Effects of Chemical Fertilizers on Garden Plants

It is important to induce doses of fertilizers at the right time to provide your plants with the necessary minerals. The three important times when you need to fertilize are

• Before planting a seed or a sapling the soil should be fertilized
• During the initial growth phase of the seed or sapling the soil should be fertilized
• During the flower bearing phase

The three primary elements present in any fertilizer are

Nitrogen(N): This mineral helps enhance plant growth and is the most important nutrient. Ample amount of nitrogen in the soil leads to strong stems and leaf growth.

Potassium(K): Help plants resist common disease and is required for vitality.

Phosphorous(P): Helps in flower production, fruit production and stronger growth of roots.

A balanced fertilizer contain these three mineral in equal amounts. The fertilizer you buy would have a label marking the exact quantity of these minerals present using the N-P-K format.

A label marked with 5-10-10 specifies that there volume ratio of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium is 5, 10, 10 respectively.

The needs of plants different but not significantly. It is true that the lawn grass requires high amounts of nitrogen, so you will benefit by fertilizing your lawn soil with fertilizers which contain high amount of nitrogen.

For your flowering plants a balanced fertilizer should be enough. You can check once with the sales man on the fertilizing requirements for the plant you are buying.

Adding micro nutrients via fertilizers

The micro nutrients such as calcium, magnesium and sulfur are available in a good soil.

You don't need to add to it via fertilizers. If your soil test result points to a lack of certain mineral, you can go in a fertilizer which enhances that particular micro nutrition.

For example a calcium deficient soil would require fertilizer which can enhance the calcium content of the soil.

Tips on using chemical and natural fertilizers

It is a good practice to use a mix of natural as well as chemical fertilizers in order to get the best results. Natural or organic fertilizers are black gold for the soil, they tend to provide long term benefits by enriching the soil fertility and minerals.

With chemical fertilizers it is important to follow the instructions on the label to the letter. Excessive use can be highly damaging to the soil and the plants.

A few tips on the use of fertilizers is as below

• It is usually a good practice to avoid the use of excessive fertilizers. The more organic your garden is the better. A good soil with a mix of compost should be more than sufficient for most plants.
• Dig in a layer of compost into your soil. Mix it well and leave it for a few weeks before putting your plants in. An organically rich soil is highly fertile and its porous allowing for a lot of oxygen.
• Instead of fertilizing a lousy soil continuously you are better off mixing it with compost to make it fertile. It is never a good idea to instead the salts in your soil, which happen when keep adding fertilizers. Stay organic as much as possible.
• You can buy compost in sacks from the nursery or you can make the compost yourself from kitchen left over, grass, bark, straws, dried leaves, egg shells and paper.
• Avoid using any non-vegetarian product in your compost such as animal fat. Avoid using animal excretions from dogs, cats and the like. However herbivorous animal excretions should be fine, make sure they are dehydrated before adding it to the compost.
• Build up your soil fertility at least once a year. It takes time but its worth the effort. Dig up as much compost as you can, add it to the roots of growing plants, sprinkle some on the soil surface also.

Organic fertilizers and compost should be used in good quantities which preparing the soil initially. Once the plants are in place it difficult to induce organic fertilizers because they need to be dug into the soil.