As long as you dilute the spray correctly you will not overdue things. You just need to get the leaves wet with the solution to receive the benefits. Liquid is absorbed faster by the plant because of the smaller particule size. Make sure you don't wash it off for several days. Liquid is less wasteful and more economical than using solid forms. Many times you are providing the perfect PH and NPK for plants. And by continuing to mulch the clippings you should not have to add solid granulars. The spray method is also faster and easier also.

Okay I was hoping aggrand_patriot would open a topic on foliar spray but this will do. I want to learn more about this.

aggrand_patriot: on another topic you said, I would suggest a good soil test to know what the soil needs. Then you can adjust the nutrient/PH content of the spray to meet the soil deficiencies. The spray I use has fish,kelp,bonemeal,bloodmeal,lime,sulfer,humates. I add them separately to meet my soil needs.

How do you convert what the soil test tells you into a blend of those ingredients to spray? I think that was what soccer_dad was asking.

Yes, DC. More to the point is I know how to calculate a pound of nitrogen out of a bag of fertilizer. But what does a 2-4-3 rating on a gallon of fish emulsion really mean to me? Do I get that same rating when diluted per instructions and applied on the area recommended?

That's right. Never mind that we look at pounds of protein instead of N. How do you get pounds of anything out of liquids?

We can discuss pounds of dry N here, too, but I'm really interested in the liquid approach. If you really have to measure pounds of N, first look at pounds of protein and use a conversion factor, which I never learned, but maybe someone else knows. It really doesn't make sense to measure N in organics. You really want pounds of food consisting of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, enzymes, and minerals. The soil microbes live on food, not just N (as derived from organic amino acids).

Okay.....math isn't my best subject but this is basically how the chem boys figure their ai. Assuming they actually do....

Liquid product rate to an ai rate (in this case N)

#s of ai per acre=gal. of product per acre x # of ai per product.

For lawns you're dividing by 43560. If the product isn't giving you an app rate of some kind to plug into the front of that equation then I think its fair to assume you've got an awful lot of margin for error.

Soil test for central Texas I had very low N, average P, high k and high ph.

So I spray with a mix with high fish and bloodmeal, some bone meal and some sulpher I can mix these or just spray one at a time in 2-4 week intervals until I see the results I want for particular plant needs.

Grass needs nitrogen, some P and sulpher to lower ph a little, where I live. There's not much to calculate. I apply this for homeowners and when they see how easy it is and start doing it themselves. The other advantage is fire ant control, fungus and other pests.

Here is a link that might be useful: aggrand

aggrand_patriot: so you are not necessarily going through a formula. That's okay with me. It just sounded a little more scientific, that's all. Do you have a good source for kelp and fish? Or is this where we segue into the discussion of the Aggrand product line?

Can we assume you use Aggrand liquid fertilizer products? I searched the web for it and I'm not sure if I ever found a home page for the manufacturer. It seems like a product sold almost door-to-door, but in the modern age, via dealers on the Internet. But I did find websites listing the ingredients as kelp, hydrolyzed fish, blood meal, and potassium sulfate. If those ingredients are correct, this is a very good deal for a liquid fertilizer. I would argue with the purity of the organic concept when using potassium sulfate, but it seems all the commercial fertilizers use it. I will look for it next time I visit the feed store.

The cost I found was $8.70 for 32 ounces. If you spray at 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet as a soil drench (not a foliar mist), the cost is roughly $0.87 per 1,000 square feet. As long as you don't have to apply it every month, that would be less expensive than even corn meal. Still results matter. I would like to see it in use on a bermuda lawn where the grass is very sensitive to nitrogen availability. How often are you supposed to apply Aggrand?

Aggrand is an Amsoil company. I have nothing negative to say about their products, oil or fertilizers. I don't like their marketing scheme.

Neptune's Harvest and another local fish & kelp application rates are a pint per 1000 (1 gal covers 8000 sq ft). At 32.50 for a gallon + shipping, Neptune's Harvest would be expensive for me if applied on a frequent basis - heck expensive if only applied once per year.

dchall, since most fish emulsions are marketed with a NPK rating the logic was to find an equillibrium with known products. There may be absolutely no protein in fish emulsion for all I know. But I would be just as happy to know how many pints equate to a 50# bag of soybean meal. It may be that the NPK really is irrelevant and only there as an agent to get the other micronutrients into the plant cells.

With Neptune's Harvest and Aggrand we are talking about fish hydrolysate, not fish emulsion. That's what impressed me about the Aggrand. My understanding is that hydrolysate is created with more of the fish and is an enzymatically digested product. Whereas the emulsion is made with bones and lye. Could be wrong, but the difference was pretty dramatic.

The Aggrand product supposedly covers at a rate of 1 gallon per acre. That converts to 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Can aggrand_patriot verify this application rate? And then how often do you need to apply?

All fertilizers are marketed with NPK by law. Aggrand Natural Organic Liquid Fertilizer is advertised as 4-3-3.

I generally apply at that gallon per acre rate, sometimes more by spraying shrubs, trees, flower beds, grass all in one shot. If some areas look like they need more I spray there longer. I always see quick results of new flowers new leaf growth and disease, pest and fungal control.

They call for 2-3 ounces per gallon of water and use a bio degradable oil to increase adhesion to leaves. 1 oz per qt. And recommend applying 4-6 times per growing season 2-3xs in spring 2-3xs fall. Dilution rate is 1 quart to 8 gallons H20, what the hose end sprayer is set for.

The advantage of the different products gives me the option to mix products to meet plant and soil needs during an application.
Large scale bag lime soil applications are not necessary if you foliar feed with a liquid lime, to increase PH.for example

Should be used to supplement other plant amendments however.

I have used Neptunes harvest the quality was not as good.

Here is a link that might be useful: aggrand

Okay this helps. Here's what I found from an Aggrand dealer.
You cannot find a more potent combination of hydrolyzed fish extracts, kelp, bloodmeal, sulfate of potash and other proprietary ingredients than we have in this product line. A single quart is versatile enough to treat 1500 to 8000 square feet of soil or when used as a foliar spray on your vegetables, flowers, lawns, shrubs, trees, houseplants and field crops.

I am troubled by the potassium sulfate from the beginning, but it really bothers me when there are proprietary ingredients in a product like this. Is it arsenic or milk? We can't know.

Next, we now have a way to figure the cost. If you can buy a quart for $8.90 and apply a quart per 1,500 to 8,000 square feet, that amounts to a cost range from $1.11 to $5.93 per thousand square feet. If you apply 4 to 6 times per year, the annual cost ranges from a minimum of $4.45 to $35.60 per thousand square feet. My annual cost or five apps of corn meal is $10.00 per 1,000. So by these simple calcs the costs seem to be in line with what we're already doing with ground grains. You could spend less with grains or more.

Most of us are aware of how the grain type fertilizers work. Here are a few things I think I know about liquids (foliar sprays and soil drenches). Organic foliar sprays feed the bacteria and fungi that live on the exposed surfaces of the plant. The soil drench technique will spray both the leaf surfaces and the soil where the ingredients will feed the soil microbes. Some foliar sprays are so effective at feeding the plant that a secondary result is the withering of the roots.

The only thing left is for some people to use it and write in about it.