Promote colorful, abundant flowers in your annuals and perennials by feeding them Miracle-Gro® Water Soluble Bloom Booster® Flower Food every 7 to 14 days, or Miracle-Gro® Shake 'n Feed® Rose & Bloom Plant Food every 3 months during the growing season.
💧 Keep your hanging baskets well-watered, and if they dry out, make sure to take them down and bottom water. Soak them in a bucket of water until they rehydrate. 🌺 Deadhead your flowers and pinch back if they're getting a little bit leggy.
Remembering to fertilize your hanging baskets is the first step! It's easy to forget, especially if you have many other jobs in the garden. We recommend feeding once a week in spring throughout summer unless you are using a slow-release fertilizer, and they won't need anything during autumn and winter.
MG is so strong that if used incorrectly, the fertilizer will actually burn the leaves and roots of your plants (you may have already experienced this). Imagine what it's doing to the healthy bacteria, fungi and other soil microbes that are working so hard to provide the nutrients your plants need.
In general, water plants in hanging baskets when the soil surface becomes dry to the touch. On hot, sunny days it may be necessary to water once a day. When watering hanging baskets, be sure to apply water until water begins to flow out the bottom of the container.
If a plant is overwatered, it will likely develop yellow or brown limp, droopy leaves as opposed to dry, crispy leaves (which are a sign of too little water). Wilting leaves combined with wet soil usually mean that root rot has set in and the roots can no longer absorb water.
Feeding - with constant watering you are washing away the nutrients so feed the basket with a liquid fertiliser like Tomorite or Miracle Gro or a dry slow release fertiliser (not both). Follow instructions but always feed when soil is moist and not if plants are wilting.
Miracle-Gro has a negative impact on your garden soil. Miracle-Gro destroys beneficial soil life. Miracle-Gro is polluting our water systems. Miracle-Gro actually stresses your plants out and makes them more susceptible to pests and disease.
Apply this product once a week for best results. For even more spectacular results, use Miracle-Gro® Indoor Plant Food with Miracle-Gro® Indoor Potting Mix, sold separately.
However, the plant will respond the best if you'll go ahead and mix up something like Miracle-Gro or another liquid fertilizer into your water. That's because liquid fertilizer is instantly available to the plant and it will respond quicker than with the Osmocote.
After watering, fertilizer is the most important thing to keep your plants thriving. I usually recommend adding a slow or controlled-release fertilizer to your hanging basket right after you buy or plant it. This will provide your basket with a good constant dose of fertilizer.
For hanging baskets the general rule is to use one plant per inch of basket diameter – so 12 plants per 12 inch basket. You'll only need 5 plants per 12 inch hanging basket for bigger plants like Geraniums (Pelargoniums), Surfinia Petunias, culinary herbs and Fuchsias.
Most gardeners under-fertilize their hanging baskets. We recommend that you fertilize with Al's Water Soluble® 17-5-17 Fertilizer at least once per week in the early summer, and twice a week as they get larger and the weather heats up.
When applying fertilizer, always read and follow all label directions carefully - too much fertilization can permanently damage trees and plants. Excess fertilizer alters the soil by creating too high of a salt concentration, and this can hurt beneficial soil microorganisms.
In fact, chances are those yellowing, brown, or wilting leaves you're noticing are early signs of plant stress. Plant stress describes a set of non-ideal growth conditions within which your plants are forced to survive.
As opposed to Miracle-Gro which offers synthetic NPK (Nitrogen - N, Phosphorus - P & Potassium - K) and little else, Neptune's Harvest products, made from fresh North Atlantic fish, contain vitamins, micro and macro nutrients, amino acids, and natural growth hormones.
Choose Your Feeding Style
Measure and mix it directly into your watering can and pour the solution around the bases of your plants, or use with your hose in a sprayer (like the Miracle-Gro® Garden Feeder) for larger areas. Plan to feed every 7 to 14 days.
This lawn fertilizer gets to work as soon as it's applied, feeding grass through its roots and blades. The product can be safely used on all lawns, including warm season grass types like St. Augustine and Bermuda, and cool season grass types like Kentucky Bluegrass and Tall Fescue.
We recommend Miracle Grow Slow-release Fertilizer or Liquid Fertilizer – just follow the label instructions!
Watering is key to keep them looking fresh and fabulous
Then water, water, and water again! Don't feed every time you water, just do that weekly. If you're at the planting stage, however, you can add some slow-release feed pellets to aid the plants during summer.
During cooler spring or fall months, you may not need to water your hanging basket every day. However, when the temperatures start climbing up in the 25-40'C range, you will not only have to water everyday, you might have to water twice a day! Every time you water, you should make sure to completely saturate the soil.