The Dr Forest blog · Est. Stockport · England · 2020
Evidence-led guides to organic fertiliser, feeding and soil science for UK growers. Deficiencies, ingredients, biostimulants and crop-by-crop feeding, with every claim checked against the original paper.
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Featured guide · Crop guides
Three choices decide your tomato crop before you pick up a bag: organic or mineral, dry or liquid, tomato-specific or all-purpose. A science-led, honest guide to each, from the founder of Dr Forest.
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Plate 01
all purpose · Guide
High-potash tomato feed is a job, not a tonic. Yes for fruiting tomatoes and chillies; no for lawns, leafy salads, ericaceous plants and mixed gardens.
autumn · Guide
After a dry UK summer, first autumn rain can bead off hydrophobic soil. Surfactant vs gypsum vs lawn feed — Stockport guide with droplet-test link.
4-4-4 fertiliser · Guide
Three identical numbers on a bag, all of them low. That combination puts more people off than anything else on the shelf. What 4-4-4 actually means,...
4-4-4 fertiliser · Guide
Two bags on the same shelf can both say slow release and mean quite different things by it. One meters a salt out through a shell....
baby shampoo wetting agent · Guide
Every forum thread has the same answer: baby shampoo. What is actually in the kitchen options, what the evidence supports, and the one homemade route with...
soil surfactant · Guide
Three words, three different kinds of vocabulary: chemistry, function and Great Britain's pesticide law. Sorting out which is which, and what it means on a label.
compost wetting agent · Guide
Most of the water you pour on a dried-out pot never touches the rootball. What the published measurements show, and when a wetting agent is and...
diy wetting agent · Guide
It partially works, which is why the advice persists. What comes with it is sodium, builders, preservatives and a pH near 9. The evidence, set out...
calcium · Guide
Search the question on a phone and Google offers you a Facebook comment calling it a waste of money and a Reddit thread asking whether it...
The garden journal
One letter a month on what to feed, when to feed it, and why it works. Written by Joe, for growers who want to understand their soil.
