Store shelves buckle with a variety of fertilizers for plants. Producers are trying to outdo each other in creating better, more modern and easier to use mineral fertilizers. Fertilizers differ in composition (single or multi-component), form of application (for sprinkling, for watering or spraying), purpose (universal or adapted to a given group of plants), and the duration of action. We advise on what to consider when choosing short- and long-acting fertilizers.
Short- and long-term fertilizers
Liquid fertilizers have the shortest duration of action.An undoubted advantage of such fertilizers is that the nutrients contained in them are already dissolved. As a result, they constitute a ready food, are immediately available and absorbed by plants along with the water used to dilute the fertilizer. These are fertilizers mainly for use in homes, on balconies and in small gardens.
The big disadvantage of this type of fertilizer is the necessity to use them frequently, which is quite onerous. Depending on the manufacturer's recommendations, during the vegetation of plants, we use them every few or several days, along with watering. Due to the high risk of over-fertilization, the amount of fertilizer intended for watering the plants should be carefully and accurately measured.
Liquid fertilizers are irreplaceable for foliar fertilization in the form of spraying. Granular fertilizers compete with them in the case of soil fertilization.
" Normal granular fertilizerswork for up to 30 days. Such fertilizers are used mainly for bedding plants, conifers and lawns. The granulate is sprinkled under a given plant or evenly distributed over the entire surface of the bed. "
The downside of this type of fertilizer is that their application should be repeated every month. A common mistake is to use such a fertilizer only once a season. In order to realize why such an action is wrong, one should imagine such a phenomenon in the human world. Is one hearty meal every six months enough for us? It is not enough, just as one fertilization that provides nutrients for only one month is not enough for the plant. At a time when we do not provide nutrients, a malnourished plant wastes away, produces fewer flowers and fruit.
"Due to the short duration of action of ordinary granular fertilizers, plants use only a small part of the nutrients they contain. Most of the minerals are washed away into the deeper layers of the soil, polluting the environment at the same time. Another disadvantage of ordinary granules is the high risk of over-fertilization of plants. It should be remembered that the use of fertilization in advance may have undesirable effects in the form of burning the plants.
"There are alsolong-lasting mineral fertilizers available on the marketThese fertilizers are intended for indoor, balcony and garden plants, lawns, conifers or universal. The offer includes fertilizers that last up to 100 days, as well as fertilizers such as Osmovit, which works for 120 days, or Osmocote, which lasts up to 180 days (6 months). These types of long-acting fertilizers, depending on the type of fertilizer, only need to be applied once or twice a season, which is undoubtedly a great advantage.
Producers obtainslower effect of fertilizersby using appropriate treatments, such as: condensation of nutrients, coating of granules (sulfur, mineral oils, plastics), sintering in glazes or the use of sparingly soluble compounds. Thanks to special coatings (e.g. Osmocote fertilizer granules are surrounded by natural resin), the water gradually penetrates into the granules and dissolves the nutrients contained in them, which are released into the soil in a continuous manner.The rate of nutrient release depends on the temperature and humidity of the substrate - the warmer and wetter the soil, the more nutrients are released. This is commensurate with the growth rate of plants - the higher the temperature and more light, the faster they grow and therefore require more nutrients.
One of the greatest advantages of long-acting fertilizers is the low risk of over-fertilization of plants , thanks to the fact that nutrients are released into the soil gradually, in small doses. Thanks to the slow release of minerals, more than 70% of them are absorbed by plants. This is a great result. For comparison, in the case of ordinary granules, plants absorb only about 30% of the minerals contained in the fertilizer. The rest of the ingredients are leached into the deeper layers of the soil. This comparison shows that long-term fertilizers are much less polluting than conventional granules.
The price of 1 kg of long-acting fertilizer is much higher than the price of 1 kg of regular granules, but we buy and use long-acting fertilizers less frequently, and the minerals they contain are better absorbed by plants.Therefore, after the seasonal calculation of the costs of feeding plants, it may turn out that fertilization with long-acting fertilizers costs us less than fertilizing with ordinary granules.
Therefore, we encourage you to compare the prices and performance of individual mineral fertilizers. Usually, the use of long-acting fertilizers is not only more convenient and less burdensome, but also more practical and economical. A larger expense made at one time at the beginning of the season, during the vegetation of the plants, we more than pay off.
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Aleksandra Dziugan-Smoleń
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