Are you looking to learn the 2 simple secrets gardening pros know and use when it comes to fertilizing hanging baskets and container plants to keep them healthy, lush and blooming big all summer long?
Do you ever wonder just how those incredibly large and beautiful flowering baskets you see hanging on downtown light posts or in parks stay so healthy and full of blooms from late spring to early fall? And just exactly what the gardening experts that take care of them do to get them to stay that way?
For so many gardeners, the biggest challenge of all when it comes to growing hanging baskets is trying to keep them looking great for an entire summer. All too often, baskets that were completely covered in flowers in May are all but finished by mid July. And sometimes even earlier!
The Secret To Fertilizing Hanging Baskets – What The Pro’s Know!
No matter how rich and fertile your potting soil is at the beginning of a growing season, container plants will eventually run out of nutrients from the soil. And when that happens, plants can quickly fade into a mass of wilted leaves and sparse blooms.
That, of course, is exactly where fertilizing your baskets can save the day. But one thing is for sure- success isn’t as simple as dumping a big dose of fertilizer on your plants every week or two.
Unfortunately, although it might give them dark green foliage and have them flowering huge for a few weeks, in the end, that massive dose of energy will actually shorten the lifespan of your plants. Why? Because it will have the plant growing so fast it will run out of room in mere weeks!
The good news is that there is a simple secret to fertilizing your hanging baskets perfectly – and it’s exactly how those garden professionals keep their hanging baskets so gorgeous for the entire summer!
The 2 Simple Secrets To Fertilizing Hanging Baskets
The biggest key of all to keep baskets healthy and blooming is to provide them with a consistent slow and steady diet of energy – all while giving them the right mix of additional nutrients that promotes more flowers than growth.
Obviously, if you provide little in the way of nutrients, your plants will simply run out of energy. But provide too much, and the plant will spend all of its energy growing a lot of roots and foliage. And unfortunately, all of that growth comes at the expense of more blooms.
Over fertilizing is often as much of a problem for plants as under fertilizing. It gives plants a few moments of big blooming glory, only to have them become root-bound and overgrown within just a month or two.
Another common problem is that many gardeners feed their hanging baskets the wrong kind of energy. More often than not, it comes down to using a fertilizer with too much nitrogen. Nitrogen is certainly important, but more so for deep green growth – and not blooms.
So how do you get it right? And what fertilizer do you use to keep your baskets as pretty as the pros do? Success all comes down to giving your plants a one-two punch of perfect power throughout the season.
The first secret is to use a low dose of a slow release granular feeding every month – while the second is to use a liquid fertilizer with just the right mix of “blooming” nutrients every 2 weeks. And here is a look at what to use and how to do both with ease!
Listen In Below To Our Podcast On How To Make Gorgeous Planters From Perennials – For Free!
Fertilizing Hanging Baskets Like A Pro – What To Use & How To Apply
Slow Release Dry Fertilizer
A monthly dose of a slow release granular fertilizer will feed the roots of your plants gently. It keeps just the right balance of nutrients on hand to keep the plant healthy and strong. This fertilizer is applied on the surface – and every time you water, those nutrients slowly soak down to the roots.
There are two choices to power plants with a slow-release fertilizer. You can use a commercial granular product – or go natural with worm castings. They both work well – but for us, worm casting are our go-to slow release dry fertilizer for hanging baskets. Affiliate Link: 100% Pure Organic Worm Castings Fertilizer
They truly are the perfect, all natural energy source to feed plants with a steady but light dose of power. We apply a 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of castings to the top soil portion of each hanging basket every month.
And then the magic begins! Every time we water the baskets or it rains, the nutrients from the castings leach into the roots. And in the process, gently power the plant with an easy-to-absorb nutrient source.
If you go with a ready made commercial fertilizer, select an all-purpose fertilizer with a lower ratio (5-5-5) of N-P-K instead of a 10-10-10 or higher product. This will help to not overpower plants with too much energy all at once. Affiliate Product: Natural Alternative 5-5-5 All-Purpose Plant Food
Liquid Fertilizing – How To Best Fertilize Hanging Baskets
In addition to the low and slow granular feeding, you can then feed your baskets every two weeks with a liquid dose of power. Liquid fertilizers absorb quickly and go to work fast.
But here is the real secret – the liquid fertilizer needs to have a much larger percentage of phosphorous and potassium than nitrogen. That is because when plants soak it in, those two nutrients specifically power more blooms – and not just overall growth like nitrogen does.
Think of it like this – the slow release granular fertilizer powers steady overall plant growth – but the liquid fertilizer is specifically to power blooms. That means it needs little nitrogen (which powers growth) and lots of phosphorous and potassium to produce more blooms and flowers.
Look for a liquid fertilizer with N-P-K ratios with at least triple the amount of phosphorous and potassium to nitrogen. We love the Farmer’s Secret Bloom Booster formula because it has a low nitrogen (2) content but a high phosphorous and potassium level at 15. Affiliate Link: FaFarmer’s Secret Fruit & Bloom Booster Fertilizer
Instant Blooms
Without fail, within a few days of a dose, our plants perk up with more blooms and greenery than ever. We water each plant every few weeks with a quarter to a half gallon of the liquid fertilizer. When watering, we also water the leaves a bit to allow them to soak in the energy too.
The final key is consistency. Keep your plants watered well and a regular fertilizing schedule. In the end, your baskets will look just the ones the pros take care of!
Here is to fertilizing and powering your hanging baskets this year like a pro. And to long lasting baskets and big blooms! Happy Gardening – Jim and Mary
Old World Garden
Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. The two are frequent speakers on all things gardening and love to travel in their spare time.
As always, feel free to email us at thefarm@owgarden.com with comments, questions, or to simply say hello! You can sign up for our free email list in the subscribe now box in the middle of this article. Follow us on Facebook here : OWG Facebook. This article may contain affiliate links.