Why its not worth it to mix your own weekly and preplant mixes

For most back-yard gardeners it is not practical to find, buy, and mix the
Weekly Feed mix yourselves. The micro-nutrient compounds are relatively costly,
and it's difficult to buy them in the tiny quantities you need for your garden.
A couple of examples are the two Larry mentioned - Sodium Molybdate and Iron
Chelate. The iron costs more than $5 per pound in 50# bags, and the Molybdenum
retails at $96 for 3# (the least they want to sell)!

Iron sulfate is much less costly to buy, but it often becomes "tied-up" or
unavailable to your plants, depending on pH and other factors, and so we do not
use it if we can help it.

Pure potassium would be volatile, but 0-0-60 includes potassium as K2O, not pure
K, so don't worry about it at all.

I recommend that most of you go to the website www.growfood.com and click on
Materials, then Fertilizer, and order the packets of Micro-Nutrients. We have
pre-mixed micro's in the proper ratios, so all you have to do is add an 8 1/2
ounce packet to 20# of locally available N,P,K mix (typically 16-16-16 or
13-13-13) plus 3# of Epsom Salt. This gives you a good Weekly Feed mix. And by
the way, we invite comparison with Miracle Grow - both cost and nutrients. We
are usually 1/3rd to 1/4th the cost, and have more elements than MG. You can
use Weekly Feed for every plant in your house or yard, including flowers, trees,
and shrubs.

Don't forget to mix and apply your Pre-Plant mix to the soil in the beds before
planting! This just takes calcium, magnesium, and boron in a ratio of 80-4-1,
with lime or gypsum being your calcium source, Epsom Salt for magnesium, and
Borax for boron.

And remember to apply 2# of Pre-Plant, along with 1# of Weekly Feed to one 18" X
30' Grow-Box or Soil-Bed before planting. Then you go forward with weekly
feeding of the Weekly Feed mix.

Jim Kennard