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How Do Fertilizers Work?

Besides sun and water, all plants require nutrients that help them grow strong so they can produce healthy food and flowers. Successful growers regularly fertilize their gardens, restoring nutrients and minerals that may be missing from imperfect soils, as well as important elements that were used up by previous plantings. Whether you choose a solid or liquid fertilizer, you should apply it directly to the soil so it can be more readily absorbed by the plant’s roots. Online gardening suppliers like Gardens Alive! and Brecks can provide you with many different options for fertilizing your plants, as well as information about how best to use each variety.

The Basics

Every bag or box of fertilizer includes three common macronutrients–phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium–that are the building blocks of all life. If your garden soil is deficient or missing any one of these three macronutrients, your plants can struggle to grow, the leaves can turn yellow and fall off, or the harvest from the plant can be limited or even nonexistent. The label on each bag of fertilizer identifies with three numbers, the amount of each nutrient in a particular brand. For instance, a bag of fertilizer printed with “10-12-8″ contains 10 percent nitrogen, 12 percent phosphorous and 8 percent potassium. The remainder of what’s in each bag is generally a blend of micronutrients and organic filler, like topsoil and ground-up wood.

Essential Extras

Secondary elements, commonly called micronutrients, you’ll find mixed into a typical bag of fertilizer include iron, copper, magnesium, calcium, sulfur, manganese, boron and zinc. State and federal laws require that fertilizer makers list each nutrient on the label, along with the amount in that specific formula. These micronutrients come from many organic and inorganic sources. Organic ingredients come from plants and animals and can include bone meal, seaweed, fish meal, dried blood, compost and manure. Inorganic ingredients, on the other hand, generally include mineral deposits like lime, urea, potash and phosphate rock.

Pros and Cons

Regularly using fertilizers will make the soil and plants healthier, improve the ability of water and air to reach the plants’ roots and reduce the amount of erosion. However, too much of anything also can have negative consequences. Overfertilizing can encourage the growth of green stalks and leaves instead of turning the plant’s production to fruits or vegetables. Too much also can “burn” tender roots, making it hard for the plant to absorb food and water, which can lead to stress and weakness that lets pests and diseases take hold.

Homemade Alternatives

Short of using store-bought fertilizers, gardeners can work composted vegetable, fruit and paper scraps, as well as egg shells and coffee grounds, into the soil and allow it to mature over a few months’ time. Other gardeners prefer “natural” methods like planting a crop of red clover in the Fall and turning the plants into the soil in early Spring, so they can break down into the basic nutrients, especially nitrogen. More information about these techniques is available online.

To find <a href=”http://www.ultimatecoupons.com/coupons/gardens_alive_coupons.htm”>Gardens Alive! coupons</a> or <a href=”http://www.ultimatecoupons.com/coupons/brecks_coupons.htm”>Breck’s coupons</a>, visit UltimateCoupons.com

About the Author

Tammy Grubb is a freelance writer for <a href=”http://www.ultimatecoupons.com/”>UltimateCoupons.com</a>

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