Fish Emulsion Fertilizer

Fish Emulsion Fertilizer is a nitrogen-led feed, 4-2-0.4, made from fish protein rather than mineral salts. Use it every week or two in spring and summer and about once a month in fall and winter, at 2 to 4 tablespoons per gallon or the 2-ounce setting on a hose-end sprayer.

It’s a liquid you dilute and pour or spray on, so it goes to work as soon as it reaches the soil. It’s also a different kind of fertilizer from our mineral feeds: the nitrogen comes from fish protein hydrolysate, with phosphoric acid to hold the pH stable, and part of that nitrogen is released as the protein breaks down in the soil. So you get some nutrition immediately and some over the following days.

Anything you’d normally fertilize. Fish Emulsion is a general nitrogen-led feed rather than a plant-specific one, so it suits vegetables, herbs, flowers and shrubs alike. Go easy on young or sensitive plants, and take care not to overwater them when you apply it.

2 to 4 tablespoons per gallon, a range rather than a single figure. Start at the lower end for young plants and seedlings and use the higher end for established plants in full growth. A hose-end sprayer set to the 2-ounce mark does the same job over a bed. Shake the bottle well before measuring; the protein settles.

Not as declared values. Fish Emulsion is nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium only, at 4-2-0.4, with no calcium, magnesium or micronutrients listed. It’s a nitrogen feed first and foremost. If your plants need those other nutrients, pair it with one of our mineral feeds, which carry them.

Fish Emulsion is a dilute, nitrogen-led feed rather than a concentrated mineral salt, which is what typically causes fertilizer burn. Stay inside the 2 to 4 tablespoons per gallon range, every week or two in season, and go lighter with young or sensitive plants, taking care not to overwater them. Water it in as part of a normal watering.