Fertilizers are the plant’s nutrients. Understanding Your Plant’s Basic Needs includes learning what type of fertilization levels it requires and what symptoms of deficiencies to watch for. And, understanding plant fertilizer will help you to provide them with the right types and levels of fertilizer.
Read on for an understanding of how to grow healthy plants through the use of plant fertilizer.
What Does Fertilizer Do?
Fertilizers are the plant’s nutrients. They are like vitamins for plants. They help the plant become stronger and stay healthy. Each nutrient plays a different role in the plant’s development of its various components: roots, stems or trunks, leaves, blooms, fruit, and seeds.
Like our selection of vitamins, there are a great variety of combinations or individual vitamins to choose from. Also, like vitamins, it is possible to give the plant too much or too little fertilizer and make the plant sick.
How Much Fertilizer Does My Plant Need?
Not all plants require the same levels of nutrients, nor do they need the same fertilizers throughout their growing season. When plants first come up, a balanced fertilizer will give them a growth boost, but as they develop blooms and then fruit, they need more phosphorus and potassium. Learn how to read the fertilizer packages and what they contain so you know how much of what nutrient it supplies.
What do the Numbers on Fertilizer Mean?
You have likely seen the fertilizer boxes in the store with their three numbers say 10-10-10 or 18-24-16 and wondered what they mean. The numbers on the package are telling you the standardized rate of the primary macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) in the container as a ratio to its volume.
The higher the number, the higher the concentration, and the more the plant gets based on the rate of application. The rate of application is how much you apply per square foot. Always follow the mixing and application rates on the package based on the plants you are fertilizing.
What are Macronutrients and Micronutrients?
Plants require two types of nutrients: macronutrients in larger quantities and micronutrients in smaller quantities. There are primary and secondary macronutrients.
Primary Macronutrients
N, P, K: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, respectively, are the primary macronutrients plants require. The letters stand for the atomic symbols for the elements. Each one provides a plant with a different benefit:
- Nitrogen is for green growth – the parts above ground.
- Phosphorus is for the roots and blooms
- Potassium is for overall growth and health of the plant
Secondary Macronutrients
Secondary elements are also macronutrients but plants need lesser amounts.
- Calcium – formation of cell walls and membranes, plus soil structure
- Sulfur – formation of plant proteins
- Magnesium – requires calcium present
Micronutrients
Plants require micronutrients on a much smaller level and are symptoms are treated as they arise. Some of the common ones are boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, and zinc.
