2 Q's about fertilizer and sweetcorn/potatoes!

[kiwirach]

Hi all, i have a couple of questions to ask if i may.....

1) whats the difference between chicken manure pellets and fish blood & bone? do they do the same job or not, do i need both?.
i've tried to find the info myself in books i have but they only ever touch lightly on the subject and i'm unsure if i should have/use both. my local Wyevale has been taken over and the new owners are selling the 10l tubs for £4 off...so i got the pellets for £8 instead of £12. the FBB has a similar offer as well.

2) my sweetcorn and sweet potatoes havent done alot of growing lately and i'm thinking i need to pull them all up as the weather is cooling down, and i'm guessing neither will grow much more now. is this the right thing to do?.

thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully offer some opinions...

[Two_Sheds]

1) whats the difference between chicken manure pellets and fish blood & bone? do they do the same job or not, do i need both?.

Snadger will explain it better than me, but:
Chicken manure is a quick hit feed, and is alkaline
BFB is a slow release general fertiliser, well-balanced NPK

this is fun: http://www.plantea.com/manure.htm

[Two_Sheds]

2) my sweetcorn and sweet potatoes havent done alot of growing

they won't do anything now. I leave my sweetcorn in the ground over winter though, because ladybirds hibernate in it (it's also easier to pull up once the winter weather has been at it)

[Snadger]

Hi Kiwirach

Blood, fish and bone meal is an old organic,traditional balanced fertiliser, giving roughly equal quantities of Nitrogen,Phosphates and Potassium (NPK). It is quite slow acting and is geared to one or two applications per season. National Growmore (7-7-7) is a cheap alternative which was brought out to help the 'Dig for Victory' campaign in WW11. Growmore is the inorgnic equivalent of BFB.

Chicken manure pellets are a comparatively new type of fertiliser becoming popular over the last 5/10 years since organic growing became popular.

They are a high Nitrogen feed but do have the three major elements + trace elements. Roughly 4-3-3 NPK methinks. Fairly quick acting and water soluble makes them ideally suited for use when planting out.

[kiwirach]

they won't do anything now. I leave my sweetcorn in the ground over winter though, because ladybirds hibernate in it (it's also easier to pull up once the winter weather has been at it)

thanks for that two sheds....that was my feeling. will leave the sweetcorn for the ladybirds then, cos i had loads of them this year and i want to encourage them to stay!.

[kiwirach]

thanks for the link two sheds, i've saved it to read.

Snadger, thanks. is it worth having both types in the shed?

[Snadger]

..............Snadger, thanks. is it worth having both types in the shed?

Definately..............one compliments the other.

[RedThorn]

As to the fertiliser, I listen to others like Snadger, With the Sweetcorn, I have pulled mine up, as I needed the bed, but I was careful and put then in an old leaking waterbutt so as not to disturb the ladybirds. You want to try and keep as many of them in your garden as possible.

[Snadger]

I am still cropping my sweetcorn but when I got to the lottie today it was all horizontal with the wind!!!!!!!