Vegan Fertiliser

Vegan fertiliser: nothing in this collection contains slaughterhouse by-products

Everything in this collection is made from plant-derived and mineral ingredients only. No blood meal, no bone meal, no hoof, no horn, no feather meal, and no fish. That is the whole point of a vegan product line, and it is stated here plainly so you do not have to read an ingredient list to find out.

Between them these products cover nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur and trace elements, so you can build a complete vegan plant food programme rather than hunting for the one acceptable bag on a garden centre shelf. Background reading: what vegan fertiliser is, and where the nutrients come from instead.

Feeding a garden without the animal inputs

Veganic gardening is organic growing with the animal inputs left out. Most organic plant food is built on animal by-products for its nitrogen and phosphorus, which is why labels are worth reading closely if it matters to you. Compost, green manures, leaf mould and plant matter build the soil; a concentrated plant based fertiliser and mined mineral top up what the soil is short of. The principle is straightforward. The awkward part has always been supply, because assembling a full nutrient programme from an animal free fertiliser range is harder than it should be, and labels are often vague about what is actually in the bag.

That is what this collection exists for. Dr Forest hand-blends in small batches in Stockport, and full ingredient lists are published on every product page, so you can check each product against your own standard rather than take a claim on trust.

Nitrogen from plant protein

• Nitrogen Fertiliser at 13% N. Plant protein concentrate, slow release, for leafy growth and for pushing a crop that has stalled.
• Alfalfa Meal Pellets. Organically grown alfalfa, which carries triacontanol alongside its slow nitrogen. Triacontanol is a natural growth promoter, and it is the reason rose growers have used alfalfa for fifty years. More in the organic fertiliser with a built-in growth hormone.
• Lawn Fertiliser 10-3-3.5. High nitrogen for grass from plant protein, gentle enough not to scorch, and a straightforward vegan lawn feed for spring and early summer.

Plant protein concentrates release their nitrogen as soil microbes break them down, which means the release curve follows soil temperature. In a cold spring that is slower than the bag suggests; from May onwards it is steady and forgiving, and far less likely to scorch than a soluble feed.

Phosphorus and calcium from mineral rock, not bone

Micronised Soft Rock Phosphate, with calcium alongside it, for roots, flowering and fruit set. This is the veganic substitution for bone meal, and it is the standard one: phosphorus and calcium from mined mineral rock rather than from an animal. Soft rock phosphate is the colloidal, clay-associated deposit rather than the hard-rock grade, which is why it breaks down and becomes plant-available more readily in the soil. Micronising it increases the surface area available to soil acids and root exudates, so more of it is accessible in the first season. Once it is in the ground it stays there for years rather than months, which makes it a soil-building input as much as a feed.

Potassium and the rest of the minerals

• Sulphate of Potash, chloride-free, for flower and fruit quality.
• Yorkshire Polyhalite, which brings potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur from a single mined granule. If you are choosing between the two, this guide covers when each is the right call.

Potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur are mineral nutrients in any growing system, so nothing about veganic growing changes how you supply them. We aim for a Ca:Mg:K ratio of around 3:1:3 across a programme, which is where most garden soils sit best.

Biostimulants

Seaweed is fully veganic and the best-evidenced biostimulant available to gardeners. Scottish Kelp Meal for slow soil release, soluble seaweed extract for foliar and drench use, and Brix+ where you want triacontanol and the other growth promoters alongside it. What the better trials actually show.

Building a vegan tomato feed, and feeding the rest of the plot

There is no single product here labelled as a vegan tomato feed, and there does not need to be. Tomatoes want steady nitrogen while they are building leaf and stem, then a shift towards potassium once the first truss sets. Alfalfa pellets or the nitrogen fertiliser cover the first phase, soft rock phosphate worked in at planting covers roots and flowering, and sulphate of potash or polyhalite carries the fruiting stage, with seaweed across the whole season. Rates are on every product page.

The same sequence covers most of a plot. Potatoes and brassicas lean towards the nitrogen end, beans and peas need very little of it, soft fruit and courgettes want the potassium shift, and roses do well on alfalfa. Vegan plant food for containers works the same way, with a little more attention to magnesium, since pots leach.

Does it work as well?

Broadly yes, with one honest caveat about timing rather than performance. Plant protein concentrates hit comparable nitrogen figures and release on a slow, microbe-driven curve, which suits garden soil but does mean they are not a quick rescue for a plant that has already gone pale. Soft rock phosphate is slower to become available than a soluble phosphate, and stays in the soil far longer in return. The mineral nutrients are identical whatever your approach. Where the evidence is genuinely thin, as it is for most claims that one input builds better soil than another, we would rather say so than dress it up.

Common questions