In container gardening, potted plants lose their nutrients while being watered for a long time. To replenish those nutrients back to the potted plants, we fertilize them, but this is a routine and the reason for feeding fertilizers to container gardening plants. Another important reason for feeding fertilizer to the potted plants is to boost their growth during the growing season.
For foliage plants and edible plants, you’ve to feed organic fertilizers in routine for foliage growth, plant growth, root development, and keeping the plant healthy. Especially NPK fertilizers (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium), these fertilizers are available in synthetic form and organic form. These three nutrients play an important role in various growth stages of plants and help to boost growth in different growing stages.
What is NPK in fertilizer?
N-Nitrogen P-Phosphorus K-potassium is a full form of the NPK. A fertilizer nutrient is available in organic and synthetic fertilizers. The importance of balanced NPK fertilizer for plant care is listed below.
Nitrogen promotes leafy growth and foliage by supporting chlorophyll production. Nitrogen is also important for photosynthesis and protein synthesis processes in plants. Nitrogen is a nutrient that is most needed in leafy vegetables, microgreens, herbs and plants in a vegetative stage of growth. Phosphorus for root & flower development and energy transfer within the plant. Phosphorus fertilizers have to be fed in the stages of flowering, fruiting and seed formation. Also, phosphorus helps the plant to tolerate stress and grow.
Potassium enhances the overall plant health and strengthens disease resistance in plants like building a better immune system in plants. Regulates water uptakes and improves drought tolerance. Potassium is a needed fertilizer for flowering, fruit quality and overall metabolic processes.
BENEFITS OF EACH NUTRIENT IN NPK FERTILIZERS
Importance of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium for plants
Nitrogen (N) is an important nutrient needed for foliage growth in plants, especially foliage, leafy greens and herbs like plants. Nitrogen supports rapid vegetative growth, a period between germination and flowering. Nitrogen plays an important role in amino acids and protein formation in plants and improves the overall yield of the plant.
Phosphorus (P) is needed for root development, to put it simply. A healthy root ensures plants hydration, nutrient uptake, energy formation and disease resistant. Phosphorus nutrients are essential for young plants to establish strong and deep root systems. Phosphorus helps plants to convert sunlight into usable energy through ATP. Also, this is a nutrient of helps plants tolerate stress and drought tolerance.
Potassium (K) is a nutrient to improve overall resilience and disease resistance in plants. If your plants suffering from disease attacks more frequently or you want your plant to be disease resistant you’ve to add potassium nutrients to your potting mix. Not only that potassium improves the drought tolerance of plants, enhances the quality of fruits and flower sizes along with better the shelf life of fruits and flowers. This all happens because of the better metabolism created by potassium.
Why NPK Fertilizers Are Essential for Plant Growth
In the above paragraphs, we already analysed what is the role of NPK in plants’ different growth stages, but here I want to share the signs of NPK deficiency in plants so you better understand why NPK fertilizers are essential.
Nitrogen deficiency signs are similar to a lot of common plant problem signs like yellowing leaves or pale leaves, some of you might think it is a sign of light stress or watering issues and fail to identify the nitrogen deficiency. A lot of gardeners identify this after applying plant care and still see the signs. Poor vegetative growth and poor yields are clear signs of nitrogen deficiency.
Differing from nitrogen deficiency, Phosphorus deficiency shows signs like leaves developing darker shades, like purplish leaves particularly older leaves and leaf tips may look brunt. Another notable sign is stunted growth with weak roots, delayed flowering or poor fruit or seed production. All these signs indicated one thing which is poor energy transfer throughout the plant and phosphorus fixes that issue of energy transferring.
Potassium deficiency signs are combined signs like yellowing or browning leaves, older leaves show spots. Weak stems and poor yield are signs. Potassium deficiency is a combined sign of nitrogen and phosphorus signs along with increased disease attacks in plants. To fix all these deficiencies you can use synthetic NPK fertilizers or Organic NPK fertilizers.
WHAT DO NPK NUMBERS MEAN ON FERTILIZER BAGS
After you identified the NPK deficiencies, you want to buy organic or synthetic NPK fertilizers, to buy those you searched about NPK fertilizers and got confused by these numbers on NPK fertilizer bags. This number indicates the percentage of NPK and you’ve to know about plants’ NPK fertilizer ratio to interpret the numbers.
E.g. NPK 10-20-10 numbers mean the weight of the nutrient in the bag Nitrogen (N)-10%, Phosphorus(P)-20%, Potassium(K)-10% and the remaining 60% typically inert material or other nutrients. You’ve to choose the ratio based on the plant types and their fertilization needs.
Best NPK ratio for plants
PLANT TYPE | PURPOSE | SYNTHETIC | ORGANIC |
Foliage & Leafy Greens | Promote lush & foliage growth | 20-10-10 NPK or 10-5-5 NPK | 3-1-2 compost–fish emulsion–alfalfa meal |
Herbs | Balanced growth & encourage essential oil in herbs | Seaweed extract once a month or ¼ of vermicompost | |
Vegetables | Leaf-root development-fruit production | 10-10-10 NPK or 15-15-15 NPK | |
Frits & Flowering vegetables | Support flowering & flowering | 5-10-10 NPK or 8-25-25 NPK | 6% of Bone meal or Rock phosphate |
Flowering Plants | Boost blooms & vibrant flowers | 10-10-10 NPK or 15-30-15 NPK | |
Tropical Plants | Lush foliage & vibrant flowers | 12-6-8 NPK or 10-10-10 NPK | |
House Plants | Support moderate growth | ¼ worm casting and feed diluted liquid fertilizer once a month | |
Succulents & Cacti | Slow & steady growth with minimal nitrogen | 2-7-7 NPK or 5-10-10 NPK | Feed diluted compost tea or 1 tsp bonemeal for 1kg potting mix (8” pots hold 2kg soil) |
Shrubs and Bushes | Enhance the structure | ¼ of compost | |
Grasses | Promote lush growth | 20-5-5 NPK or 15-0-15 NPK | 1/8 of chicken manure |
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT NPK FERTILIZER
- Test your soil using a soil test kit to determine its pH and nutrient levels; this helps identify nutrient deficiencies in soil.
- Texture of the soil also determines the fertiliser feed; sandy soil requires more frequent feeding of fertilisers and the clay requires less feeding but roots struggle to penetrate in clay textured soil.
- Potting mix that is made with organic matter usually needs less feed fertilizers and doesn’t need synthetic fertilizer feed. To that organic matter-rich soil, you can feed organic fertilizer in small quantities.
- Heavy feeders like fruit-bearing plants and vegetable plants need organic matter-rich potting mix and balanced NPK fertilizers like 15-15-15 NPK in the initial growth and higher phosphorus and potassium for flowering and fruiting like 0-52-34.
- Leafy vegetables and herbs need high-nitrogen fertilizers like, fish emulsion.
- Root crops like carrots and potatoes need lower nitrogen and high phosphorus and potassium to encourage root development. For synthetic you can go with 10-26-26, for the organic NPK source Rock phosphate, fish bone meal, chicken manure for the Phosphorus source and Kelp meal for the potassium source.
- Plants in the Seedling stage require balanced and slightly higher phosphorus like 10-20-10 NPK.
- In the Vegetative stage (from seedling to before fruiting or flowering stage), plants need Phosphorus and potassium-high fertilizers like 5-10-10 NPK.
APPLICATION TIPS FOR NPK FERTILIZER PROPERLY
How to apply NPK fertilizers properly?
Steps to use NPK fertilizer in gardens to test the soil is the first step for any garden to ensure what kind or which ratio of NPK fertilizer is needed for that soil. Plant types also decide the NPK type, Plants in fruit-bearing and flowering need less nitrogen and high phosphorus & potassium fertilizers, meanwhile, leafy greens and foliage need nitrogen-rich fertilizers for foliage and lush growth.
The Quantity of fertilizer for granules is 1tsp for 1kg potting soil. The proper way to use water-soluble fertilizers is 1 tbsp of liquid fertilizer diluted with 1 litre of water has to be fed once a month for routine fertilizer feed. Plants in the fruit-bearing and flowering stages need high phosphorus and potassium feed.
When to apply NPK fertilizer for best results are using NPK organic fertilizers like manures chicken manure, cow manure, Compost, Bone meal, worm casting and fish emulsion. Adding these components to the potting mix is best practice, as feeding NPK fertilizers while growing seasons, bud formation time and fruit-bearing time are essential. Avoid fertilizing during extreme heat and extreme rain to prevent plant stress.
ORGANIC VS SYNTHETIC NPK FERTILIZERS
Organic vs Synthetic NPK: Which is better
IMPACTS | SYNTHETIC | ORGANIC |
Source of ingredients | Manufactured from petroleum-based or mineral-based sources. | Made from natural resources like organic matter |
Nutrient Release | Provide nutrients quickly (ideal for saving dying plants), risk of imbalance nutrient. | Release slowly over time as microorganisms break them down. |
Soil health & Micro-organisms | Might affect the soil fertility in the soil due to disrupting soil microorganisms. | Improves soil structure, improve soil texture, water retention and microbial activity. |
Nutrient Availability | A readily available nutrient for rapid results might lead to nutrient imbalance. | A gradual nutrient release reduces the risk of nutrient leaching for longer visible results. |
Environmental Impact | Can cause environmental issues and water pollution. | An eco-friendly, recyclable. |
Cost | Affordable. | Tend to be expensive, but long-term benefits. |
Plant Health & Growth | Quick growth and over-fertilization kill the plant. | More balanced plant growth. |
Benefits of organic NPK fertilizers for soil
- Organic NPK fertilizers improve soil structure and texture.
- Improving aeration and water retention.
- Enhances microbial activity and these microbiotas break down soil and improve the structure.
- Benefit for Sterlite soil to make the soil fertile.
- Gradually release nutrients through decomposition.
- Reducing the nutrient leaching or burning plant.
- Replenishes nutrients and improves the organic matter content.
- Neutralize the soil pH with acidic and alkaline soil.
- Reduce the soil erosion and improve the soil stability.
- Prevent the topsoil, and nutrient runoff.
- Safer for plants and beneficial insects.
- Boosting the long-term fertility.
CONCLUSION
The reason why the NPK fertilizer ratio matters for plants is the plant type and the growing stage decide the NPK ratio. The right ratio of feeding NPK supports plant growth without burning plants. The importance of balanced NPK fertilizers for gardening success depends on the proper application of fertilizers we discussed above.
In this blog, you learned about important aspects of NPK fertilizers, synthetic and organic as well. And you learned about how to feed for different plant types. To the highlight, you learned about how to choose the best NPK ratio for plants. You can experiment with testing different NPK ratios for better yields.
Soil testing is important to identify the soil type, and pH levels in soil and knowing about nutrient deficiency helps you to choose the right type of fertilizer. With the help of a soil kit, you can do these tests at home in an affordable way. The above-recommended fertilizers for organic gardening.
To know more about fertilizers check the FERTILIZERS category and learn about easy container gardening check the website mypotsgarden.com
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