Each of the three nutrients in the N-P-K has its own special job to do. Nitrogen N spurs vigorous, leafy growth and rich green color in lawn grasses and other plants. Without enough nitrogen, growth slows and lawns and plants turn pale. With too much nitrogen, flowering and fruit-bearing plants put their efforts into green growth and forfeit their blooms and fruit.
Phosphorus P focuses energy on strong root development and flowers, fruits and seeds, while also helping plants use other nutrients efficiently. A shortage of phosphorus leaves roots weak and flowers and fruit lacking. An increasing number of states and counties restrict the application of phosphorus to lawns due to the environmental concerns of phosphorus runoff into waterways. In these states or counties, homeowners can usually apply a lawn starter fertilizer that is high in phosphorus, such as Pennington UltraGreen Starter Fertilizer if a soil test indicates a nutrient deficiency.
Check with your local county extension agent on any nutrient application restrictions. Potassium K enhances overall growth. It helps regulate root and top growth and keeps plants healthy and balanced.
This affects all aspects of lawn and garden well-being, from cold and drought tolerance to disease and pest resistance. They think that if a little bit is good, then more must be better. According to the National Academy of Sciences, even though farmers uses pesticides more widely, homeowners uses 10 times more fertilizer per acre.
If you only take away one thing from this article, please let it be that you should only use the proper amount of any fertilizer, and not anything more. This will save you money, and it will also keep your yard and garden healthier at the same time. This is extremely important with chemicals, but it also applies to organics! Organic gardeners can look to the work of Sir Albert Howard for solid research and ideas on how to grow plants more naturally. His ideas consider chemical processes that occur in nature.
He then applies them to agriculture and home gardening. So, what is the rest of your fertilizer made up of? That depends on the fertilizer. Chemical fertilizers can have any number of additional ingredients including dirt, sand, and even materials that are potentially hazardous to your health and to the environment. Another thing to be aware of with chemical fertilizers is the kind of nutrients they contain and the way these nutrients are extracted. For example, the kind of nitrogen typically found in chemical fertilizers dissolves very quickly in water.
This means that excess nitrogen may find its way into groundwater and freshwater sources and contaminate the water. Additionally, many chemical fertilizers are now using phosphoric acid to create a high phosphorous content quickly and cheaply. With crops that require a lot of nitrogen over a period of time, like cabbages, adding nitrogen incrementally through the growth period is the most efficient application method.
Phosphorus is essential for seed germination and root development. It is needed particularly by young plants forming their root systems and by fruit and seed crops. Root vegetables such as carrots, swedes and turnips obviously need plentiful phosphorus to develop well.
Without ample phosphorus you will see stunted growth, probably a purple tinge to leaves and low fruit yields. Phosphates remain in the soil for two or three years after application so the amount in a general fertilizer is probably enough. Add just before planting or top dress during growth periods. Potassium has the chemical symbol K from its Latin name kalium. It promotes flower and fruit production and is vital for maintaining growth and helping plants resist disease.
Carrots, parsnips, potatoes, tomatoes and apples all need plenty of potassium to crop well. As the world population is expected to exceed 9 billion by , fertilizer will be needed more than ever to boost crop production to keep people fed and healthy. All growing plants need 17 essential elements to grow to their full genetic potential.
Of these 17, 14 are absorbed by plants through the soil, while the remaining three come from air and water. Generations of soil science have yielded knowledge of how to test nutrient levels in soil, how plants take them up and how best to replace those nutrients after harvest.
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