How often should you apply organic fertiliser?
Beds and borders every four to six weeks through the growing season. Pots run out faster, so every two to four. Nothing in winter, when growth has stopped and release has stalled.
If you only need one bag of organic fertiliser, start with All Purpose 4-4-4.
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Granular blends feeding for six to eight weeks per application. From £6.25
Shop organic fertilisersThe cadence, by where the plant is growing
| Where | How often | When |
|---|---|---|
| Beds and borders | Every 4 to 6 weeks | Spring to late summer |
| Pots and containers | Every 2 to 4 weeks | Spring to late summer |
| Heavy feeders in pots | Every 2 weeks | Peak summer |
| Shrubs, hedges and trees | Once or twice a year | Early spring, and after flowering |
| Anything, in winter | Do not feed | Growth has stopped |
There is no single rate for organic fertiliser. Analysis varies from under 1% nitrogen in garden compost to 13% in a concentrated feed, so the rate on the pack is the one that matters.
Why pots need more than beds
A container holds a small, fixed volume of compost and gets watered far more often than open ground. Every watering that runs out of the bottom takes some dissolved nutrient with it, and there is no reserve of soil either side to draw on. A bed is the opposite: a much larger nutrient store, buffered by the surrounding soil.
The practical rule is that a pot runs out roughly twice as fast as a bed given the same feed.
Match the cadence to the release
A granular organic feed typically keeps supplying for six to eight weeks, which is why a four to six week cadence works: the next application overlaps slightly with the tail of the last, so supply stays even rather than sawtoothing.
Heavy feeders such as tomatoes in the height of summer sit at the short end of every range. Slow-growing shrubs and established trees sit at the long end and often need nothing more than one spring application.
Stop before harvest and before autumn. Ease off feeding in the last few weeks before you pick, and stop nitrogen by late summer so you are not pushing soft new growth into the first frosts.
From the Dr Forest range
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Granular blends that feed for six to eight weeks per application, so a four to six week cadence keeps beds supplied without overlap.
Feeds for 6 to 8 weeks · Rates published for beds and pots · Compostable packaging
Browse the organic fertiliser rangeMore organic fertiliser questions
How do you use organic fertiliser?How long does organic fertiliser take to work?What is slow-release organic fertiliser?Sources
- Royal Horticultural Society. How to feed plants. rhs.org.uk
- Geisseler, D. et al. (2021). Nitrogen mineralization from organic fertilizers and composts: literature survey and model fitting. Journal of Environmental Quality 50(6), 1325–1338. doi.org
Soil notes
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Occasional notes from Stockport on feeding, soil structure and what the research actually supports, including the things that turn out not to work.
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