Plant Gardens 101

Plants, like people, need to be fed regularly, and like people, too much or too little is not a good thing. So, giving advice on fertilizing plants can be challenging. Differences in soil types, existing nutrients, plant type and climate are but a few of the factors that affect proper fertilization. First, let’s understand a little bit about fertilizers in general. All plants require at least 17 different nutrients to survive. Some nutrients come from the air, some from water and others from the soil. When we fertilize a plant, we are adding some of the nutrients that come from the soil.

When we fertilize, three nutrients stand out as the ones that are needed in the greatest amount and that need to be supplemented most often. These are called the primary nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium . Every fertilizer will have three numbers on its label to indicate the percentage of each of these three nutrients that it contains. For example, our Bud-N-Bloom Booster is a 15-30-15 formulation. It contains 15% nitrogen, 30% phosphorus, and 15% potassium. Knowing the formulation is important, but there are other factors such as solubility, molecular form, etc. that directly affect nutrient availability. We will leave those details to the plant scientists and others who have a more technical interest, but it is essential to purchase fertilizers from a trusted source so you can have confidence that you are getting what you pay for and what your plants need. (more…)

Manure tea is simply water in which manure has been steeped. By soaking the manure in water for a few weeks much of the goodness in the manure is leached into the water. The resulting liquid is a highly potent fertiliser.

Manure tea or manure water can be made from any farmyard manure. Poultry, pig, horse or cattle manure is all exceptionally nutritious stuff. All the trace elements as well as the ‘biggies’ such as potash, nitrogen and phosphorous, which plants need are contained in animal dung. All types of animal dung are different and will contain different proportions of nutrients. But all animal dung is good! Even zoo-poo will do! Just use whatever is available in your locality. (more…)