How All Purpose, Bloom & Mineral Mix Trio compares
Full guide and scienceTrio: feeds plus minerals
- Two NPK ratios for the season, plus a dedicated mineral bag
- Useful where the soil has been worked hard and NPK alone looks thin
- Each bag keeps its own rate
The two-bag pair only
- The All Purpose & Bloom pair is the feeds without the mineral bag
- Enough if the soil already has a mineral programme
- Cheaper, and the honest choice if you do not need the third bag
Organic plant food for the season, plus the minerals an NPK blend does not carry
Organic plant food for the whole season, plus the plant minerals that no NPK blend is designed to supply. The pair covers growth and flowering; the third bag covers the soil minerals a heavily cropped bed loses first.
The All Purpose 4-4-4 is the all purpose plant food for spring and summer. The Bloom 2-8-4 shifts the ratio for flowering and fruiting. The Mineral Mix is a mineral fertiliser carrying the soil minerals a straight NPK feed leaves out. What is in the trio: Organic All Purpose Fertiliser 4-4-4 — 1.5 kg; Organic Bloom Fertiliser 2-8-4 — 1.5 kg; Mineral Mix for Plants — 1.5 kg. All three are handcrafted in Stockport, every ingredient listed. None of the three is sold as vegan: the two feeds contain bone meal, and the Mineral Mix contains sea shell meal. Each bag carries its own application rate, unchanged in the trio. This combination turns up in orders far more often than chance would put it there, which is why it exists. More in Organic Fertilisers, Vegetables & Allotment and Bundles & Kits. Quantities via the feeding calculator; terms in the growing glossary.
Pick a size on the product form. Each size is a full set of the named packs below — not a single bag.
- Entry (1.5 kg each (4.5 kg total)): Organic All Purpose Fertiliser 4-4-4 — 1.5 kg; Organic Bloom Fertiliser 2-8-4 — 1.5 kg; Mineral Mix for Plants — 1.5 kg
- Mid (4 kg AP + 4 kg Bloom + 3 kg Mineral Mix (11 kg total)): Organic All Purpose Fertiliser 4-4-4 — 4 kg; Organic Bloom Fertiliser 2-8-4 — 4 kg; Mineral Mix for Plants — 3 kg
- Large (9 kg each (27 kg total)): Organic All Purpose Fertiliser 4-4-4 — 9 kg; Organic Bloom Fertiliser 2-8-4 — 9 kg; Mineral Mix for Plants — 9 kg
Rates stay on each component listing. The size picker only changes how much of each pack you get.
Each is also sold on its own — All Purpose 4-4-4 · Bloom 2-8-4 · Mineral Mix
What the trio covers
- Organic plant food for mixed beds: 4-4-4 then 2-8-4 across the growing year
- Plant minerals the NPK bags are not built to carry: the Mineral Mix bag
- Soil minerals on a bed that has been cropped hard for several seasons
- One order instead of three when you already buy all three
Trio: feeds plus minerals
- Two NPK ratios for the season, plus a dedicated mineral bag
- Useful where the soil has been worked hard and NPK alone looks thin
- Each bag keeps its own rate
The two-bag pair only
- The All Purpose & Bloom pair is the feeds without the mineral bag
- Enough if the soil already has a mineral programme
- Cheaper, and the honest choice if you do not need the third bag
Dr Forest packs this by hand in Stockport, Greater Manchester. Made with organic ingredients; we do not call it certified organic. Plant minerals sit in their own bag so the NPK recipes stay honest. Made by Growers. Backed by Science.
Organic plant food and plant minerals do different work
An NPK blend is built around nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Secondary nutrients and traces are present only where an ingredient happens to carry them. A mineral mix exists because those extras are not a rounding error on a hungry bed: they are the enzyme cofactors and structural cations the crop still needs.
The large organic-versus-mineral literature is not an argument for dropping minerals. Combined organic-mineral programmes show the strongest quality outcomes in the 7,859-pair meta-analysis (Wang et al., 2023). This trio is that idea in three bags, not one mystery blend.
Organic plant food first
4-4-4 then 2-8-4 cover the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium the plant uses in bulk.
Minerals on their own bag
Trace and secondary minerals stay in the Mineral Mix so we are not pretending the NPK bags do that job.
Slow organic release
Soil organisms mineralise the feed bags over weeks rather than hours.
No combined recipe
Three products, three labels, three rates. The trio is not a new NPK.
References
- Wang, Y. et al. (2023). Combined organic–mineral fertilisation meta-analysis, 7,859 data pairs. Science of the Total Environment.
- Xu, S. et al. (2024). Organic fertilisation, biomass and biodiversity. Nature Communications, 537 experiments.
- Ferro, N.D. et al. (2022). Organic vs mineral-only systems and soil organic carbon. Agronomy.
- Marschner, P. ed. (2012). Marschner's Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants, 3rd ed. Academic Press.
- Kopittke, P.M. & Menzies, N.W. (2007). The basic cation saturation ratio and the 'ideal' soil. SSSA Journal, 71(2).
- Nardi, S. et al. (2009). Physiological effects of humic substances on soil bacteria and mycorrhizae. Soil Biology and Biochemistry.
How to use All Purpose, Bloom & Mineral Mix Trio
Do not mix the three into one handful and guess. Use the rate printed on each bag. The Mineral Mix is a complement, not a replacement for the two feeds.
Bone meal in both feeds; sea shell meal in the Mineral Mix. Choose a plant-based programme if that matters to you.
All Purpose 4-4-4
Bloom 2-8-4
Mineral Mix
Mineral Mix for Plants. Not a combined trio rate.
- Apply All Purpose at its own rate while plants are in leaf.
- Switch to Bloom at its own rate at flower or fruit set.
- Apply Mineral Mix as the product page describes, not as a blended handful.
- Area sums: feeding calculator.
If you only need the two feeds, buy the All Purpose & Bloom pair. Crop-specific work sits in Tomatoes, Chillies & Peppers and Feed by Crop.
All Purpose, Bloom & Mineral Mix Trio: questions
The All Purpose and Bloom bags. The third bag is minerals, not another NPK.
On a bed that is cropped hard, yes it earns its place. On a soil you already mineralise separately, the two-bag pair is enough.
No. We have not set one. Each bag keeps the figures and the rate on its own label.
No. Bone meal and sea shell meal are named ingredients.
Made with organic ingredients. We do not call it certified organic.
Yes. For a vegetable-led plot you may still prefer the Tomato & Vegetable Feed Pair plus minerals on the side.
Stockport, Greater Manchester, in compostable bags.
The feeding calculator and the rate on each bag.
Yes. At today's prices (October 2026) every size costs about 10–11% less than buying the same products separately. The smallest size is £31.95 against £35.99 bought one by one, a saving of £4.04. Check each product page for current single prices.
Not in the bundle. The sizes are fixed: 1.5 kg each (4.5 kg total); 4 kg AP + 4 kg Bloom + 3 kg Mineral Mix (11 kg total); 9 kg each (27 kg total). If you want different amounts, buy the products on their own pages and mix the sizes as you like.
Yes. Each one is sold on its own: Organic All Purpose Fertiliser 4-4-4, Organic Bloom Fertiliser 2-8-4, Mineral Mix for Plants.
