Reddit mentions of Osmocote 274850 Smart-Release Plant Food Plus Outdoor & Indoor, 8 lbs

make your own.

http://www.amazon.com/Osmocote-Outdoor-Indoor-Release-8-Pound/dp/B00GTDGMHC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414166656&sr=8-1&keywords=osmocote+plus

http://www.amazon.com/bulk-wholesale-Empty-Gelatin-Capsules/dp/B00428B6X6

by far the cheapest thing to do.

One thing for sure is that it has aggressive damage from citrus rust mites. You will need to treat it with a miticide. I would go with a commercial grade chemical, ebay sells small amounts instead of "oh farmer joe you need 50bajillion gallons and that'll be $2000". You will apply it once per season (4x a year) for 1 year and see how it recovers.

Those are supposed to be 5mL vials. The application rate is 12-20 floz/acre. Per acre is 'rule of thumb' converted to per 100 gallons. So it's saying you need 12-20floz of the medicine for every 100 gallons of water. When we scale it down to 2 gallons of water that's 0.4 floz medicine which is 11.894 mL (if the medicine is the same density as water. I also used the upper range of the 20floz to do the math since it's an easier number). That means that 1 single vial dissolved in 2 gallons of water, which is then sprayed all over the plant (like really get in there, you want every inch, upside down, hell even some of the soil around it) will treat your lemon tree for 1 season. So you will use 4 of those 5 vials in a single year. Not bad for like $21 on ebay.


You should also feed the tree, citrus plants are big eaters. Arizona's government even has a PDF telling folks how much to feed there's every year. Your tree is starving now so I would do a water soluble fertilizer first such as Miracle Gro All Purpose and feed him following their instructions. This one has a nice high nitrogen content (I think around 23%). Feed it all over the first two times and then only at the drip line after that. You will also need a slow release plant food. Osmocote is very popular and found at local hardware stores in a large bag or smaller bottle. This slow food lasts 6 months. If you have the extra cash I also recommend Citrus-Tone. It has several strains of beneficial root bacteria in it. We want the roots too beef up and grow so they can absorb more nutrients for when the tree starts to re-leaf out heavily. Also know that many fertilizer companies love branding their stuff so while something might be named 'for citrus' (coughcoughJobe'scoughcough) it's virtually useless and no different than other generic plant food products.

I use a mix of substrate whatever is onsale. My favorite right now is organic gardening soil capped with sand but takes a lot of time to prep it but its cheap like 50lbs is less then 10 dollars. Here a link to prepping it: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/library/52554-how-mineralized-soil-substrate-aaron-talbot.html

I used ecocomplete which is basically lava gravel. Here a link to it https://amzn.com/B0002DH0QM I got it for 3 dollars when my LFS was remodeling.

I use blasting sand its like 8 dollars for 50lbs. Here a link to it http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/black-diamond-medium-blasting-abrasives

I used fluval stratum. Got it one sale

I used seachem onyx sand. Got it for free during a store raffle.

I used cat litter unscented and natural clay.

I used azoo soil

I never never vacuum, clean, or siphon my substrate in my aquariums just let all the plants and substrate absorb the fish waste as nutrients.

In my opinion you can grow plants with any gravel or substrate just need nutrients. When I using just sand only as a subrate I supply it with plant food. I used Osmocote Plus Outdoor and Indoor Smart-Release Plant Food here is the link:

https://amzn.com/B00GTDGMHC

It was almost 4 dollars at walmart. How you use the garden plant food is just mix it with your substrate or sprinkle it and push it down into the substrate with your finger or chopstick. It sinks inside aquariums. I used the plant food about once every 6 months or when I think its 6 months which could be 4 months. I don't know all my plants are just growing fine.


With that said I recommend ADA Nature Substrate even tho I never used it. Because Amano Takashi, founder of ADA, knows a lot more then me I just never found it onsale or locally otherwise I would had brought it.

What I would do is use the gravel to make slopes and hill interesting landscape then mix or put plant food in it and then cover it with ADA soil.

I never ran into anaerobic zone issues but then again I had trumpet snails to help my substrate breath. Some of my substrate or gravel were 7cm+ tall and plants still grew not sure how far there roots went but they grew.

I have about 6 dirted tanks and one them had issues developing gas in the substrate. I had to poke the substrate every few days to release the gas other wise I think my plants wouldn't had grow. I think that could had been Anaerobic not sure but plants still grew but just slower compare to the other dirted tanks.

Will I hope that helps.

Would http://www.amazon.com/Osmocote-Outdoor-Smart-Release-8-Pound-Fertilizer/dp/B00GTDGMHC work for 100% DE?

Basically fertilizer tablets that you bury beneath the substrate to provide nutrients for plants when you have an inert substrate like sand or gravel.

There are several commercially available types, (I personally prefer seachem flourish tabs ) or many people make their own by filling gel caps with osmocote +

Setting up a planted tank isn't too tricky but there are many ways to do it and have success. Here is a somewhat simplified version of what I do.

1. Do a bit of research on plants that you want to keep and what style of planted tank/aquascape you want. That will effect your choice of lights, fertilizers(EI,PPS pro, Flurish), and CO2(none/liquid/DIY/Injection)
   
   
2. Put fertilizer in the bottom of the tank. I use osmocote plus. http://www.amazon.com/Osmocote-Outdoor-Smart-Release-8-Pound-Fertilizer/dp/B00GTDGMHC 1 lb is probably enough. You won't use all of it for the set up just a few scoops but you will add more every few months as root tabs(Search for DIY root tabs). Some people like to use dirt. I don't have experience with that. But you can look up dirted tanks and find info about that.
   
   
3. Cover fertilizer with sand. I uses this https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/concrete-cement-masonry/bagged-concrete-cement-mortar/black-blast-blasting-sand/p-1444445322601.htm This brand is pre-washed so it doesn't make a huge mess. Other blasting sands are not pre-washed but will work if you don't live near a Menards.
   
   
4. Add water, heater, filter, light(s), CO2 if you are using it and plants. Some people like to plant before they add water but I get indecisive and my plants would dry out. When you add water be careful not to stir the substrate too much as you don't want you fertilizer going all over.
   
   
5. Dose your fertilizers accordingly, do your water changes, and if you have a lot of success sell your plant trimmings so you can buy more aquariums :)
   
   You don't need to wait for your tank to cycle before you add plants. Many plants have drastically different requirements. Some plants like java moss seem to be unkillable while others seem to always have issues despite being in a high tech tank. Find some plants you like or see if you can find a local club to buy plants from. Many people will give trimmings away.

I used Osmocote Plus and these gel caps. I bought 2lbs of osmocote and used barely a third of it to fill 500 gel caps. And from what I can tell, my plants are doing pretty well with them. Total cost for ~500 tabs: $20, plus lots of leftover osmocote for more caps if I somehow ever need more than 500.

After a bit of research, I just placed an order for these two things:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00GTDGMHC?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CQN21HO?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image

Probably it's a mistake. yolo.

Here is the mobile version of your link

Here's the [Osmocote] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00GTDGMHC?cache=6df3a3724bef34449ff2bc32b2988ed3&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1410485658&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1). The packaging is different than what I have, but it's likely they've just changed it since I purchased the stuff. I put it in these capsules. You don't have to use vegetarian capsules, I just don't like the idea of having gelatin in my aquariums. If you fill the capsule, you should be able to get away with one near each amazon sword, and then spaced out about 6-8 inches apart. Closer if you have lots of heavy root feeders.

As for the last part of your question, I'm not sure what you mean. Are you asking if it effects the PH? I haven't had any issues with it effecting any water conditions at all. Be aware though if too much of this stuff is exposed to the water, you may have algae issues arise. Be sure to put it deep enough to not pop back up!

A professional horticulturalist in my area recommend that I feed all my outdoor plants Osmocote plus. He did not even sell the product and told me to order it from Amazon so I know he was not just trying to sell me something.

This guy had beautiful and exotic plants all around his home. He said he uses it for everything.


https://www.amazon.com/Osmocote-Outdoor-Smart-Release-8-Pound-Fertilizer/dp/B00GTDGMHC

Its a nutrient deficiency, which one exactly I could not say (although it looks like magnesium to me). Best bet is a fertilizer that has a full spectrum of micronutrients, I'd suggest Osmocote Plus as its virtually impossible to overdo it or cause fertilizer burn and it works really well in containers.