The Grass Doctor

Making folar fertilizer?

I have about 600 pumpkin plants that need fertilized. They take up an area about 15 yds by 200 yds. The plants are anywhere from 2' to 8' across. I'd like to spray them with a folar fertilizer, but I don't want to buy a whole bunch of little packages to mix with the water. I have an atv and a 12-volt 15 gallon sprayer. I have bulk urea, DAP, and potash. That's 48-0-0, 18-46-0, and 0-0-60. About how much of each of the 3 fertilizers should I mix per gallon of water to make a folar fertilizer? I don't want to burn them, but I want enough fertilizer to be effective.

Public Comments

1. No way I can tell you without sprayer calibration figures. http://www.whitetailinstitute.com/products/herbicides/sprayers.html Second, foliar feeding is real tricky, especially on pumpkins which are super sensitive to salts and what you are adding are salts. This is a WAG.....basing it on 10% of total fertilizer for the season, soil applied. Realize it's a WAG.....I have no idea if this will burn the foliage. Combine 2 lbs urea with 2 lbs. DAP and 4 lbs. potash. You must premix this to determine if it will even completely dissolve....(I'd probably do a little experiment with a tablespoon and in a glass jar first) If you get undissolves, then you'll have to strain before adding to sprayer. Of course you've alread calibrated you sprayer and can cover the garden with the 15 gallons. As I've said, this is truly a guess based on total seasonal ground application........assuming I still remember how to do that correctly.
2. That's a complicated question! You want your foliar fertilizer to be about half as strong as what you would apply to the roots, 9in liquid form) and for safety, a bit less than that.