You know that commercial for a popular deodorizing spray that asks “what’s worse than fish odor?” and then follows up with the answer: “floral fish odor.”  Well, they may have a point, but we’re about to give them a run for their money.

Here’s why.  When it comes to the flowers and greenery in your landscape, fish emulsion is a great option to use as a fertilizer.  In fact, fish emulsion is one of the best organic fertilization methods, as it is packed with nitrogen and several micronutrients which help to control pests .

Wait a second—fish is one of the most nutritious foods you can eat, fish oil is one of the most effective supplements you can take, and now fish emulsion is one of the best fertilizers you can use?  Anyone seeing a trend here?  If I had to bet on the world’s next dominant species—you know where my vote’s going.
Betting aside, if you’re thinking of enlisting the almighty healing powers of our aquatic friends to quickly green up your lawn, here are some tips on how to do so, courtesy of Richard Fadal and the team of professional Austin landscapers here at TexaScapes:

-          Follow the directions on the packaging to dilute the emulsion with the right amount of water.

-          Use a sprayer and remember to spray under the leaves of your plants and let the solution drip into the soil.

-          It is best to spray in the morning before the temperature reaches 80 degrees.

-          For the over achievers out there, you can also mix fish emulsion with water in a buck and use it as a drench by pouring it over the root system of your plantings.

You should start seeing results very quickly (yes, instant gratification is the thing these days), as your plants will absorb this fertilizer in a very timely matter.

And now back to the odor issue—if these great results aren’t enough to drive you to deal with a slight fishy odor for a couple of days, there are several odorless varieties available on the market…or you could go with the original and pretend you live in coastal Maine for a few days.  I think I’ll go with that option.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 6:10 PM and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.