Fertlizers

Watch Reply
More
Mark unread Print Skip to new
aramy699 Cairo, Egypt Jun 22, 2015

I have the following one year old trees:

Cassia Festula
Winter Sweet
Red Flame
Wisteria

What is the most suitable fertilizer for each?

Post #10099161
Quote
tapla Bay City, MI(Zone 6a) Jun 30, 2015

If the plants are in the ground, the ONLY way to determine what type of nutritional supplementation is appropriate is by way of a soil test. Period. Nutritional supplementation for containerized plants is much easier, and most gardeners that succumb to advertising hype are being badly misled into thinking a wide array of fertilizers is a requirement if you are to keep a variety of plants happy.

The amount of nutrients plants use in relation to the plant's mass varies considerably, but the RATIO of nutrients plants use doesn't vary much. The AVERAGE plant uses about 1.5 parts of P and 6 parts of K for every 10 parts of N. Other nutrients also occupy fairly narrow ranges with regard to the amount used as compared to N.

If you assign nitrogen the value of 100 because it is the largest nutrient component, you'll see the range of the other nutrients listed as a weight percentage of N fall into a rather narrow range.

N 100
P 13-19 (16) 1/6
K 45-80 (62) 3/5
S 6-9 (8) 1/12
Mg 5-15 (10) 1/10
Ca 5-15 (10) 1/10
Fe 0.7
Mn 0.4
B(oron) 0.2
Zn 0.06
Cu 0.03
Cl 0.03
M(olybden) 0.003

To read the chart: P - plants use 13-19 parts of P or an average of about 16 parts for every 100 parts of N, or 6 times more N than P. Plants use about 45-80 parts of K or an average of about 62 parts for every 100 parts of N, or about 3/5 as much K as N, and so on.

After factoring for how P and K are reported on the package, you'll find that fertilizers with a 3:1:2 NPK RATIO supply nutrients in almost exactly the range shown on the chart provided. A fertilizer's RATIO is much more important than its NPK %s. A few examples of 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers available in the US are 24-8-16, 12-4-8, and 9-3-6. My favorite fertilizer, one I use almost exclusively for ALL plants in containers, is Dyna-Gro's Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 - for a variety of reasons.

Al

Post #10104091
Quote
aramy699 Cairo, Egypt Mar 07, 2016

Quote from tapla :
If the plants are in the ground, the ONLY way to determine what type of nutritional supplementation is appropriate is by way of a soil test. Period. Nutritional supplementation for containerized plants is much easier, and most gardeners that succumb to advertising hype are being badly misled into thinking a wide array of fertilizers is a requirement if you are to keep a variety of plants happy.

The amount of nutrients plants use in relation to the plant's mass varies considerably, but the RATIO of nutrients plants use doesn't vary much. The AVERAGE plant uses about 1.5 parts of P and 6 parts of K for every 10 parts of N. Other nutrients also occupy fairly narrow ranges with regard to the amount used as compared to N.

If you assign nitrogen the value of 100 because it is the largest nutrient component, you'll see the range of the other nutrients listed as a weight percentage of N fall into a rather narrow range.

N 100
P 13-19 (16) 1/6
K 45-80 (62) 3/5
S 6-9 (8) 1/12
Mg 5-15 (10) 1/10
Ca 5-15 (10) 1/10
Fe 0.7
Mn 0.4
B(oron) 0.2
Zn 0.06
Cu 0.03
Cl 0.03
M(olybden) 0.003

To read the chart: P - plants use 13-19 parts of P or an average of about 16 parts for every 100 parts of N, or 6 times more N than P. Plants use about 45-80 parts of K or an average of about 62 parts for every 100 parts of N, or about 3/5 as much K as N, and so on.

After factoring for how P and K are reported on the package, you'll find that fertilizers with a 3:1:2 NPK RATIO supply nutrients in almost exactly the range shown on the chart provided. A fertilizer's RATIO is much more important than its NPK %s. A few examples of 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers available in the US are 24-8-16, 12-4-8, and 9-3-6. My favorite fertilizer, one I use almost exclusively for ALL plants in containers, is Dyna-Gro's Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 - for a variety of reasons.

Al

Thank you


This message was edited Mar 7, 2016 11:59 AM

Post #10205352
Quote
tapla Bay City, MI(Zone 6a) Apr 25, 2016

You're welcome.

Al

Post #10221082
Quote

Post a Reply to this Thread

Please or sign up to post.
Back to Forum Homepage

More Ask-a-Dave's-Gardener Threads

Go to all Ask-a-Dave's-Gardener threads
BACK TO TOP