Around the Yard
How to Use Gelatin as Plant Food
By: Tricia Craven Worley
To keep seedlings healthy and growing, feed them gelatin! Any flavor is okay as long as it’s sweetened with sugar and not artificial sweeteners.
The gelatin contains the nutrient nitrogen, which helps plants form green leaves. The sugar actually feeds beneficial microbes already in the soil that help young plants defend against disease causing organisms. Here’s how to go about it:
- Fill the flats with seed starting mix.
- Sow the seeds in the flats.
- Use an old saltshaker to lightly sprinkle powdered gelatin over the seedlings.
- Press the seeds and gelatin into the soil.
- Cover with a thin layer of starting mix.
- Mist the soil and cover with wet paper towels.
- Place the flats in a warm area (around 65° F to 75° F).
- Keep the towels moist by occasionally misting them, and check the flats daily for sprouts.
- As soon as you see growth, remove the paper towels.
- After the plants take off, feed them liquid fertilizer with a teaspoon of gelatin powder mixed into each gallon.
Watch this video to find out more.
Videos You May Like
Related Videos
 |
 |
 |
 |
Comments
Please Leave a Comment3 Comments on “How to Use Gelatin as Plant Food”
You can follow comments to this article by subscribing to the RSS news feed with your favorite feed reader.
We want to hear from you! In addition to posting comments on articles and videos, you can also send your comments and questions to us on our contact page or at (800) 946-4420. While we can't answer them all, we may use your question on our Today's Homeowner radio or TV show, or online at todayshomeowner.com.
How to Use Gelatin as Plant Food
Recent TV Shows
A Dark & Daunting Kitchen Becomes Light & Bright
Jun 17, 2019
Garage Makeover — Everything Has Its Place
Jun 10, 2019
A Marble Marvel: ’80s Bathroom Gets a Facelift
Jun 5, 2019
Thomas Boni Says:
January 14th, 2019 at 10:56 am
Hi, P,
This article was published Sept. 21, 2006.
Thanks for visiting TodaysHomeowner.com.
P Says:
January 12th, 2019 at 4:43 am
When was this topic published?
Katie Moe Says:
April 8th, 2018 at 12:47 pm
I have a small spider plant that someone gave to me several months ago and it is green but not growing at all. If I have to re-plant it, what kind of soil do I buy. I also have a pathos philadendrum the seems to be root bound. I trimmed the long leaves that needed to be put in water to root . I can’t seem to get them to fill into the soil . I had no way to get the roots to grow down. I laid them on top of the soil and put a very wet paper towel on top of the roots. I never let the towel get too dry . Now those same starters are producing leaves but that side of of pot is not filling in.
what do I do??? will gelatin work for my problem ?
I