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Hooked on Bloom Booster? Go fish (if you dare)

Staff photo by PENNY CARNATHAN

Stinky fish emulsion is a recommended organic fertilizer and plants love it. Unfortunately, so do flies.

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By PENNY CARNATHAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 30, 2009

Updated: 10/30/2009 09:22 pm

I've made no secret of the fact I've been battling an addiction. I used to hide it, but it's better to be open and honest about these things.

My high? Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster.

I love the stuff. Hit your garden with a hose-end sprayerful and WHOA! Flowers! It's a giddy, 48-hour rush of floraspectacular.

But, oh, the big let-down bites. Those blooms fade. The droops set in. And all you can think about is your next hit. It's a sad, sad way to live.

It took my yellowing yellow pear tomato plant to help me really (maybe) change my ways. The fruits are supposed to turn yellow, not the leaves, so I asked Marina D'Abreau at the Hillsborough Extension Service what might be the culprit.

There were many possibilities, but the most likely was lack of nitrogen. Being an organic veggie garden, it hadn't gotten Bloom Booster - or any fertilizer. I was hoping it wouldn't notice.

Stinky fish emulsion is a recommended organic fertilizer (which explains why I wanted to skate by with compost), so off I went to Green Thumb nursery to pick up some. There, co-owner Steve Rey said - emphatically - that it's the best fertilizer for all plants, unless you have a specific problem to address. He even shared his personal fish emulsion testimonial about a post-transplant ligustrum rescued from mortal malaise after all else had failed.

The smell, he said, isn't so bad. "Think of a dock in the Keys, where maybe some fish guts have been sitting around for a couple days."

That sounded nice. I could even hear the gulls calling.

I bought a gallon jug and spent a good couple of hours diluting it by the pail full - two tablespoons per gallon of water - and splashing it all over the backyard.

I can say now, Steve was wrong. At least about the smell. Think fat flies, not seagulls. You won't have to imagine them, either.

And the odor will waft through your house for hours, causing your puzzled husband to periodically sniff his armpits. (That's actually pretty entertaining.)

I'm hoping fish emulsion proves to be the wonder fertilizer everyone says it is. It takes more effort than Miracle-Gro. And there's the smell. I expect a payoff.

If the only buzz I get is big black flies, it's straight back to Miracle-Crack for me.

Penny Carnathan

Come play in The Dirt at TBO.com, Keyword: Dirt. We provide all the tools.

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