103 Is Fish Fertilizer Safe? The Buckeye Tree.

Liquid fish fertilizer (fish emulsion), is a popular way to feed your plants. But is it safe to foliar feed your edible greens with it…and then eat those greens? Soil professional Steve Zien advocates for the fishy stuff, along with a dollop of sea weed. And, it's always a good idea to thoroughly rinse and wash all your garden produce before serving it. 
The Plant of the Week is the buckeye tree, one very eccentric plant.
It’s all on episode 103 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery.  And we will do it all in under 30 minutes. Let’s go!

Pictured:
The California Buckeye tree

Links:
Smart Pots
Dave Wilson Nursery
Dave Wilson Fruit Tube Videos
Fish Fertilizers/Emulsion, Seaweed, Kelp Meal
Everything You Need to Know about the Seaweed, Ascophyllum nodusum

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Transcript

GB 103 Is Fish Fertilizer Safe? Plant of the Week: The Buckeye Tree

28:43

SPEAKERS

Steve Zien, Warren Roberts, Farmer Fred

Farmer Fred  00:00

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots, the original lightweight, long lasting fabric plant container. it's made in the USA. Visit SmartPots.com slash Fred for more information and a special discount, that's SmartPots.com/Fred. 

Farmer Fred  00:20

Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, you've come to the right spot.

Farmer Fred  00:32

Liquid fish fertilizer, it's also called fish emulsion, and it's a popular way to feed your plants. But is it safe to foliar feed your edible greens with that stuff, and then eat those greens? Long-time organic gardening professional Steve Zien advocates for the fishy stuff along with a dollop of seaweed. Oh, I love the aroma fish emulsion in the morning! The plant of the week: it's a tree that's an acquired taste. And it's one very eccentric plant. Warren Roberts of the UC Davis Arboretum will explain. It's all on episode 103 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast brought to you today by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. And we'll do it all in under 30 minutes. Let's go. 

Farmer Fred  01:20

We get questions. You can phone or text them into 916-292-8964, 916-292-8964. And we got a text message from an unknown person from an unknown place. Please Ladies and gentlemen, if you send a question, you can make up a name. Call yourself Adolf if you want, I don't care. But at least be somewhat accurate about the city or area where you live because that can greatly help us answer your garden questions. Now the clue we have, though, this is from area code 707, which is basically Northern California and parts of the Bay Area. So we'll make up a name and say this is Charlie from Vacaville, who wants to know, "How do you apply liquid fertilizer to vegetables. I've heard that you're supposed to apply fertilizer occasionally throughout the growing season. I have liquid fish emulsion that I want to add to the lettuce and other vegetables in my garden." Now, when it comes to fish emulsion, we like to call in the king of fish emulsion, soil pathologist Steve Zien to set us straight because he has been using fish emulsion for decades. And Steve, Charlie goes on to say, "I diluted it as directed on the container and have it in a watering can but I'm having a hard time applying the fertilizer without getting it on the plant leaves. I want to still be able to eat the lettuce and other greens in my garden. So how do you properly apply the fish emulsion and still eat the vegetables safely? Thank you." You're welcome Charlie. Now there is a cautin on a big jug of fish emulsion that says, "may be harmful if swallowed. avoid contact with the eyes, skin open cuts or sores. Keep out of the reach of children. Wash hands after use. For general cleanup, use pine oil based cleaner. Now what I use for cleanup is my cat follows me around whenever I'm using fish emulsion and when I'm not looking I'll find the cat licking at the container.

Steve Zien  03:19

Yeah, that does happen. Well I wouldn't drink it out of the bottle, no. But fish emulsion especially when it's combined with seaweed, is actually one of the best what are called foliar fertilizers for vegetables where you actually spray it leaves. In my landscape business, I took care of vegetable gardens as well as landscapes. And once a month one of the main things that I did was apply a foliar spray of nutrients and it included a fish fertilizer like fish emulsion, and seaweed and a compost tea and you can apply that right to the leaves. So if he wants to use a watering can, it's not the most efficient way to apply a foliar fertilizer. You ideally want fine particles. But if he's trying to primarily get that fish emulsion,  I would recommend adding a good quality seaweed to it into the soil, it's fine to let that  go on top of the foliage. I wouldn't do it during the heat of the day. Ideally the best time to to apply something that's going to get the leaves wet is very early in the morning, there's no problem with applying fish to the foliage. The fish provides nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. And the nice thing about applying it to the leaves is it actually acts as nutrient insurance that whenever the plant is stressed due to heat or improper irrigation or anything else. The roots don't function properly. When the roots aren't functioning properly the plant is not getting the nutrients that it needs. By spraying the nutrients on the leaves, it can actually very, very quickly absorb those materials and get those nutrients throughout the plant much more rapidly than if you were doing it through the soil and the roots. And so, if you've got a nutrient deficiency, spraying it on the leaves will give you nutrients in those plants within 24 hours. And within what if you're feeding through the soil it's going to take numerous days, if not weeks or more, to really get that nutrition into the plant, it's much more faster acting.

Farmer Fred  05:44

You have pointed out in the past, though, that foliar feeding is no substitute for feeding the soil.

Steve Zien  05:51

That's very true. it is supplemental. you know if you've ever heard me before, it's all about the soil. And it's the soil biology. The fish emulsion and the seaweed feeds the soil biology when you're applying it to the soil as well as the roots but it you know, you want to have nutrients you want to create a favorable environment with good soil structure, lots of organic matter, huge amounts of diversity and numbers of soil biology. And so you need to, you know, you need to feed the plants or feed the soil rather, excuse me. And so the  fish emulsion provides nitrogen, phosphorus and potash, but you have to realize that your plants in the soil biology need more than just those three primary nutrients. And that's why I like the seaweed. The seaweed provides 55 trace minerals, growth hormones, plant soil conditioners, vitamins, and it's actually been shown to provide frost protection although that's not an issue at the moment, but it'll give you frost protection down to 28 degrees. So in fall, if we get an early cold snap, with your  fertilizing with the seaweed fertilizer and spraying it on the leaves along with your fish, you can get frost protection from that early frost. When you're using seaweed fertilizers, you want to make sure that it's organic. Some of the seaweed fertilizers that are out there contains synthetic fertilizers, and that's going to kill the soil biology. So make sure that it's organic. And you also want to to contain a material called ascophyllum nodosum, that's the type of seaweed and you can find that kind of seaweed in two products readily in our area. One is called Maxicrop. And that's the one that I use and like and there's also another one called grow-more seaweed. And they both contain again, Ascophylum nodosum and it's it's just amazing stuff.

Steve Zien  05:52

I believe both those products are available online for everybody listening elsewhere and would be available, I know, from Peaceful Valley farm supply for one, at grow organic.com. and so,  check around and those would be around. What is the difference between what you're talking about and kelp meal?

Steve Zien  08:20

Kelp meal is a dry material and it does not dilute in water so you can't spray it on the leaves and ideally should be incorporated into the soil when you're planting. The only time I recommend disturbing the soil is when you're planting seeds or transplanting plants. When we disturb the soil we're killing soil biology, we're destroying the soil structure we're doing damage to the soil making it harder for the soil biology and your plants to grow. And so the the liquid kelp is easier to water into the soil and have it move around to where you want it. And it's going to move to the depths of the soil better than the kelp meal. But it's basically the same type. The same kind of thing. Most of the kelp meals are made out of ascophyllum nodosum. But again, you should look on the label. There's lots of different kinds of seaweeds. And there's lots of research about  using different kinds of seaweeds. And  the research shows that by far, the ascophyllum nodosum has a lot more bang for your buck than any of the other varieties of seaweed.

Farmer Fred  09:38

If you check today's show notes, we'll have a spelling of the words, ascophyllum nodosum. I think. I'm sure. Now, if I may offer a Solomon like judgment here to more directly answer Charlie from Vacaville's question, because he's afraid of the fish emulsion actually tainting the greens that he wants to eat, how about applying that fish emulsion, just you know, watering the plants overhead, some of it will drip in the soil, some old one leaves, but then perhaps soon afterwards, rinse off the plants, because that will actually just move that fertilizer into the soil better. And you'll have clean leaves again.

Steve Zien  10:18

Yeah, I mean, you could do it, I would wait at least 24 hour, probably 48 hours to give the the nutrients in in your foliar fertilizer, more time to get into the leaves. But after after, you know, a couple of days, you certainly could wash that material off, because the majority of the nutrients are already absorbed.

Farmer Fred  10:40

Yeah, I've been using fish emulsion for years on my greens and I'm still alive.

Steve Zien  10:45

Well, that's questionable.

Farmer Fred  10:48

But basically it is one of my favorite fertilizers, the NPK and the nitrogen phosphorus potassium content of fish emulsion is generally like a 5-1-1 or a 5-2-2. And the seaweed materials you're talking about are like less than 1%  of the micronutrients. And that's okay.

Steve Zien  11:09

Yeah, yeah, the macro, the macro nutrients. The fish emulsion is  macro. It has the macronutrients. The kelp, like I said before, has 55, trace minerals, growth hormones, vitamins,  and you don't find those things in any other fertilizer product. It's amazing. And the growth hormones make it really good for when you're transplanting, whether it be shrubs, trees, vegetables, or when you're putting in seeds, it really reduces transplant shock, and it gets the roots or the seeds it helps sprout them more rapidly and successfully.

Farmer Fred  11:49

And it doesn't take much, either. I know of the liquid seaweed or liquid kelp products on the market. It's usually one tablespoon per gallon that you apply one tablespoon per gallon of water. And so the bottle of seaweed or  liquid kelp meal goes a long way.

Steve Zien  12:07

Yeah, it goes a long way. And you can certainly mix the fish and the seaweed together. And as far as the fish is concerned, I want to say that I prefer a product, if I can pronounce it correctly, hydrolysate. And  that material, you get a little more bang for your buck. It's processed differently. It's processed through enzymes, and more the nutrients and the life of the product, if you want to say is in that material. So it has more nutrients and it smells a little less. The odor is not quite as fishy.

Farmer Fred  12:53

I love the smell of fish emulsion in the morning.

Steve Zien  12:56

Yeah, like I said, for 40 some odd years when I had my landscape business, one of the things I did every day, for each one of my clients was I foliar fed with the fish, seaweed and a compost tea. And I was never worried about the wind spraying it back on me. It actually helped my beard grow. I'm pretty convinced.

Farmer Fred  13:23

Were you worried about what the neighbors to  your clients might think either? 

Steve Zien  13:28

Yeah, I didn't worry about it. I did have a couple of them ask me what I was spraying because it did drift down to their plants. And one of them was on the other side of the fence very, very quietly, you know, weeding or something. And I had I apologized up the yingyang and actually offered to go and I think one of my clients or one of the neighbors actually took me up on it. I went over there and said, I will do a foliar feed on your landscape for spring and I really apologize. And while doing so I explained to them all the benefits of foliar feeding and I basically gave them a free consultation and they were very appreciative.

Farmer Fred  14:08

Well, it's not like you were spraying pesticides.

Steve Zien  14:11

Exactly. Yeah. And that was their concern. And I told them I was glad that they were concerned because they should be.

Farmer Fred  14:19

Exactly.  Let's go back to the old gallon jug of fish emulsion though that you can find it most garden centers. And I remember this is decades ago that you advise because it comes out in gulps, lumps, glumps. And you said basically to that one gallon container, add one or two glumps. Do you still stick by that?

Steve Zien  14:48

You want to shake it up and depending upon how warm it is, when the warmer it is the the less lumpy it is the more and more liquid it is, but generally, a glump would be about a tablespoon. Is that okay? It may be a little more, and it would be heaping. And then and the nice thing about the fish and the seaweed is you can't overdo it. It can't burn the plant. Alright, so

Farmer Fred  15:14

Alright, so you have three glumps come out. It's no big deal.

Steve Zien  15:17

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it.

Farmer Fred  15:19

Yeah. And you're absolutely right. And when you especially if you have bought one of those gallon jugs of fish emulsion and it's been sitting on the shelf for quite a while. It's pretty hard and you need to shake it vigorously. I almost wish I had a paint can shaker to mix it up first.

Steve Zien  15:36

Yeah. Well, you know, this time of year what? Yeah, you put it out in the sun for a little while, a couple of hours. I'm sure. That will help. 

Farmer Fred  15:46

Okay, I'll do that. Alright, so Charlie in Vacaville: Go ahead, apply those liquid fertilizers, the fish emulsion to your vegetables, just pour it over your greens, it's okay. And then 24 hours later, you can wash it off. If you're concerned about eating lettuce that has been hit by fish emulsion. It's good for your plant. It's good for the soil, and it won't kill you.

Steve Zien  16:09

Although I wouldn't drink it. Don't drink it. Yeah, I mean, it's always smart. Whenever you using any product in the garden, read and follow label directions. That's one of the reasons why I don't like homemade products. Because there are no label directions. And in many cases, when you make something homemade, if you don't make it strong enough, it's not going to do the job. If you'd make it too strong, it can damage the plant. And in many cases, people think that well, it's homemade. It's organic, and it's safe. And often that is far from the case. In many cases, soaps, for example, people make insecticidal soaps. And those can contain some really nasty chemicals. Some, for example, contains solvents. And solvents are not something you want on your plants, or in your soil.

Farmer Fred  17:01

fish fertilizer, fish emulsion. it's been my go to fertilizer for years. And it's just excellent.

Steve Zien  17:10

Yeah. And it's and it's easy to apply.

Farmer Fred  17:13

And people say well, it's only 5% nitrogen and 1%, phosphorus and potassium. How can that be any good for a plant plants are small, they don't need much, they're fine with that amount. Everything else that if it's in double digits, it's wasted.

Steve Zien  17:28

It's wasted, if it has higher numbers than that. Typically, it is a synthetic fertilizer that has salts that kills the soil biology and what you've got to remember what we're trying to do is feed the soil biology and they will feed the plants. they will take care of the plants and they don't want anything very strong. And they don't want anything that contains high levels of salt. Salt is a dehydrating agent and it sucks the moisture out of the soil biology. And if you've ever heard the term fertilizer burn, that means that the salt content of your synthetic fertilizer was so high that it sucked the moisture right out of the roots and it killed the plant. And so you want a fertilizer that's organic, that has those slow, slow or low numbers that will feed the soil biology.

Farmer Fred  18:18

As with any produce from your garden, you should always rinse and wash it thoroughly before you consume it.

Steve Zien  18:21

That's very true.

Farmer Fred  18:21

Steve Zien, soil pathologist. we learned a lot about fish emotion today fish fertilizer and kelp and seaweed. Thanks so much.

Steve Zien  18:24

It's been fun, as always. for Thank you.

Farmer Fred  18:31

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Farmer Fred  19:55

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Farmer Fred  20:41

Every week here on the Garden Basics podcast we like to talk with Warren Roberts. He's the superintendent emeritus of the UC Davis Arboretum. He always has an interesting plant of the week for us. And there is a tree that is grown widely across the United States, just about in all zones. And here in California. It's a very unusual plant, maybe it is where you are, as well. It's the Buckeye tree. And Warren, the Buckeye is so popular there's even college football teams named after it.

Warren Roberts  21:12

Yes, I think that would be the Ohio Buckeye, which is Aesculus glabra. The genus of Aesculus is found, let's see, it's found in Southeast Europe, the Balkans, that particular one, Aesculus Hippocastanum and the horse chestnut is widely grown around the world. There's some here in Sacramento and Capitol Park, for example. not as common in California, although I remember admiring the blooms of one in the little town, I was raised, in Burlingame, California. So there's that one. And then there are five in India and northern India and South and eastern Asia. And then there are seven in the in North America. And California has one. That's a nicely named Aesculus californica, which is common in the foothills region in Southern California. I think it's only found within the state of California. It lower elevation, mid elevation, coastal and Sierra foothills, and so on.

Farmer Fred  22:18

Do all Buckeyes act the same? The California Buckeye is so strange. It is the first tree each year to lose its leaves, which usually happens in July, in the middle of the summer. It's one of the first to leaf out around here. It's usually in February. And in between you've got these panicles of flowers that are poisonous to bees. And then it produces this softball size nut that you don't want hitting you on the head if it falls from the tree.

Warren Roberts  22:47

That's true. Yes, that's the way it behaves here  because it's leafless in summer or the leaves are drying up and then falling off in summer. It's not as popular as it might be. But when it's in leaf, early spring, and the flowers come out like little praying hands very beautiful and expand out to I think it's six leaflets. And then, just before the leaves drop in early summer, it blooms. And right around Memorial Day there are these long spikes of flowers that smell like Delaware Punch or grape soda. If If anybody remembers Delaware punch, yeah. And so in traditional families, it's often taken to cemeteries on Memorial Day, but it's an interesting looking tree. When the pioneers came west, they thought it was a pear because the fruit kind of looks like a pear. But it's about appearances are deceiving, because it's not. People from the Mediterranean, from Spain when they saw it, they call it wild fig because the tree looks kind of like a fig with a smooth gray bark. So that was the name given. So it was it was an odd duck. Certainly, the trees that have only leaves from early spring in until early summer. It's beautiful though against a dark background and I'd say redwood trees or conifers in the back, it will tolerate some snow. I know it's grown in England, but I'm not sure whether it would be successful outside of California. So there is actually also another species, a shrub in the north part of Baja California. Now the interesting thing is that one in northern Baja California, which also loses its leaves in summer is more related to the species in the eastern part of North America whereas our California species is more closely related to the ones in Asia. In the Arboretum, we have a Buckeye called Aesculus indica, in a broad sense from the Indies, and that's a very handsome shade tree. And that's in the same group of Buckeyes as our own native one, even though in nature they certainly do not grow close together. One of my favorites of all though, is the red Buckeye, which is a Aesculus pavia. This is a shrub. All of these trees are deciduous, by the way, which means typically they lose the leaves in the winter, except for ones in California. And it has red flowers, so slightly tubular and a favorite with hummingbirds. Really a beautiful shrub. I am very fond of it. There's a yellow flowering form as well. horticulturalists have crossed that with the horse chesnut, Aesculus hippocastanum, and the hybrid is called the Aesculus hybrid cornea, which also has very dark pink flowers. And it's absolutely gorgeous. When they're in full bloom. It looks like big mounds of raspberry sherbet piled all through the tree. I just love that tree.

Farmer Fred  26:13

Sounds like somebody wants ice cream and soda pop.

Warren Roberts  26:16

Oh, well, always. And I remember two large specimens of that in the Mills estate, the Mills family from Poughkeepsie, New York. They had a big estate here in California, two huge red hybrid red Buckeyes. There are other species. Aesculus parviflora has spikes of white flowers on a medium to large shrub and they're very striking. Maybe best enjoyed at some distance because they have an impolite kind of fragrance. Oh, I think they're pollinated by beetles or something like that, or flies, but beautiful. The first time I saw it, I fell in love with it. That's just about it. There are other species, but the ones that I've mentioned, are the ones that are most commonly cultivated. Some are trees and some are shrubs.

Farmer Fred  27:07

The Aesculus. Also known as the Buckeye, you can find it in just about any state of these United States. It's a very hardy tree with an interesting show. And as you said, Warren, it might be an acquired taste. Or as I like to say, it's a back-40 tree. It's something for you that maybe is not visible all the time outside the kitchen window. You have to travel through the yard to go see it instead.

Warren Roberts  27:31

That is worthwhile having. Or, get your neighbor to plant one there.

Farmer Fred  27:34

There you go. Yeah, I like that. The Buckeye has grown on me. If I had the room, I'd have a Buckeye. The plant of the week, the Aesculus, the Buckeye. Warren Roberts, the superintendent emeritus of the UC Davis Arboretum, which is also online at Arboretum dot Ucdavis dot edu, where you can find out about the Arboretum All-Stars, just some really great plants that they have at the UC Davis Arboretum. Warren, thanks so much for telling us about the plant of the week, the Buckeye.

Warren Roberts  28:02

Thank you, Fred.

Farmer Fred  28:06

Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday and is brought to you by Smart Pots. It’s available just about anywhere podcasts are handed out. And that includes Apple podcasts, I Heart Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Podcast Addict, CastBox and Google podcasts. And for Northern California gardeners, check out this podcast: the Green Acres Garden Podcast with Farmer Fred, also available wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for listening, subscribing and leaving comments. We appreciate it.