Neutrog Rocket Fuel, what it is and when to use it

March 21, 2025

Neutrog Rocket Fuel, what it is and when to use it

Rocket Fuel is a pelletised organic based fertiliser from Neutrog, and it's the bag you reach for when a plant is being asked to do a lot of work in not much time, so a citrus tree carrying a crop, a row of hungry vegetables, a bed of roses you want flowering all the way through, or a hedge you are trying to thicken up before summer. It goes on as small dry pellets, you water it in, and it feeds away in the background over weeks rather than giving you anything overnight.

What it actually does

The pellets are built out of composted animal manures, so they're doing two jobs at the same time. They're feeding the plant, which is the bit you bought it for, and they're putting organic matter back into the soil, which is the bit most people never think about because you can't see it happening. Over a season that organic matter is what holds moisture through a dry stretch and keeps the ground open enough for roots to get through it, and honestly in the soils we've got around here that's the bigger of the two benefits.

Because it's a pellet and not a liquid, it won't give you a colour change by the weekend. A liquid like Go Go Juice or a seaweed concentrate will do that, and the two aren't really competing, because one is a top up and the other is the steady feed underneath it.

How to put it on

Read the rate on the bag rather than guessing it, because it's a concentrated feed and doubling up on a young plant is the commonest way people burn one.
Spread the pellets evenly over the bed, or around the drip line on a tree, which is the ground under the outer edge of the leaves and not up against the trunk.
Scratch them lightly into the top of the soil so they're in contact with the ground instead of sitting on top of the mulch.
Water it in properly on the same day, because dry pellets on dry soil do nothing at all, and that's the real reason people decide a fertiliser didn't work.
Give the bed a water first if it's dried right out, since going onto bone dry soil in the heat is asking for trouble.

Keep the dog off it for a day

This one isn't on the bag and it catches people out. A manure based pellet smells like food to a dog, so plenty of them will dig it straight back out and eat it, and a chook with the run of the yard will do much the same. Scratching it in and watering it down helps a lot, and keeping the dog off that bed for a day afterwards helps more.

Where not to use it

Australian natives are the exception and this one matters, because getting it wrong kills plants rather than just disappointing you. The phosphorus sensitive ones, which is most of the Proteaceae family, so banksia, grevillea, hakea and waratah, are damaged by an ordinary phosphorus fertiliser, and an organic pellet is still an ordinary phosphorus fertiliser as far as those roots are concerned. For that part of the garden we stock Neutrog Bush Tucker, which is made low in phosphorus for exactly this reason.

Everything else in an ordinary backyard takes it happily. Vegetables, fruit trees, roses, citrus, shrubs and most things in a pot are all fine, and turf is the other one worth a different bag, because a lawn wants a product built for turf.

Shop related products

Neutrog Rocket Fuel 6kg. The pelletised feed this whole post is about.
Seamungus 500g. Seaweed and manure pellets, gentler, and the one to use on anything that's had a hard time.
Popul8 1L. A soil probiotic that runs alongside a pelletised feed rather than replacing it.
Neutrog Whoflungdung Mulch 20kg. Goes over the top afterwards to hold the moisture where the roots are.

Did you know we also stock Neutrog Bush Tucker for native gardens, in the shop. It's not on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf.

The rest of the Neutrog range is in the garden centre, along with the wider garden range. If you'd rather not put a bag in the boot yourself we deliver Tuesdays and Thursdays on anything bought from us, $5 around Strathalbyn and $10 on the regional run. Local delivery.

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Neutrog Rocket Fuel, what it is and when to use it