Did you know that one of the best ways to fertilize your hanging baskets all season long is with compost tea?
What you use to fertilize hanging basket plants will make a big difference in not only their overall health but also how well they bloom for the remainder of the season – and as it turns out, compost tea is the perfect fertilizer for the job!
By about the middle of summer, most gardeners will notice their hanging basket plants looking less than stellar. Not only are they starting to produce fewer blooms, but they are also getting weak and scraggly looking as well. In addition, the once overwhelming mass of blooms quickly dwindles to only a couple here and there.
What happened to your beautiful hanging baskets? Have they just run their course and are they on their way out? Do you need to repot the plants or adjust the watering schedule? While those issues might definitely be the case in some instances, chances are that your hanging basket plants are struggling due to a lack of nutrients and resources left in the soil.
How To Fertilize Hanging Baskets With Compost Tea
Powering Hanging Basket Plants
Annual plants and flowers that grow in hanging baskets need to draw in nutrients and resources from the soil. Lots of blooms appearing on plants equals lots of nutrients being used up. As time goes along, those resources will start to become depleted, even with the best potting soils.
If those resources are no longer available, then the plants will start to struggle. This will result in a reduction of not only their blooms but also their ability to keep their foliage and roots healthy as well.
You can use fertilizers to give plants the boost of energy they need to continue blooming and thriving all summer long and deep into fall. But you need to know the right type to use, the correct amount to use, and when exactly to administer fertilizers for success.
Too many nutrients all at once will cause the plants to focus their energy on producing more foliage and roots as opposed to blooms. Receiving too few nutrients will keep plants looking haggard and blooms sparse. The best way is to give plants a nice low and slow-working liquid fertilizer.
And the best type of liquid fertilizer to use that provides just the right amount of nutrients to achieve that low and slow power boost is compost tea!
What Exactly Is Compost Tea?
Basically speaking, compost tea is the combination of aged compost and water to create a nutrient-packed, liquid fertilizer. It is completely safe and easily absorbed by even the most delicate flowers and plants that might become overwhelmed by commercial fertilizers.
Compost tea is able to power hanging basket plants in two ways. First, the vital nutrients within compost tea can be absorbed by the foliage and blooms of plants. Unlike commercial fertilizers that can often burn foliage, compost tea is able to be absorbed right into the plant tissue and send nutrients exactly where the plant needs them the most.
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The second way compost tea works to power plants is by being absorbed by the plant’s roots. The liquid compost tea will get absorbed into the potting soil and then disturbed by the plant via its roots. The roots then send the nutrients all throughout the plant, giving plants a low dose of steady resources as needed.
How To Make Compost Tea To Fertilize Hanging Baskets
Compost tea is easily created using basic household items and a bit of compost. You can either use the compost you created on your own property or compost that you purchased from garden centers. Either will work as long as you use compost that is 100% fully-aged compost. Affiliate Link: R&M Organics Premium Organic Compost 10 lb Bag
Add enough compost to a 5-gallon bucket so that it’s about a third of the way full. Fill the remainder of the bucket with water. Be sure to leave an inch or two at the top for stirring space. Use a stirring stick or something similar to mix the two together.
You want the mixture to soak for about a week. Stir the compost and water together at least once a day, more if possible. This will help to ensure that as much of the compost’s nutrients leech into the water as possible.
After the week is over, strain the solids and add them back to your compost pile. The remaining liquid is now ready for you to use to power your hanging basket plants as needed.
Using Compost Tea
Fertilize your hanging basket plants with the compost tea every 5 to 7 days. Instead of watering your hanging basket flowers that day, use your compost tea instead. This will provide plants with a low but steady supply of nutrients all growing season long.
The amount you give will vary depending on the size of your hanging basket plant as well as its age. It will also vary on the size of the container it is in as well as your climate. However, aim for giving plants a quarter to half a gallon per container on average. The good news is that it is hard to over-fertilize with compost tea as opposed to synthetic fertilizers.
Apply the compost tea not only at the base of the plants but also on their foliage as well. Using a handheld sprayer can make quick work of applying on the foliage. Before you know it, the compost tea will have turned your sad-looking hanging basket plants around and turned them back into beautiful blooming machines once again!
Looking for more information on how to make your own great compost? Check out our article: How To Create A Great Summer Compost Pile – 3 Simple Secrets To Make Compost Fast!
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This Is My Garden is a garden website created by gardeners, for gardeners. Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books and speaking for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. They publish three articles every week, 52 weeks a year. Sign up today to follow via email, or follow along!