5/15/2021 – The pepper seedlings in the garden are looking less like they have a magnesium deficiency and growing. Many have blooms but are less than 12″ high. As they like a lower pH we mixed cottonseed meal in with the 8-8-8 and applied it as follows. To not fertilize the weeds between the plants spaced 24″ apart, we broke up the soil around the plant, sprinkled the fertilizer with cottonseed meal, and raked it in.
- Given about 40 plants and the plan is to spread 1 cup around each we need to prepare 40 cups or 20 pints. Once Mary began sprinkling it around the plants it was clear that one cup was too much. She put out ¼ to ½ cups around each one. Consider repeating in a couple of weeks.
- To apply 25% of it as cottonseed meal, mix 5 pints of meal into 15 pints of 8-8-8 (about 2 gallons).
Notes:
- Fertilizer was placed along the row before the hill was pulled up.
- The wide rows on either side of the plants were tilled yesterday to remove the few weeds and break up the rain-packed soil.
Side-dressed the cucumbers with 33-0-0 as most are vining and blooming. One even has a 1″ baby cuke.
The cantaloupes are also beginning to vine so sidedressed them with 33-0-0.
