Fish the Flats—Fish the Crops!
Applying Fish-&-Kelp:
a liquid fertilizer for optimal soil/plant nutrition
A recipe & instructions
Revised 4-29-2026
***This is for your seedlings AND your vegetables in the summer garden
***Also wonderful for flowers, herbs, fruits.
What? A power meal for plants. It’s a nourishing fertilizer that is rich in calcium, nitrogen, and other essential minerals. You pour on this liquid as a root drench and a foliar application.
Why?
Seedlings in flats: To insure their “early childhood nutrition” at this crucial stage of growth. This regimen will help you achieve nutrient-dense vegetables and long-lasting flowers with immunity from stress & disease—by starting gradually and early.
Crops in garden: to insure a steady and balanced flow of nutrients for optimizing growth, taste, vigor, high Brix (a measure of mineral nutrients), and disease resistance.
Start this regimen immediately on your seedlings in flats, pots, cell packs, & soil blocks. You can also apply into plain potting media even before you sow seeds (up to 8 weeks before sowing seeds). This gets those beneficial microbes fed & multiplying!
How Often? Apply to your seedlings every 10-14 days, or even weekly. Then, when it’s time to tuck plants into outdoor soil, I recommend you continue applying this liquid as a drench & on foliage throughout the growing season by-weekly. End the routine in early September.
This “Fish-&-Kelp-mix” is not a substitute for your foundation of compost and granular organic fertilizers (according to soil test recommendations) that you feed your soil before you plant your garden. But it is a readily available, easily assimilated superfood for vegetables, flowers, herbs. Its liquid form feeds hungry maturing food crops with 90% efficiency. This is the boost they need. You see, the long hours of daylight are stimulating fast leaf growth, so your plants are trying to grow rapidly. And yet the soil is cold, so soil microbes cannot work fast enough to supply all the needed nutrition through the roots. With Fish-&-Kelp liquid, your plants absorb the nutrients immediately and directly and put them to work. Woo hoo!
How much? One gallon is usually plenty for a garden or small orchard. Start by mixing the 2 ingredients in a bucket.
The Recipe: Choose either Version 1 or Version 2 according to percent nitrogen on package—is the first number 2% or 5% nitrogen? Measure one gallon of water into bucket. Add the following and mix very well. Then pour mixture into watering can &/or sprayer and apply to plants.
Maxicrop is available in SHOP
Commonly available in garden stores as 5% N version of liquid fish
Note that this is the 2% version of liquid fish
VERSION 1 with Fish Emulsion or Hydrolysate 5-1-1
2 Tbs Fish Emulsion 5-1-1 Follow directions on container
1 tsp Maxicrop soluble kelp First pre-mix powder + a little water in separate container till dissolved
That’s all! Stir very well and apply every 10 days to 2 weeks.
VERSION 2 with Fish Emulsion or Hydrolysate 2-x-x
¼ cup fish emulsion or hydrolysate 2-x-x
1 tsp Maxicrop soluble kelp. First pre-mix powder + a little water in separate container till dissolved
That’s all! Stir very well and apply every 10 days to 2 weeks.
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~~Optional Boosters if you HAPPEN to have them to stir in ~~
1 TBS calcium extract concentrate see separate recipe: Home-made Liquid Calcium*
1-3 cups Compost or worm compost tea (see separate recipes)
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To Apply: Use a watering can with a rose on the spout—and aim for foliage and around root zone for duel foliar & drench application. Then use it all; don’t leave it sitting for hours so it goes anaerobic and harms plants.
Note the “rose” for a spout
Maxicrop Soluble Kelp powder is available HERE It’s an $8/packet with directions. Options for pick-up or shipping.