Fertilizers
plant food allow plants with nutrients ; they are commonly list in catalogue under : uncoiled fertilizers , Compound plant food , limpid fertilizers .
Straightfertilizers
These are used to supply a specific nutrient . If you bid to make your spring cabbages grow aside more quickly in the spring you could top - dress with Nitro - meth . If your Lycopersicon esculentum are not ripening chop-chop enough in dull weather sulphate of potassium hydroxide could aid . Straight fertilizers are either inorganic artificials ’ or organics ’ .
Artificials , which may be manufactured in factory , or are the purified salts from rude underground depository , are more correctly known as inorganic fertilizers . They by and large unthaw easily in water and when applied to moist soils act chop-chop . But this does not mean that they will be washed out of your territory . Both phosphates and potassium hydroxide are absorbed by soil constituents and so is nitrogen when applied as ammonium fertilizers . Nitrates , however , may be fall behind from the soil if applied during the winter or too far away from works roots . Hence the need for top dressing .
Most inorganic fertilizers are fairly hard and we know exactly how much of each food is present in any system of weights of fertilizer and so you may aim how much fertilizer to apply to the soil to provide a desired quantity of any particular nutrient . But expectant guardianship must be taken in deal them because being pore , overdoses are often harmful .
‘ Organics ’ are of fauna or veg origin and their food are locked away inside the complex structure of proteins and other materials . They must break down into soluble build — nitrates or in some instances ammonia — before they can be used by plant . Since bacteria and other experience organisms in the soil offend these down , their strength largely depends upon the soil shape being satisfactory for the organisms ; they are most effectual when used in moist , well - aerate , well - limed filth . Many are fairly concentrated , but their nourishing content often vary .
Fine dusty molecule go against down much more quickly than the coarse shard in constitutive fertilizers . For exercise a okay score of hoof - and - horn meal works very nearly as apace as some inorganic fertilizers , while coarse particles break down slowly and let go their N over a long menstruum of time .
man-made organics such as Urea - Form are chemic combination of urea and methanal and are designed to give a deadening release of nitrogen for several months . Their granules are almost indissoluble and do not break down in the filth . The outer surface of each granule is gradually worn away in much the same way as you would suck a sweet . The physical process begin within a few day in warm moist soils and extend to release nutrients as the industrial plant need them for retentive pre - determined periods . So , a ‘ one - shot ’ program may aliment plant throughout the grow season , whereas several program program of quickly available forms may be necessary .
Fruits and vegetables , decent fecundate with quickly uncommitted strain of nutrient are as sanitary and tasty as those fertilized with slowly uncommitted forms ; plants obtain their nutrient as uncomplicated chemicals through the root . And these chemical are exactly the same whether they descend from an ‘ artificial ’ or an ‘ organic ’ fertilizer .
Compound fertilizers
These hold two , or more usually , all three of the major nutrients , nitrogen , morning star and potassium . These are the ace that are used by plants in the with child amounts and are , therefore , most probable to be deficient in soils . When you bribe a plant food , therefore , you generally purchase it for its capacity of these nutrients in guild to give a balancedfeed before inseminate or planting .
you may make your own compounds by simply mixing together two or more straight fertilizers . The following are often made at menage :
A plant food for general use of goods and services :
Sulphate of ammonia 5 share by weight Superphosphate 5 parts by weight Sulphate of potash 2 part by weight
psychoanalysis 8 % N , 8 % P205 8 % K20 .
John Innes BaseFertilizer for potted plants :
Hoof and Horn repast 2 part by weight Superphosphate 2 portion by weight Sulphate of potash 1 part by free weight
analytic thinking 5.1 % N , 7.2 % P205 , 9.6 % K20
Analysis
When you buy a fertilizer you need to bonk how much of each plant food it contains and this information is give in the psychoanalysis provided with the fertilizer . The analytic thinking states the mental object of nitrogen as N , phosphorus as P205 ( phosphoric acid ) and potassium asK20(potash ) . Plants do not engross their plant life foods in these forms , since nitrogen is an inert gasoline , vestal Lucifer and K are very combat-ready chemically and burn if exposed to the strain or pee . So these elements can only be sop up by flora when combined with other elements to form materials suited for use in fertilizers . So the number think that the fertilizer contains the eq of the element .
As an exemplar , nitrate of soda ash contains 16 % of nitrogen ; what does the remainder lie of ? The chemic name for nitrate of soda is sodium nitrate which is a chemical chemical compound of nitrogen , sodium and oxygen . So there is about 26 % of sodium and 58 % of O in this compound .
You are advise to read the labels very carefully and look for the psychoanalysis very carefully in order of magnitude to economize disappointment and money by avoiding ‘ miracle ’ or ` wonder - working ’ fertilizers put up no guaranteed psychoanalysis .
Ready for use compounds
Garden supplying shop offer for sale a wide variety of material for feeding garden plants and lawn . Some of these products are much more expensive than others . They vary in price because of :
Nutrient content
Fertilizers with a high per centum of plant food be more per pound than those curb a small portion of nutrients . So always find out from the supplier what the secure content of nitrogen phosphoric acid and potash is . The flora food subject of a compound is often betoken by its mark — a serial of three numbers separated by dashes . The numbers show the percentage of nitrogen , phosphoric battery-acid and caustic potash , in that order , contain in the product .
Form Pelleted or granular fertilizer , and soluble plant food dressed ore cost more than powdered fertilizer . But the gritty figure may be more convenient for you to use .
Powdered fertilizers often hold a lot of very okay dusty textile which may brag away or be objectional to apply on a blowy day . They may become damp more easy and may coat and fail to spread properly through your fertilizer broadcaster .
Granular fertilizers are not as dust-covered as fine-grained fertilizers and they do not cake so easily ; they flow freely through fertilizer spreader . The granules roll off plant life leafage , reducing the peril of fertilizer suntan .
IngredientsNitrogen is the most expensive ingredient in a fertiliser chemical compound . tardily available forms derive from organic sources and Urea - Form are more expensive than the quickly available forms . So , the more N a compound contains — specially slowly available forms of atomic number 7 — the more expensive the product is .
Added materials
Products that control added hint elements , pesticides or herbicides be more than homely fertiliser . Fertilizerweed cause of death combinations are generally prepared for usage on lawns . These combinations can be quite satisfactory if :
Package size
Fertilizers sold in small container cost more per pound than the same product in larger packages .
swimming fertilizersare simply fertilizers in root ; if you mix in 28 gigabyte ( 1 oz ) of sulphate of ammonia with 41 ( 1 rancor ) of water you have a very frail solution containing nitrogen . you’re able to make up feeds to your own ethical drug , using concentrated chemical such as atomic number 19 nitrate , ammonium phosphate and urea , but this does require a bonnie amount of technological cognition and it is ordinarily more commodious to buy one of the readymade products which are of two main types :
Concentrated liquids that have to be diluted with water according to the maker ’s instructions . Mixtures of solid chemicals for melt in body of water . These are the chintzy since you do not have to pay for the cost of channelise the water supply .
swimming compound fertilizers are much more expensive than solids , as they have to be manufactured from purer material . But they are popular for the simplicity and speed with which food can be applied in balanced form to meet the changing needs of plants at dissimilar stage of growth and atmospheric condition conditions . Also feeding and lachrymation is done in one operation — a trenchant vantage when there are large batches of plant to be dealt with .
But they are not necessarily dear than self-colored feeds , merely more commodious , and of course liquid feeding is essential when using sure forms of irrigation equipment .
Some facts to remember when usingfertilizers
Never think at amounts ; overdoses can be harmful or even fatal to plants ; too slight may be ineffective . Either matter on household scales or buy a special graduated gardener ’s measure .
A friction match box will do if you have no scales available . When full a standard mate box will hold :
15 g ( oz ) of superphosphate
22 thou ( oz ) of sulphate of ammonia , pearl meal , many compounds
28 one thousand ( 1 oz ) of sulphate of potassium hydroxide
Always follow the educational activity on the label of the container when using proprietary compound .
Always dot them as equally as possible otherwise patchy increment will leave . Distributors can be used for lawn and great beds .
you’re able to grease one’s palms dilutors for melted feeds which meter the right amounts .
Always rake fertilizer into the top 5 or 7 cm ( 2 or sinfulness ) of grime or rotary cultivate , but do not forget deeply . deadening acting one are best mix soundly with the top 15 cm ( 6 in ) by rake or rotary cultivation .
Never use liquid fertilizers to dry dirt or compost . Always irrigate first .
Keep plant food in a dry place and keep the pinnacle of the containers closed up ; always keep bag off the flooring .
Do not allow plant food to touch leaves or flowers — they may scorch . NPK These are the chemic symbol for the three plant foods that are needed in the expectant amounts by plants , and are the ones most likely to be wanting in soils . When you buy a fertilizer you generally purchase it for its content of these plant foods . Hence the value of a fertilizer bet upon its depth psychology which should be stated on the bag or other container .
The Son potassium hydroxide , the chemic name of which is atomic number 19 oxide - K20 , uprise from the old usage of concentrating the solution of ashes , which bear potassium , in weed . The plant food content of a compound fertilizer may be indicated by its grade — a series of three numbers separated by dashes . The numbers show the percentage of nitrogen , ‘ phosphoric window pane ’ and potash , in that order , bear in the compound .
