Fertilizer can help promote healthier and stronger plants by giving them one balanced nutrient content, promotes root strength and longer flowers. The general consensus is that you should fertilize your plants during the growing season Early to mid-spring, but in reality it is not that simple: every plant has different fertilizer requirements, and getting it right is a bit of a science.
The hard part is knowing if you gave too much or too little. This is how you can tell if your plants are starving for nutrients or are receiving too much nutrition.
How do you know when your plant needs fertilizer?
The plant information page Garden guide explains that plants need a balance of minerals, with the most important minerals being nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. There are several reasons for potential mineral deficiencies, including poor soil conditions, pH imbalance, or drought. When plants are deficient in these nutrients, they cannot accurately cry and say they are hungry, and the signs are not the same as lack of water or too little sun.
According to Garden Guides, a lack of nitrogen leads to yellow leaves that start at the tips and then reach the stem. A deficiency in phosphorus, on the other hand, “leads to an accumulation of nitrates in the plant, which gives it a dull dark green”, and sometimes the leaves turn purple. If the potassium level is too low, you can begin to see small spots develop on the leaves, which over time grow and create large spots of discoloration.
When these signs show up, this is the biotech company Green way suggests adding soil improvers and slow release fertilizers to slowly restore your plants to health.
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What is “fertilizer burning”?
The other side of fertilizing your plants is giving them too many nutrients, which is called “Burn manure. ”Too much fertilizer can draw moisture out of your plants, causing them to dry out and look burnt (hence the name). The leaves will tend to be beige or brown in appearance and will be wrinkled. Overfertilization can also look like white streaks in green leaves.
The garden recommends scooping out any visible fertilizer and then “washing out” the soil when these signs occur. Leaching involves watering as much as possible without drowning the plant in order to wash the excess plant food past the root system. The downside of leaching and excess chemical fertilizers outdoors is the negative impact it has on waterways. Can fertilizers disrupt the natural ecosystem of algae and kill fish and marine animals. To Avoid over-fertilization, try a slow release fertilizer or use natural organic compost for plant nutrients.
