 years suddenly start growing..
I'd say give it a try! I dont think it can hurt.. goodluck!
bre

Fish emulsion was my go-to fertilizer until I sucked it up and tried to go vegetarian. Sometimes I still cave, because there is just nothing that can replace it. I've tried the alfalfa tea, the compost tea, the worm and bat poo teas, but there is just some kind of crazy magic in fish emulsion that will make limp, coughing roses start singing opera arias. Metaphorically, of course. :)

I do; in fact, I'm considering ordering a 5 gallon pail of it (Neptune's Harvest fish & kelp) from Johnny's. The 5 gallon pail would cost about the same as ordering two 1 gallon jugs!

I used the Neptunes Harvest fish last year...worked well and the smell was not to terrible. This year I'm doing Neptunes Fish/Seaweed combo...works well too. I find it does not smell as much, and everything seems to love it. I use it on all my roses I planted, clematis and veggies too.

MAF

I used Multi-Bloom this year and it worked quite well. It doesn't smell too bad and once it dries, you can't smell it at all.

I use Alaska's Fish Emulsion--it says it's deodorized but it still smells...if this is the less smelly version, I shudder to think what 'regular' scent smells like!

I keep using it because the plants do love it, though--in fact, I sprayed all the plants in our yard before going to work this morning.

My 'babies' this year are my heirloom tomatoes and they're doing great so far. Since I sprayed them with fish emulsion this a.m., when would it be safe for me to spray with neem oil solution? Do I have to wait a few days?

I use fish emulsion of both varieties. It depends on where I'm shopping when I buy it. I usually use it on stuff that needs a boost of Nitrogen.

Just a couple questions from a newbee. When you spray tomatoes with fish emulsion do you spray the leaves too? I have read so much about watering from the bottom and not getting the leaves wet. Also what exactly is it that Epsom Salt does? Nanadee

I have used the fish emulsion both over the whole plant and just at the base with pretty similar results, so I don't think it makes much difference. I did learn one funny lesson about spraying the whole plant though. Several years ago I had sprayed my tomatoes quite well...all over...and several hours later my husband came in the back door with a handful of cherry tomatoes which he popped into his mouth without washing. You have never seen anything come back out so quickly! It was hilarious. He was sure they were rotting on the inside 'til I admited to having sprayed them with the fish emulsion. It might be best to keep it at the base if you're near harvesting...or at least really wash your produce.
Kathy

Kathy, that's too funny! LOL!!! I sprayed my wifes herbs with it and she complained that it smelled so bad. So I told her to wash it off. She got a shock when I told her I was going to use it on houseplants.

I'll bet she did...wouldn't want it in the house at all! The other thing I accidentily ran into is finding that the smell can bring in racoons if you're at all in a rural area. I don't think they want rotted fish, but they may figure if there are bad ones, there might be good ones too. I've always been leary of using it if I was too close to sweet corn harvest. They can be onry critters in the garden. Howwever, despite all this, I really love what it does in my garden.
Kathy

Lol.. I sprayed my veggie garden with it last night... it works good to get the kids back into the house and ready for baths/ bed ;)

I have some, but am afraid to spray as I've heard it draws groundhogs too and we have a whole zoo of them on the place.

Have used Alaska (at our previous home) with excellent results - and I didn't think it smelled too bad and I do not like fish.

Thanks to wgnkiwi, rtl850nomore, amys and milesf1 for the Neptune's Harvest suggestion. I sprayed the Fish/Seaweed combo last night. I did not find the odor offensive at all -- hardly has any odor. I think my okra plants grew 3 inches overnight. We'll see how it affects the tomatoes and peppers.

I love the stuff and have used it for decades! Not only is it great for the plants but it seems to help keep the dang deer from eating the tops of certain plants. I guess the odor (a very faint odor to me unless used in the greenhouse!) is not pleasant to the deer. I spray it to repel the rabbits as well when they start nibbling my young bean plants.

We have a cat and two dogs and I've not noticed them being attracted to my plants but my dog sure does like licking the excess drip off the edge of the bottle when she gets a chance!

Shoe

Hah! My thoughts exactly, wgnkiwi! All the more reason to be sure to keep the bottle up high, out of reach! (and make sure my happy dog doesn't come up and lick me anytime soon!)

*grin

I guess I shouldn't tell y'all about my dog getting snacks out of the litter box, then.

Hmmm. I was wondering about the attraction of dogs and fish emulsion. I haven't used mine yet because I was afraid my boys would make short work of my garden.

Brigidlily, I have 2 English Mastiffs and we have to keep the litter box covered and turned otherwise they make off with the "kitty-box krunchies". BLECH!

Years ago we had a duplex and my parents best friends lived in the unit in front of us. This couple was the greatest and we had so much fun together. One day I had spent a lot of time fertilizing and just grooming everything in the yard, loving it and generally having a good time-- and ended up still being outside when "Roy" got home from work. He stopped and mentioned what a beautiful day it was, said "Jacquie, it's such a beautiful day I can actually smell the ocean" (which was several miles away). What a cute guy he was, I laughed so hard, never forgot that day.I think about Roy every time I use fish emulsion, I think that's one reason I like it so much. Nothing like precious memories.

I use Alaska Fish Emulsion and I always thought that rotten fish smelled better than the weird toxic chemical scent of petroleum based fertilizers ( I call them that rather than 'chemical' because people often forget that *everything* is made up of one or more of the chemical elements!)

I like to scratch the soil, water the soil with it around the root areas, then scratch it in, which I found reduced the odor fairly quickly.

I use Alaska as well. It does have a distinctive smell, but I don't find it that unpleasant -- it's like roses compared to nice, ripe alfalfa tea -- and the smell dissipates pretty quickly. Neither the cats nor the dog seems much intrigued by it.