Can't find Osmocote in Canada

[boris4356]

Does anyone know where to find Osmocote in Canada. I have looked in Canadian Tire, Home Depot, and Walmart, and they don't have it here in North Bay. They all have SmartCote, which is made by a different company, and is sort of similar. I emailed the company, and asked them if it would work submerged in a pond on the bottom of a waterlily pan as per Joyce's method, and they replied:

"Smartcote is like osmocote but it is not something that we would recommend
in a pond situation.  Smartcote is release with moisture.  In a pond
situation the fertilizer would be exposed to a lot of moisture all the
time which would release the fertilizer quicker than intended."

Has anyone ever tried using Smartcote?

Thanks,
Bill

[Johns]

See if you can find "multicoat" fertilizer.  Failing that, look for "temperature release fertilizer"

[Bartman]

I use Smartcote when I pot anything new and I have never had any problems with it.  I also still use tomato spikes (Thanks Sean for the idea) every month in all the lilies and those also work great for keeping the blooms going.

Bart

[croft]

I use Smartcote as well - 14-14-14 for hanging baskets. Seems to work okay although I would like more blooms (doesn't everyone) maybe I'll try adding the tomato spikes along with the Smartcote this year

[LeeAnne151]

For hanging baskets and other annuals or when you want flowering not growth, Look for a fertilizer with a higher Phosphorus ratio than Nitrogen.  Nitrogen encourages green leafy growth, Phosphorus encourages flowering. Phosphorus is the second number in the ratio on the bag. So look for 15-30-15 (just an example) or something labeled Bloom Booster etc.

Multi-cote is an Osmocote knock off by Schultz. I'm sure Smartcote would work just as well.

[emm]

Hi Bill, 

I use Smartcote 14-14-14 in my potted waterlilies as well as with the pickeral weed and anything else that is potted in the pond.  I have never had a problem with green water.  I put it at the bottom of the container a la Joyce and it works great!  I only need to fertilize once a year and I get great blooms all season.

Nutricote is available from greenhouse suppliers like Plant Products in Brampton, ON but they only sell it in large quantities.  A 20kg bag of 14-14-14 is a little over $100.

Hope this helps.  emm

[boris4356]

Thank you so much everyone for your replies! I will give smartcote a go as well, and see how it works.

Bill

[CoolShades]

Hey Leanne:
I think you meant K (Potassium) encourages blooms and is typically the second number

Gary

[Craig]

I agree with LeeAnne...I thought the formula was NPK?

[CoolShades]

Hey Craig:

 For the last ~ 5 years I have been using fertilizer from China that is marked as NKP, I went on line and you are right the convention seems to be NPK.  However I was under the impression that K helps in the blooming process,, N is certainly leaf growth and phosphate was to stimulate root growth.  However based on the conventional system it would be phosphate for blooms, which surprises me.  Do you know why?

Gary

[Craig]

Hey Gary,

Somewhere recently I saved a trade mag named either GM Pro or NM Pro that discussed the NPK basics.  The one thing I remember for sure is the 'leaf growth, bloom boosting and overall plant health' mantra that generally accompanies NPK discussions is a huge oversimplification.

I'll make a point in the next few days of digging it out.

[LeeAnne151]

Hi Gary

They may label the ratios on Chinese fertilizer differently than we do here NKP rather than our NPK but Phosphorus is what encourages blooms.

As Craig said, there is more to it than just saying Phosphorus is for blooming.

http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenprimer/ht/fertilizerlabel.htm

[Bonnie]

Bill, you might want to try Colorburst.

Sean lives in Canada and uses this.....

Good luck,
Bonnie