Citrus/Fruit Tree food

[Persephone]

Need your wisdom on the Subject plant food.

I won it at a neighborhood nursery contest a few years ago and would like to utilize it for something other than Citrus and Fruit Tree. But what?

I now have only one Citrus -- a big old lemon tree which doesn't seem to need any help producing bounteous fruit (chronic whitefly notwithstanding)..

Over time, had to (sadly) take out the peach, plum, and apricot.

So here I have this E.B. Stone Organics formula. What else can I use it for?

The detailed formula, basically 7-3-3, can be found at:

addition, the faded old label lists following ingredients:

Humic Acd

Bacillus Subtilis Bacillus Lichniformis Paenbacillus Polymyxa Bacillus Pumulis Stretomyces Lycidus Streptomyces Greiseus Trichodema Harzianum Trichoderma Veride

Calcined Clay

Endo Mycorrhizae (yam) Three species (.65 spore/cu cm) Glomus Intraradices Glomus Mosseae Glomus Aggregatum

I am very impressed, but...?

Any help on where I can use this plant food would be much appreciated.

Persephone

[David E. Ross]

Gardenias thrive on citrus food, as would most acid-loving plants. However, it tends to be too strong for azaleas and camellias, both of which actually prefer a lean soil (i.e., low in nutrients).

As for your other fruit trees, they were all stone fruits. That is, they were all in the genus Prunus. This is a group that is relatively short-lived. The peach in my garden is my second in 34 years and is in decline.

[Persephone]

[...]

Thank you very much for that detailed analysis. Very interesting.

I would still like to ask NG if they know of any SPECIFIC uses to which I can put the leftover formula. Below is the original post:

===========================================

The detailed formula, basically 7-3-3, can be found at:

addition, the faded old label lists following ingredients:

Humic Acd

Bacillus Subtilis Bacillus Lichniformis Paenbacillus Polymyxa Bacillus Pumulis Stretomyces Lycidus Streptomyces Greiseus Trichodema Harzianum Trichoderma Veride

Calcined Clay

Endo Mycorrhizae (yam) Three species (.65 spore/cu cm) Glomus Intraradices Glomus Mosseae Glomus Aggregatum

I am very impressed, but...?

Any help on where I can use this plant food would be much appreciated.

Persephone

[Jim Kingdon]

Well, it is a nitrogen-rich fertilizer. Has a number of microorganisms intended to be beneficial in it (not sure whether I'd trust them to be alive anymore, especially given how old it is, but that's probably neither here nor there). I don't really know much about most of the metals and such (in terms of whether those numbers are big or small, and what it means).

You can probably use it on almost anything, except a plant that you want to flower or fruit in the near future (for those, it is too nitrogen-rich). If in doubt, be cautious about how much you apply (for example, dilute it beyond the directions on the label).

I don't know, were you hoping for a more specific answer? There's bound to be at least some trial and error with this kind of thing, but the main way you are likely to damage your plants is if you apply a large quantity of some concentrated thing (and 7-3-3 is only moderately strong, as fertilizers go).

(I don't think symplastless's response has made it to my news server, so my apologies if I'm duplicating or whatever).

[symplastless]

Most plants are autotrophs. How are you going to feed an autotroph? Thats silly.

One of the closest plants to an Heterotroph is the ghost flower. It gets its food from other plants in a process called the bicarbohydrate transfer of plants.

If we could feed a plant we would put the sun out of business.

[symplastless]

What about the other 14 essential elements?