Palm spesific fertilizer worth it?

[Palmfarmer]

The price for fertilizers spesfic for palms is around 4x the price here in Mexico. I have found some cheap organic stuff I mix up and put in the soil, having problem getting a pottasium source that is slow realese though. For liquids/fast acting stuff I have a organic mix I use as well as generic triple 17. I mix in some worm castings and water with worm tea once in a while as well. 

I think all this mixing is fun to do. I am just wondering if my results with be better using something spesific to palm trees? 

[GottmitAlex]

Look for this fertilizer down there. They don't sell it in the US. But they do in all Latin America and in Europe.

[Palmfarmer]

4 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Look for this fertilizer down there. They don't sell it in the US. But they do in all Latin America and in Europe.

Thank you Alex. Never seen it. Found some on Mercadolibre priced at 620mxn per kg. Will one kg go a long way? I see this one looks really good for micronutrients, but I assume mixing it with some NPK fertilizer will be the soloution. Closest NPK I have found at Home depot is a bag with flower fertilizer. That one js 15-8-20 seems to be in the ballpark of a lot of palm spesific fertilizers NPK wise it also has a few micros in there. 

They do sell Miraclegrow palm fertilizer pellets for 2500 mxn for 9kg. Will that hold a long time? 

I see many sell volcanic rock dust on there also really high and varied in micronutrients, good stuff? 

[GottmitAlex]

One will go a very long way.  One teaspoon 5mg for every 12 liters of water.(for fertri combi)

 As far as the volcanic rock ash, I guess it's the same as azomite? Not sure.

I have only used finely crushed (3/8" grind) lava rock as top 1" dressing over the soil.

 

 

[Patrick]

3:1:2 N:P:K Ratio is what's good, and the more micros listed on the bag the better. I've found when it's sold up here as palm fertilizer specifically FOR palms; a lot of times they try to price gouge. This is not always the case, though...

[Johnny Palmseed]

It’s really hard to say if palm specific fertilizer is worthwhile. A lot depends on your soil and to a lesser extent, your water. Soil composition and pH will determine what fertilizer would be most appropriate. I believe that the palm specific ratio of 8-2-12+4Mg and micros was determined for Florida soils. Generally speaking, the palm fertilizers should provide a good nutrient base for most palms and landscapes but they all seem to have different ideas on what ratios are best. Especially with the micros. They can be all over the place.

[Merlyn]

The "palm specific" stuff is usually just mixing slow-release NPK with a decent micronutrient mix.  But if you could find a cheap source of a timed-release/slow-release NPK, it would be relatively easy to add Magnesium Sulfate & Manganese Sulfate granules, and then figure out an easy way to add small amounts of Iron, Boron, Zinc, and Copper.  The difficulty with doing this (at least around here) is that most retail fertilizers are either fast-release lawn stuff or palm/citrus/ornamental mixes.  There really aren't any inexpensive slow-release NPK formulations in the stores.

[Palmfarmer]

On 12/8/2022 at 5:56 PM, Merlyn said:

The "palm specific" stuff is usually just mixing slow-release NPK with a decent micronutrient mix.  But if you could find a cheap source of a timed-release/slow-release NPK, it would be relatively easy to add Magnesium Sulfate & Manganese Sulfate granules, and then figure out an easy way to add small amounts of Iron, Boron, Zinc, and Copper.  The difficulty with doing this (at least around here) is that most retail fertilizers are either fast-release lawn stuff or palm/citrus/ornamental mixes.  There really aren't any inexpensive slow-release NPK formulations in the stores.

I think I found a good one for the basic syntetic NPK thats 15-8-20 with Boron, zinc, Copper and magnesium. Could just add some magenese to that one. 

However recently there is a Seller on Mercadolibre selling Palmtone for a reasonable price so I will go with that and topdress and water with a variety of nutrient rich organic stuff on the side like fish fertilizer, vermicompost, worm tea, compost, fishmeal, Bonemeal, bloodmeal etc.