Exploring fertilisers good for your gardening needs
TO get the best out of your quick-growing flowering plants and vegetables, you actually have to use a balanced, general purpose fertiliser. A quick and efficient method is to use a liquid fertiliser, that you can easily mix with water and pour into the soil or medium around the plant. In this form, the nutrients are more readily available to the plant than with slow release or dry powdered fertilisers.
Liquid fertilisers are chemical concentrates or water soluble powders of synthetic chemicals. They contain a mixture of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and iron. These are easy to apply to the lawn or plants.
By following the instructions for diluting the concentrate, you will be able to create a liquid solution for use in sprays or sprinkler applications. The nutrients will have immediate effect as the leaves and roots will quickly absorb the mixture. However, the disadvantage of liquid fertiliser is it can cause severe damage to plants if the mix is not done correctly. Too much of the chemical would burn the foliage, leaving discoloured streaks on the foliage.
Choosing a fertiliser can be a confusing process for even experienced gardeners. This is because selecting the right type of fertiliser requires knowledge of the health condition of the plants, such as deficiency of nutrients, improving yields, or helping with the fruiting process. The purpose is to create a healthy environment for your plants. Range of fertilisers Chemical or inorganic fertilisers are mixtures of naturally occurring minerals and/or manufactured chemicals such as urea. The popular formulation of NPK as granular pellets will allow ease of application and is also longlasting. However, it also has disadvantages.
Granular fertilisers do not immediately affect the health of plants as intended – it takes time for the granules to be dissolved by moisture or water. Application of granular fertiliser requires rain or water to have any impact.
The pH of the planting medium also has a strong influence on the effectiveness of the fertiliser applied. The phosphorus element – phosphate – in the fertiliser might combine with iron or alluvium as phosphide and become insoluble in an acidic medium.
Organic fertilisers are derived from plants or animal waste, such as blood, bone, manure, and seaweed. Organicbased fertilisers are at times supplemented with chemicals to improve the nutritive value.
Remember that container plantings need more nutrients to be made available than those growing in the soil or ground. Most houseplants do well with monthly applications of fertiliser throughout the year in the tropics. However, too much fertiliser can lead to a build-up of reserved salts in the soil, which can burn the roots or even foliage. Thus, the right dosage and frequency of application are important for plant health improvement.
In addition to macronutrients, better quality fertilisers also contain micronutrients such as boron, magnesium, and manganese, which promote good growth. Functions of macronutrients
Nitrogen encourages healthy foliage growth and the lack of this is indicated as yellowing of the older leaves as the element can move from the older leaves to the younger leaves that remain green.
Phosphorous encourages root growth mainly, but also has a role in flowering.
Potash encourages bigger and healthier flowers.
In view of the special needs of fertiliser for certain plants such as cacti, African violets, or orchids, there are special formulations with the appropriate macro and micro elements. This would help gardeners make the right choice.
If you are using a packaged granular fertiliser, it must be dissolved in water before application. A fish emulsion or seaweed liquid fertiliser must also be diluted before use. Feeding bromeliads The objective of any bromeliad feeding programme is to produce beautiful and coloured foliage – strong leaves with deeply coloured flower bracts. In the wild, these plants live as parasitic epiphytes on trees without any soil.
The central cups act as reservoirs for food and water. Plant and insect debris fall into the wet cup where they gradually rot to supply nutrients to the plant as organic matter. Thus feeding such a plant needs proper knowledge.
Never put any granular fertiliser pellets into the cups as this would burn the plant.
Do not feed the dormant plant as the fertiliser would also burn the leaves.
Root feeding needs attention too as this can take a long time to release nutrients. To make life easier, buy ready packed ones. Feeding orchids Remember orchid plants cannot take any granular pellets. These are too strong for the orchids. These plants are best fed with a light liquid orchidspecific spray on the leaves and roots for direct absorption.
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Happy gardening.