Ah, the sweet smell of fertilizers, am I right??
Well, at least to plant, I’m sure it smells great, and we humans love to give it to our lawns and plants. I’ve written about so many fertilizers for many varieties of plants, vegetables, fruits, trees, and sod that I’ve decided to create this guide to make it easy to find what you are looking for.
Understanding the Basics of Fertilizers
Fertilizers are natural chemical compounds applied in farming to promote plant and fruits growth. They are typically used either through the soil or by foliage feeding.
There are two types of fertilizers: organic fertilizers (composed of decayed plant/animal matter) and inorganic fertilizers (consisting of natural chemicals and minerals). Organic fertilizers are natural compounds formed through biological processes, while inorganic ones are natural compounds formed through chemical processes.
Fertilizers typically provide three significant nutrients for plants: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These three are called macronutrients, usually found in most packaged fertilizers.
Fertilizers also provide secondary nutrients: sulfur, calcium, and magnesium. Also, trace elements are found, such as boron, cobalt, manganese, iron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, and selenium. These elements are also known as micronutrients.
Of all those compounds, the most important ones needed in the largest quantity by plants are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. They are necessary for these building basics:
- Every amino acid contains nitrogen
- Every molecule forming up every cell’s membrane contains phosphorus, and so does every molecule of ATP (all cells’ main energy source)
- Potassium makes up 1% – 2% of the weight of any plant and, as an ion in cells, is essential for metabolism.
In short, without nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, plants cannot grow and thrive as they cannot build up the pieces they need. If any of those three are missing or scarce, the plants’ growth will be limited. By supplying the compounds plants require in their readily available forms, the plants are projected to grow faster and produce more harvest. This is why sometimes the appliance of fertilizers is needed.
The numbers attached to a fertilizer package tell you the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium percentages. It means a 12-8-10 fertilizer has 12% nitrogen, 8% phosphorus and 10% potassium. Thus in a 100-pound bag, 12 pounds is nitrogen, 8 pounds is phosphorus, and 10 pounds is potassium. The other 70 pounds is called ballast, offering no value to plants or soil.
A packaged fertilizer is usually named according to the largest macronutrient it contains. For example, if nitrogen is the main element, the fertilizer is often called nitrogen fertilizer. Or if it includes mainly phosphorus, it is often called phosphorus fertilizer. By recognizing which compound your plants need them most, you can choose the right fertilizer for your farm based on its scarcity in the soil.
Fertilizer Directory
Please see my complete fertilizer guides for specific plant types below:
How to Choose The Best Fertilizers For Your Growing Needs
Plants need to be nurtured like humans and animals to grow and bear. Plants’ substances to form their roots, branches, leaves, fruits, and crops are called “plant nutrition substances.” Plants take their nutrients from under the soil through their roots, and the atmosphere through their leaves called green parts.
Fertilization is called the process of adding nutrients to the soil, which does not contain sufficient nutrients, to increase soil productivity and the quality and quantity of agricultural products. The matter that includes these nutritional elements is called fertilizers.
All the animate and inanimate creatures in the world consist of about one hundred small and different units we call elements. The 17 are essential for the plant growing, namely: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, ferrous, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, chloride, and sodium. The first ten elements are called macro elements, which are added to soil in more proportions, while the remaining seven elements are microelements, which are sufficient in small quantities.
Fertilizers are divided into two groups :
- Organic fertilizer contains plant nutrients organically. Stall fertilizer and green fertilizer are two examples. Stall fertilizer is the mixture of animal manure and matters which are used as bedding. There are approximately 0.5-0.7% nitrogen, 0.2-0.3% phosphorus and 0.4-0.6% potassium in stall fertilizer. In addition to these elements, it contains calcium, magnesium and sulfur as well as little amount of micro elements such as manganese, zinc, copper and ferrous. Stall fertilizer increases the amount of organic matters in the soil and the soil’s capacity to hold water, which improves soil’s tolerance against droughts and helps soil processing.
Green fertilization, conducted by mixing leguminous seeds into the soil when they are green, regulates the nature of soils poor in organic matters and increases the water holding capacity.
- Chemical, mineral, commercial and artificial fertilizers contain one or more nutrients and are produced by chemical methods. These are fertilizers with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and calcium. Nitrous fertilizers contain ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, urea; phosphorous fertilizers contain superphosphate, triple superphosphate; potassium fertilizers contain potassium sulfate, potassium chloride; and composite fertilizers contain particular amount of N, P and K, which are fertilizers such as 20-20-0, 15-15-15, 18-46-0 and 26-13-0.
Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are nutrients that plants need most and thus must be given to plants through fertilization. Most soils are poor in nitrogen and phosphorus in countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia. At the same time, potassium is more than the plants require in most agricultural fields. To increase the productivity of farming fields, fertilization should be done in the appropriate amount following the soil analysis results, if possible.
Within the framework of fertilizers and fertilization, nitrous and phosphorous fertilizers primarily used in agriculture will be emphasized.
Nitrous Fertilization
The source of nitrogen in our world is the atmosphere. The %79 of the atmosphere consists of nitrogen gas. Nitrogen is added to the soil through bacteria in the roots of plants such as lentil, chickpea, alfalfa, and sainfoin and the merging of nitrogenous bacteria, clostridium, and algae with the nitrogen in the air. Other plants such as wheat, maize, and sugar beet using this nitrogen. Therefore, the nitrogen source in the soil is the waste of plants and animals. We call these wastes organic substances. As the number of organic substances in the soil increases, so does the amount of nitrogen in that soil. The organic substance decomposes and disintegrates in time, leaving nitrogen suitable for the plant growing.
If we carry the animal wastes in our stalls to our fields and mix them into the soil, it is a kind of nitrogen fertilization. However, as the stall fertilizer is not sufficient in amount and as it is expensive to carry it from the stall to the field, we generally use artificial fertilizers called commercial fertilizers.
Commercial fertilizers, which contain nitrogen, are called nitrogen fertilizers. Nitrogen is an element that needs to be in all plant cells. It encourages vegetative growth, in other words, stem and leaf growth. It rapids growing and increase the green color in the plants. Nitrogen increases the protein in the various parts of the plant and encourages grain production. Plentiful nitrogen in soil helps leaf and stem grow. The remarkable increase in the leaf part of the plant is an indicator of nitrogen abundance in the ground.
In addition, abundant nitrogen increases the amount of water. Excessive nitrogen may harm the sensitivity of plants against droughts, diseases, and frosts. Excessive nitrogen also slows flower and fruit growing and thus causes the development of leaves and stems. An excessive amount of nitrogen in the soil, on the other hand, burns or kills the plant. While the nitrogen abundance in the soil is not so effective in productivity, an excessive amount of nitrogen delays ripening, and seeds require harvesting before they are entirely matured.
Light green or yellowish color in the plant indicates nitrogen deficiency. Symptoms of nitrogen deficiency include small and old plants, reduced tillering in single-year plants such as barley, wheat, and lentils, small and inadequate-looking flowers or fruits. In nitrogen deficiency, lower leaves dry and fall earlier than usual. There is also a remarkable decrease in yield.
There are a few points that require attention in nitrogen fertilizer practices. As nitrogen is an active nutrient in the soil, water removes nitrogen from the root part of the plant in rainy climates, and thus nitrogen deficiency occurs in the plant. !n such regions, ammonium fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate should be preferred instead of nitrogen fertilizers. One of the other solutions would be dividing and giving fertilizers in portions.
The second important point in nitrogen fertilization is fertilizing as early as possible. The yield potentials of some plants grown for their seeds depend on their development in the seedling phase. If there is nitrogen fertilizer, the first development in these plants is better and healthier as well a high grain yield is achieved.
Now, let’s know the nitrogen fertilizers commonly sold in our country.
Ammonium Sulfate
It is the oldest artificial fertilizer. It creates a firm acidity in the soil. The ammonium is taken directly by the plant roots. Contrary to nitrate, ammonium is held by the clay and organic substances in the soil, and thus its activity is low. However, in time, ammonium may turn into nitrate. When it does, it becomes very active.
Ammonium nitrate. This fertilizer contains both nitrate and nitrogen in the ammonium form. Nitrate is washed and removed from the soil in the rainy regions.
Urea
This fertilizer gains more importance day by day. Urea is active in the soil as much as nitrate. This organic fertilizer disintegrates in time and turns into ammonium, suitable for the plants. If the air is dry and soil texture is sandy during the disintegration, nitrogen may be lost in the form of ammonia gas.
After introducing the fertilizers, we need to pay attention to another issue regarding the economy. This is important because our farmers make many mistakes. In each fertilizer, there is a particular amount of nitrogen. And this amount is written on the fertilization bags in %. After learning the pure nutrient amount we need to give our plants, this is turned into fertilizer. After this process, there are different amounts for each fertilizer. Please pay attention to this difference in the types of nitrogen fertilizers we call turfgrass.
The second important point is related to costs. If we don’t have a special obligation in fertilization, there is no difference between the types of fertilizers. Therefore, we need to prefer the one with the lowest cost.
Phosphor and phosphor fertilization
Phosphor is in the form of organic phosphor salts in living, and they are essential for residences. Plants take phosphor from the phosphate solution in the form of phosphate ions. In our country’s soils, phosphor would be enough to last for centuries if all the phosphor were suitable for the plants. However, the clays, calcium, and ferrous components in the soil attach phosphate to themselves, making it useless for the plants. Phosphor plays an essential role in transferring genetic characteristics and the protection and carriage of energy.
Symptoms of phosphor deficiency include dark green, violet, and bronze chlorosis of old leaves, late flowering of plants, and few flowers. Root and stem development is considerably reduced. Beginning with the old leaves, all leaves start to curl before ripening. There are only a few lateral shoots, and buds die or do not flower. Flowering is reduced. In spring, the leaf and flower buds emerge late. The leaves become violet, or the color becomes brown in the center with bluish-green spots. Leaf sides turn brown. Plants need phosphor fertilizer more in the beginning phase of their development. In this phase, the root system covers a smaller area. Therefore, more fertilizer is required. Generally, 50% of the phosphor is consumed in the first 20% of the total development.
Now, let’s look at the phosphor fertilizers used in phosphor fertilization and their characteristics—triple superphosphate. There is 44-46% dissolvable water phosphate in its components. It is produced in the form of off-white and grey granules. Diammonium phosphate. It is a fertilizer containing two nutrients together. It contains 16-18% nitrogen and 46-48% phosphor. It is in the form of grey granules. It is an appropriate fertilizer when these two nutrients are needed.
It contains a high amount of nutrients and does not get lumpy quickly, saving transportation and labor costs.
What Is A 20-20 fertilizer
It contains both nitrogen and phosphor like dap fertilizer. As can be understood from the name, it has 20% nitrogen and 20% phosphor. In selecting phosphor fertilizers, their availability and costs should be taken into consideration. Other than that, there is no difference between fertilizers regarding their usefulness for the plants. Another important point in using phosphor fertilizers is that phosphor is relatively inactive in the soil. Because of this inactivity, the fertilizer should be dispersed onto the plant roots in the form of granules or applied just next to the seed in the depth of the plantation. As seen in the standard fertilizer practices, many farmers place all the fertilizers on the same footing, with the expression of TSP, i.e., triple superphosphate, and use them in the amount they are accustomed to, without considering the differences between phosphor fertilizers regarding their nutrients. Selecting the amount of fertilizer according to own discretions is a misapplication.
After learning about nitrogen and nitrogen fertilizers, leaf fertilizers can be used to make up for the deficiencies of other nutrients. Besides being used in soil like organic and mineral fertilizers, leaf fertilizers can also be applied to plant parts over the soil, mainly plant leaves—the main nutrient storage organ for the plants’ roots. Then come leaves and other plant parts over soil even though they can only take a limited amount of nutrients.
It is called leaf fertilization by applying fertilizers in liquid form or spraying them onto plant parts over the soil. Solutions that are sprayed onto plant leaves and contain one or more plant nutrients are called leaf fertilizers. The production of leaf fertilizers is made in the solid (powder) and liquid form in packages.
The following should be taken into consideration during leaf fertilization:
- Licensed leaf fertilizer, which contains the particular nutrient lacking in the plant, should be preferred,
- The fertilizer should be dissolved well in the chemical application tank.
- Application should be made early in morning or late in the afternoon when there is no direct sunlight,
The fertilizer should be sprayed with a chemical sprayer in very thin particles.