Fertilizers For Potted Plants

For healthy growth and to bloom in proper time, plants need nutrients like potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen contents. Potted plants need special attention as they get a restricted amount of soil. Nutrients present in the soil get quickly absorbed by the potted plants and the speed is higher than those plants which grow on the ground.
Any potting media that are commercially prepared frequently contain fertilizer which can provide nutrients for a maximum period of three weeks after their plantation. So, if you are doing potted planting, you need to refill the depleted nutrients with any type of dry or liquid fertilizers. The level of the fertilizer states the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium contents present in it.

Types of Fertilizers:

Fertilizers can be of two types – dry fertilizer and liquid fertilizer.

• Dry fertilizer

Dry fertilizers can be availed in the form of beads, slow-release pellets, or granules. According to the viewpoint of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, granular fertilizers for gardening work okay for potted trees or shrubs. When you water your plants after fertilizing the soil, the dried form of fertilizers get mixed with water and are carried to the roots of the plant from the surface of the soil. Slow release pellets work by releasing small amounts of fertilizer (which is capable of getting dissolved in water) with every turn of watering from a resin coat. The qualitative range offered by the reputed fertilizer pellets manufacturer can efficiently supply nutrients for 3-9 months.

• Liquid fertilizer

Liquid fertilizers are very much commercially available and these are basically liquefied powders or concentrates which gets dissolved by the users before they practically use those on the soil. Fertilizer manufacturers usually mix a particular dye in their products so that users can easily identify the mixture. If you are using a liquid fertilizer then you may need to use it after every two weeks regularly as it leaks out of the soil with every watering. Herbaceous plants often get benefitted from a total liquid indoor plant fertilizer.

• Mixing and applications of fertilizers:

It is an important part to get concerned about, as only spreading the fertilizer in the soil of the potted plant is not enough, you need to know the proper way to use fertilizers for the healthy growth of the plants.
As University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences says, you may need to sprinkle half a teaspoon of garden fertilizer per 3.8 kg potting soil. And, for the use of slow release pellets, springtime is the best. If you are using liquid fertilizer, you can take one and a half spoons of it diluted in 3.8-litre water, and water the plants.

Considerations!

Liquid fertilizers leak quickly from the soil but not the dry fertilizers. Dry fertilizers especially the slow release pellets can build up for creating a white crust on the potting soil. You should not apply too much fertilizer to your potted plants as they can have burnt roots or brown leaves with such an overdose.