When it comes to planting and caring for your botanicals, fertilizer isn’t always necessary, but it’s ideal for giving your greenery a boost. Extra nutrients are always a good idea, and the right fertilizer can aid plants in their fight against disease and infection as well as their ability to adapt to environmental stress. Your trees and plants’ upper portions and roots can also benefit from its healing properties.
Choosing the right fertilizer and then applying it correctly can be a challenge. Our quick guide will tell you exactly what you need when to use it, and the best ways to do so. Here are some helpful fertilizer tips and tricks!
Timely use of fertilizer
Fertilizing newly transplanted plants can help them grow more quickly, but we recommend that you wait until they are a little older before doing so. When fertilizer is applied to young plants, their root system develops more slowly, resulting in weaker new growth.
In other words, they won’t be as well-equipped to deal with bad weather, long-term, healthy growth, and other issues. Early fertilizer applications can also damage the roots of young plants. Wait a year before fertilizing your trees and plants, as a general rule of thumb. When your plants’ roots are well-established and well-developed, they will be better able to absorb nutrients from fertilizers.
When to Apply (Fertilizer):
Fertilizing in the spring is probably the best idea. Giving your plants a spring fertilizer boost will help them thrive during the growing season. After the last freeze in your area, it’s best to wait about a month before fertilizing your plants, but April and March are generally the best months to do so.
It’s not clear how often you should fertilize your plants. The frequency will vary based on the type of plant you’re working with. If you have a Royal Empress Tree, you can fertilize it twice a month during the growing season because it loves fertilizer so much. Only once in the spring and once in the summer do peach trees require fertilization, whereas other fruit trees require more frequent fertilization. If you’re unsure of how much fertilizer to use, we recommend consulting our planting instructions for each plant.
Fertilizing your plants in the fall is also a great idea. Before winter sets in, plants benefit greatly from fertilization in the autumn. Stop fertilizing about a month before the first frost, and pay attention to the weather. Frost and other harsh winter conditions can harm the new, tender growth that fertilizer encourages, so it’s critical to plan ahead.
Prior to flowering and right after harvest, fertilize your fruit-bearing plants with an organic fertilizer in the spring (during fall for many plants). In addition to producing more fruit, fertilized fruit plants produce larger and tastier fruit. The best part? You can use organic fertilizer if you’re growing your fruit trees organically. Compost, marine byproducts, minerals, and other organic fertilizers can be found in these products.
Fertilization Methods
On the back of the fertilizer bag, you’ll find a dosage recommendation for your plant’s size. To avoid root burn, we recommend using half of that dosage at first. The rest is a piece of cake.
To begin, sprinkle the fertilizer around your plant in a circular motion with your hands. If your tree’s branches extend beyond the ground, fertilize the area around it with organic matter. The spread of your tree’s branches will give you a good idea of where your roots are located beneath the surface.
Make sure to water your tree after you apply the fertilizer by holding your watering can while you count to 20.
Fertilizer tablets should be spaced evenly around the tree and 6 inches below the soil’s surface (this is where the branches spread out). When water comes in contact with the tablets, they expand and carry nutrients to the roots.
Types of Fertilizers
Now that you know how to use fertilizer, it’s time to figure out what kind you should get. You should always buy the recommended fertilizer for your trees or plants, as we mentioned earlier. In the meantime, let’s go over some of the more common types.
Fertilizers come in a variety of numbers, such as 10-10-10 or 29-0-4. The NPK ratio has the following values. All three letters are abbreviations for the elements nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. A well-balanced mixture is 10-10-10, while 29-0-4 is devoid of phosphorous.
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a critical nutrient for plant growth and development, as it is required for the formation of chlorophyll, proteins, and amino acids (the plant’s “building blocks”). For this reason, many types of high-nitrogen fertilizers contain a lot of nitrogen or have it as the primary ingredient. Nitrogen-rich fertilizers can also help your foliage return to a vibrant shade of green.
Phosphorus
It is the second most important nutrient for plant growth and is a key component of plant cell DNA. Phosphorus-rich fertilizers are commonly used to encourage flowering and fruiting in the garden. Flower production and root health are boosted by the addition of phosphorus.
Potassium
Potassium, our final nutrient, is critical for plant nutrition because it aids in protein formation. Potassium strengthens the plant’s stems and leaves, making it more resistant to drought and disease. Potassium also improves the health of plants by strengthening their immune systems.
A List of Fertilizers
In cases where you know your plant is deficient in a specific nutrient, you can use 10-10-10 as an all-purpose fertilizer and shop for a fertilizer accordingly.
As previously stated, it’s best to base your purchases on the type of plant you currently have. If you’re still unsure, we’ve included information in our planting instructions to help you figure it out. The process of fertilizing your plants doesn’t have to be complicated! Our advice, specific fertilizer recommendations, and some experimentation will help you get the most out of your garden’s growth potential.
