Last week, in this Saturday Swot Shop series on soil, I got up close and mucky with manure.
This week I’m looking at fertilizers. The difference: whilst manures add nutrients to the soil, their most valuable role is to change and improve soil structure. Fertilizers play no role in soil structure; their role is to provide food/nutrients for the plant.
The two main things re fertilizers that I need to get to grips with:
- How to apply them
- How to choose the right one
Application is described by the mysterious terms – Base Dressing and Top Dressing.
Base Dressing being when you incorporate fertilizer into the soil by forking or raking it in – before you plant anything.
Top Dressing being when you scatter or sprinkle the fertilizer around already planted individual plants .
There is also foliar feed. A method used with liquid products which involves spraying the feed directly onto the leaves of the plant.
And how to choose what I’m going to apply? First decision:- Organic or Inorganic ?
Organic fertilizers come from decomposed animal or plant matter.
This gruesome menu includes bonemeal, hoof and horn, blood, fish and bone, seaweed meal, pelleted chicken manure, liquid comfrey or liquid seaweed. Rather them than me!
Inorganic does mean artificial or manufactured products. However in the world of fertilizers it can also mean derived from natural sources but ones which don’t contain carbon i.e minerals or rock.
I then need to decide what form to get my fertilizer in.
Choices are likely to be powder, crystals, granules, pellets or liquid.
And then (often linked to form) I need to identify the rate at which I want the fertilizer to make itself available to the plant. Pot Noodle or slow roast ?
Quick Action gives an immediate but short term hit.
Steady Release works quickly and keeps releasing over the length of the season
Slow Release takes time to make itself available but once released is there for longer and so is more suited to permanent plants.
And final consideration, what’s in the nutrient nosh ? The main three plant nutrients are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium which always appear as NPK.
A straight fertilizer will contain just one of these three, a compound two or more and a general/balanced will contain all 3.
My final dig around in the soil will be next week.
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Growing “Moneymaker”finding that the top centre of the tom is in the larger ones coming up green or yellow.Have been told I need to supply more potash. Am using NPK 4-4-12 feed. Is this good enough or do I need more potash and in what form. Growing in a small greenhouse in 12″pots . Would appreciate any advice.