How do you add organic fertilizer to your containers?

zipcode · July 4, 2016

This might seem like an odd title, but actually I find it problematic adding organic fertilizers (like pellets, manure based, etc), let's say midseason.
The problem is like this: I find the effect of organic fertilizer to be oddly local (not like how imagined, that it will drift with top watering). When I add some fertilizer, mixing it on the surface, quickly in like 2 weeks lots of roots will form on the surface looking for that food, and then they kinda block any subsequent application, because there is no more loose mix left to do the same again. Also, often, due to extreme heat on the balcony those roots will be burned from the surface, affecting the capacity of the plants to absorb said fertilizer.
So my question is how to make the fertilizer go deeper after plants are big. Just make holes through the roots without pity? How do you do it?

July 4, 2016	#1
zipcode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Romania/Germany , z 4-6 Posts: 1,582	How do you add organic fertilizer to your containers? This might seem like an odd title, but actually I find it problematic adding organic fertilizers (like pellets, manure based, etc), let's say midseason. The problem is like this: I find the effect of organic fertilizer to be oddly local (not like how imagined, that it will drift with top watering). When I add some fertilizer, mixing it on the surface, quickly in like 2 weeks lots of roots will form on the surface looking for that food, and then they kinda block any subsequent application, because there is no more loose mix left to do the same again. Also, often, due to extreme heat on the balcony those roots will be burned from the surface, affecting the capacity of the plants to absorb said fertilizer. So my question is how to make the fertilizer go deeper after plants are big. Just make holes through the roots without pity? How do you do it?