Florikan doesn't even sell to small commercial people anymore. They told me to go to a place that was down the road, but that same landscape supply place has a store in Tampa just off the Mango exit off I-4. Get off that exit and go a bit west on 92 and they are on the right. I'll see if I can find the name for you, I would need to search out the name again. It's been a couple of years since I went mover there.

That was easy, Big Earth Supply on MLK.

Plantsman, do you know what they sell the #40 or #50 bag for? I was looking at their Citrus Blend fertilizer...thanks!!

There are lots of different formulas and everything from 180 day to 360 day formulas. Last time, I was getting a 180 with a kicker added for my hot pepper plants and that was about $57. They didn't carry my favorite 360 day 18-6-8 with minors formula, so I ended up having to get that at BWI, which I didn't mind, but it is all the way up in Apopka. The one in Sarasota had more variety of types. I would for sure call first to see if they have a formula you want. They were able to bring in some things for me though, but it took a few weeks. Most everything I get is in 50 pound bags.

This post was edited by plantsman56 on Sun, Feb 16, 14 at 21:38

Thank you! I am going to call Big Earth and see what they have.

I am on the fence regarding durations. One one hand, 360 is attractive for the "do it once and forget it" aspect.

OTOH, reality might be different... e.g. pots get turned over in the wind and some soil comes out and fertilizer is lost when you top off. Also, I'm not sure these the label specs match our conditions. e.g. Nutricote references a 70-something degree soil temperature as a baseline. I don't think this will be the case on my patio in July...

So maybe 180 isn't so bad because it lets me fertilize now and then again in late summer when everything is still growing strong anyway? I'm mostly talking fruit trees, plumeria, and ornamental tropicals.

I've used the 18-6-8 360 formula for 22 years. It works great and here in Lakeland, and I would water them with 3/4 inch every other day. It late the entire year for sure. It takes about 2 months before it reaches maximum release, but when I pot something new up that works great for me. I want new plants to rot is fast, so I'll top dress the plant after it is potted up, with triple super phosphate (0-46-0) TSP only lasts a month, so I get roots growing three times faster than they normally wood and then the Nutricote kicks in, and the plants just go nuts, at least the softer ones do anyway. Nutricote is supposed to be incorporated and not used as a top dressed so it doesn't fall out unless a pile of soil were to dump out on the ground. For the price, 360 is cheaper per year to use and you only do it once. On older plants, I dig a round trench with my finger and pour the amount in the trench and then cover that up. It works the best though when it is uniformly mixed, either in the entire soil area, or at least just under the entire surface. I use this on about 12000 plants each year so anywhere I can save some time, that's a great thing.

OK, So Big Earth sells a Florikan product, this time branded as Florikote.

They have 12-2-14 and 8-2-12 (with higher magnesium), both in 180 day formulas. The former is suggested for landscapes and the latter, citrus and palms. Other choices include 12-2-17, 9-0-24 and 5-2-16. The last couple are more for lawns, apparently.

None of those have the 3-1-2 ratio that I would prefer.... so I'm undecided at this point if I'll pick up a bag or not...

It's odd, Plantsman, the different things we see: Most research I've looked at in the last ten or fifteen years-and this is for woody plants-shows a strong correlation between low soil N levels and root growth. Ie, less nutrients= more and faster root development. Now you said phosphate, not nitrogen, yet I still have to wonder about all that. Of course, you can't argue with success, and it sounds like your stuff is doing great. But I do know that, at least for trees, the most up-to-date recommendations call for no fertilizer at the time of planting/transplanting. And this is sans any kind of soil test.

+oM

IMO Pushing plants for sale is much different than establishing trees for future production.

Perhaps Plantsman's focus is to produce the best looking and fullest plants for the market,... as fast as possible.

I'm glad to know that super phosphate is for root production and will use some on my roses this year. Just a little, as an experiment. That's what is fouling our waterways, is it not?

I'll try to elaborate on a few things. First to the original person asking the question. Nutricote is changing. It isn't always the same kind of product you could buy 10 years ago. I am seeing blends being put together. When Nutricote was fairly new every prill was a grey polymer coated ball. It worked beautifully. It was also fairly expensive to the average person, but if you are making money growing anything that you use it on, it gives you a wonderful product that you can count on to be perfect. Many of these new products have cheapened the Nutricote name. Hey are mixing regular (cheap) fertilizers with time release prills. So, to me, you can't be totally sure about how some of these products are going to work. For me, that is why I'm sticking with what I know. In fact, I'm getting ready to make the haul over to Apopka to get what I want.
On the using of phosphate and fertilizing newly planted plants. The general idea is that you don't want to burn any new, or slightly damaged roots with a hot fertilizer. This mainly has to do with using a faster reacting nitrogen fertilizer.not all fertilizer burns roots. Phosphate doesn't burn like nitrogen. So it isn't the use of any fertilizer, more just dealing with nitrogen.
I have the time to use different fertilizers at different times of the year. What I do is use different products that will manipulate my plants so that they do exactly what I want them to do. Nitrogen makes things grow. Phosphate is the middle number of the three main numbers on the label. Phosphate will grow roots on plants and will force flowers on flowering plants. Its like with growing bougainvilleas. Give them a lot of nitrogen and they grow to be big and beautiful, but not many flowers. Cut down on the N and jam them with phosphate and in about 3 to 4 weeks they are flowering all over the place.
You are right about phosphate not mixing with water very well. This is why our laundry detergents cut out phosphates decades ago. I only use it when I'm trying to grow roots, so normally, just when something first gets planted. It is probably not the best product for the environment, but I haven't used a bottled insecticide on my plants in 8 years, so I think I could be doing a lot worse.
On using the phosphate when planting a longer term plant, like trees. When I was younger, over a 12 year period, I planted around 8000 trees. Many times we would plant them in the late fall so that they can root in all winter and have a bigger root system that might be ready for spring. People don't realize that when you plant trees in spring, they don't have a good root system that is ready for summer and they just make it through the first season. Most professional growers will tell you, make a bigger bottom and you will get a bigger top. If you have no bottom your not going to get the top to grow fast. When people really wanted huge oak trees fast, we would place 3 PVC pipes on the outside edges of the root system and each month, until spring, we would fill the tubes with 0-46-0. In 3 years the oak trees that had the phosphate added were around three times the canopy. I have a lot more stories as well, like being able to grow a st Augustine lawn without using the water that everybody else uses.

We are pleased to have revised our Florikan fertilizer line. Check out our fertilizers here: http://www.bigearthsupply.com/landscape-gardening-products/tampa-bay-fertilizer.html Please note: some analysis are only available seasonally.