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Old February 19, 2011   #10
dice
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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I do not have Alaska Fish Fertilizer fish emulsion this year
(finished gallon jug last year), but I have used it on both
seedlings and plants (for a nitrogen boost at transplant and
if plants are showing any nitrogen deficiency during the season)
without problems. For seedlings, I mixed it at 1 tsp per gallon
and used it every couple of weeks, bottom watering and letting
the seedling containers soak it up.

Alaska Fish Fertilizer fish emulsion from Lilly Miller is 5-1-1,
a less balanced fertilizer than Neptune's Harvest or
Drammatic fish emulsions. My understanding is that
the Alaska Fish Fertilizer brand is made from cannery fish
scrap, while the Neptune's Harvest and Drammatic brands
are made from whole fish, which apparently has higher
phosporous and potassium content. (I do not think a 5-1-1
NPK balance is suitable to be the only fertilizer for tomatoes
for the whole season.)

As far as I know the Alaska Fish Fertilizer fish emulsion product
is all fish products, though, and it does have the many trace
elements found in fish emulsions and fish meals. I would guess
that most people that use it on tomatoes all season have other
sources of phosphorus and potassium in their soil or container
mix and are not depending on the Alaska Fish Fertilizer for the
plants' entire supply of those nutrients.

(That "all fish" composition of the Alaska Fish Fertilizer
fish emulsion is not true of the Alaska Fish Fertilizer Morbloom
product though, which contains added phosphoric acid and
muriate of potash in addition to whatever fish emulsion it
contains.)

The seedlings seem to do ok with the fish emulsion,
although you can end up with a lot of plant with not
much of a root ball on occasion if the seedling mix has
stayed very moist from sprouting to transplant. Adding
some kelp meal to the seed-starting mix or liquid kelp
to the fish emulsion stimulates root elongation and
produces more robust seedlings than the fish emulsion
alone.

The Neptune's Harvest and Drammatic brands are a more
balanced fertilizer that you can use from transplant to harvest
as the plants' only fertilizer source without ending up with
a nitrogen-heavy nutrient balance. (Those brands are not
commonly found on store shelves in the Pacific Northwest,
and they cost more, too.)
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Last edited by dice; February 21, 2011 at 05:39 AM. Reason: trivial; Libby -> Lilly Miller
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