Criterion for fertilizers?

Hey all,

I'm new to gardening, because just moved to house with private garden. There are few thujas, apple tree, pear tree, hothouse (where i would like to have some vegetables, or spices, or berries), and of course some lawn. I know that everything must be fertilized in spring.
In shop I found a lot different types of those fertilizers.
So I would like to know know by which criterion do you choose fertilizers. I'm interested in non liquid ones. And just in those that are sold in small amounts. Lets say that prices are almost the same, so I'm not taking it into account. Give some ideas ?

 

Find out if you really need fertilizer first by checking the pH of your soil. May save you some heartaches later. Cheers, Tony.

 

Checked it. The soil seems to be really poor - mostly in the hothouse. So, anyway need to fertilize it.

 

Hello vermi. I believe each of the 3 ingredients in fertiliser promote different parts of the plant. Nitrogen for promoting leaf growth/fruits, another for root growth and I don't know what the 3rd does - but I'm sure someone on this forum will know . The proportion of each is on the side of the container - stated as NPK - so a higher number for N means more nutrients for leaf/fruit growth etc. Tomato food will have a high N number - as you want masses of tom's.

 

Look for "growmore" start there with fertilisers as its a general purpose one suiting most conditions and needs.

That's the easy bit, now for the homework, as clanless mentioned about NPK, I suggest you have a google of that and learn what each part does, and how many fertilisers or plant food differ in what is in them. You do need a grounding knowledge of the subject so you can handle different plants needs.

Also, think of fertilisers as feed for your plants so its not just a one stop "in spring" feed, many plants will require repeat feeding through the season, sometimes liquid feed makes this easier, so don't rule out liquid feeds.

Its a huge subject in all, and one that could fill many books.

As a general rule, I use he following to feed with.

Well rotted manure,
Compost,
Fish Blood and Bone,
Nettle feed (Liquid, homemade)
Comfrey feed (Liquid, homemade and home grown)

Steve...

 

Lots of N (Nitrogen) will mean masses of big (curly?) tomato leaves, but not necessarily masses of tomatoes, possibly the reverse.

Can you really find out which nutrients your soil is deficient in with just a pH test? (regardless of whether you have an under/over fertilized alkaline soil or an under/over fertilized acidic soil? I would really appreciate a link to some info about that.

 

Prices aren't the same at all - huge amount of variation. However, in a small garden it may not make much odds - e.g. if you only need one packet per season.

Liquid feeding is very important. That's not to say that granular feeding won't be enough, but there are times when it wont, and liquid feeding will usually give a much faster result - which can be important if the plant is struggling.

Then there are liquid foliar feeds and tonics. For example spraying products made from seaweed onto the foliage can improve the health and sheen of a plant.

Then there are liquid feeds (usually significantly more expensive, because you are paying for "water" along with the feed itself) which you can make up, yourself, from granules. They work out very reasonably priced. Still liquid feeds though, when compared to using a granular feed.

So my advice would be not to dismiss liquid feeds out of hand, as you appear to be doing.