{"id":64340,"date":"2026-04-08T19:33:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=64340"},"modified":"2026-04-08T19:33:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:33:20","slug":"make-your-own-plant-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=64340","title":{"rendered":"Make Your Own Plant Food"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-64341\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Make_Your_Own_Plant_Food.jpg\" alt=\"Make Your Own Plant Food\" width=\"500\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Make_Your_Own_Plant_Food.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Make_Your_Own_Plant_Food-250x300.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Six fertilizers made from scraps \u2014 and each one targets a different plant need.<br \/>\nThe trick isn&#8217;t which one you make. It&#8217;s matching the right brew to what your plants are actually asking for.<\/p>\n<p>Compost tea delivers living soil microbes straight to the root zone of tomatoes, peppers, roses, and fruit trees. Steep finished compost in a burlap sack for two days, stir daily, dilute to weak-tea color, and pour at the base.<\/p>\n<p>Bone meal slurry gets phosphorus to roots faster than dry powder sitting on the surface. Two tablespoons per gallon, soak overnight, water directly into planting holes.<\/p>\n<p>Fermented banana peel soak is a potassium feed that strengthens flower production. Chop peels, submerge in water, ferment five days, strain, and dilute one part liquid to four parts water. Use on dahlias, zinnias, and sunflowers during bud development.<\/p>\n<p>Fish emulsion is high nitrogen for heavy feeders. Blend fish scraps with water, add sawdust to absorb odor, ferment two weeks with occasional stirring, strain, and dilute one-to-ten. Corn, squash, and brassicas take it up fast.<\/p>\n<p>Eggshell and vinegar extract converts calcium into a form roots can absorb immediately. Dissolve crushed shells in apple cider vinegar until fizzing stops \u2014 about two days. One tablespoon per gallon, applied to tomatoes, peppers, and melons at flowering stage.<\/p>\n<p>Seaweed concentrate delivers trace minerals most garden soils are missing. Soak fresh or dried seaweed three weeks, dilute one-to-five, and use as a foliar spray on seedlings, transplants, and stressed perennials.<\/p>\n<p>Every recipe starts with something that would have gone in the trash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Six fertilizers made from scraps \u2014 and each one targets a different plant need. The trick isn&#8217;t which one you make. It&#8217;s matching the right brew to what your plants are actually asking for. Compost tea delivers living soil microbes straight to the root zone of tomatoes, peppers, roses, and fruit trees. Steep finished compost &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=64340\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Make Your Own Plant Food&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening","category-general-interest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64342,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64340\/revisions\/64342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}