The Jungle

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Our garden is a miniature JUNGLE. Here also the law of jungle prevails, SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST AND THE STRONGEST.
In my garden I have the trees, vines and shrubs at the perimeter, a lawn in the centre and flower beds in-between.
On preparing new beds the superficial roots of trees and vines are cut and some of them sprout (the source of my Wisteria and Quisqualis plants). A Rangoon creeper is sprouting 35 feet from the mother plant.
In short the upper layer of my garden soil has the roots of grass, annual and perennial flowering plants including bushes, under it is the mesh of tree and vine roots.
When fertilising our flowering plants we forget the Hunger of these giants (trees and vines). Our poor favourites only get the left over (the lesson I learnt from my old Rose bush).
An Amaryllis bed must be fed NPK 2-1-2, 2gm N per 10 sq. ft, thrice a year. If you don’t cater for the giants the bulbs will get only a little. Mind you they are a real hungry lot.

[UMAR KHAN]

Oh ny goodness 35 feet root sread & its a rangoon climber.i m hearing it for the first time.Westeria has a very long root spread but for rangoon.these are the benifits of this forum providing us first hand knowledage.brig sb its very true we neglect the senior plants like hudge trees & wines.some time i even ignore the gardenia plants.what should i feed the giants! i feed my fruit trees regularly but trees like pines,bakayen,sour orange i never fed them for a long time

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Hold on, the problem is not that simple; each plant of mine has different demand of NPK.
Roses want NPK 1-2-1, Amaryllis 2-1-2, Gerbera 1-2-4, citrus 1-1-1, Tomato 4-2-3 while the lawn demands 4-1-2, roots of vines and trees underneath would suck up nutrients according to their requirement.
WHAT TO FEED AND HOW MUCH?

[Izhar]

In my opinion, a balanced 17:17:17 along with bi annual application of well rotted manure... not every but most of the plants will be able to absorb the nutrients as per their requirement..

[ayub]

Izhar - what should be the frequency of applying 17:17:17. Please ellaborate the season in which we can apply organic manure.
I didn't know that Rangoon creeper roots are so far-stretched, i was planning to get one and plant it in a big pot as Izhar has posted in a thread about a potted rangoon creeper at his friend's place.

[Izhar]

Manure application should be at onset of two planting seasons i.e. March end for summer season and October end for fall season..

Chemical fertilization should be light sprinkling monthly...

[I Khan]

Hi Izhar,

When you say light sprinkling monthly, do you mean the granules themselves or granules dissolved in water? Do tell please

[Izhar]

Granule themselves ...

[UMAR KHAN]

Hai Izhar i use NPK 20 20 20.for oranges in Orchards i use 17 17 17. brother i use manure only in winter.i apply it to roses after hard prune( after 15 dec) and in the anual beds before planting annuals.is it enough.

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

NPK 20-20-20, 17- 17-17. 10-10-10, or 1-1-1, is same thing in Different strength, one tae spoon of 20-20-20 is equal to twenty tae spoons of 1-1-1.
Manure and composted leaves are also very good soil amenders, I use as much as I can get to mix in while preparing new beds for winter-summer planting or for any other new bed.

I ignore the trees/vines and feed the primary plant, only twice the requirement. Roses get rose food , Amaryllis theirs and so on.