With experience, you will learn how to match fertilizer amounts with plants' needs for your climate and soil. Onions, tomatoes, sweet corn, and vegetables grown in containers respond to special fertilizing techniques, but most crops grow well if you simply mix a balanced fertilizer into the soil as you set out the plants. Use the lists below to help determine the best method for feeding your favorite vegetables.
Fertilizing Basics
Plants grow using energy from the sun combined with nutrients taken from the soil. Because the organic matter in soil holds nutrients like a sponge until they are needed by plants, soil that is fertile, well-drained, and regularly enriched with compost often holds a reasonable supply of plant nutrients. Unimproved, though, newly cultivated soil is usually low in organic matter, so it is also low in nutrients.
All edible plants remove some nutrients from the soil, and some have such huge appetites that they will quickly exhaust the soil (and then produce a poor crop) without the help of fertilizer. Fertilizing is especially helpful early on, when plants are making fast new growth. You can mix a continuous-release fertilizer, such as Miracle-Gro® Shake ‘n Feed® Tomato, Fruit & Vegetable Plant Food, into individual planting holes, work it into furrows, or use a turning fork to mix it into beds. Or, you can apply a liquid fertilizer, such as Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Tomato, Fruits & Vegetables Plant Food, at the same time you water your plants. Whichever type of plant food you choose, be sure to read the label for directions.
Always follow the rates given on the fertilizer label when deciding how much to use. Too much fertilizer can be worse than too little! Overfed plants often grow huge, yet bear a light crop late in the season.
In addition to feeding your plants, it's important to give them a high quality soil environment—fertilizer and soil work together to provide your garden with what it needs to grow big and produce a great harvest. When planting in-ground, improve your existing soil by mixing in a layer of Miracle-Gro® Garden Soil for Vegetables and Herbs. If you grow in containers, fill them with lighter, fluffier Miracle-Gro® Potting Mix.
Heavy Feeders
These are often highly productive plants, so a few minutes spent mixing in fertilizer before you set out plants is time well spent. Just don't go overboard by applying too much! Plants often grow slowly in cool spring weather, so you won't see the effects of feeding until the weather warms. Some heavy feeders also respond to second helpings later in the season (again, follow package directions), and all types will benefit from regular applications of liquid plant food.
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Cantaloupe
Cauliflower
Corn
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Kale
Kohlrabi
Onions
Peppers
Rhubarb
Squash
Tomatoes
Watermelon
Moderate Feeders
These often need good drainage and moisture-holding mulch more than they need fertilizer. Avoid using organic fertilizers made primarily from processed manure when preparing the soil for beets, carrots, and other root crops. Manure can contribute to scabby patches on potato skins and forked roots in carrots and parsnips. Moderate feeders all respond well to liquid plant food.
Beets
Carrots
Okra
Pole beans
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Light Feeders
These often benefit from a small amount of starter fertilizer but require no additional feeding when grown in soil that has been enriched with compost.
Fertilize spring seedlings and transplants with a soluble fertilizer mixed with water then switch to a granular vegetable fertilizer as the plants grow. Mix dry fertilizers into the top 2-4 inches of soil. Water-in fertilizers after application if rainfall is not expected.
The fertilizer should be applied 2–3 inches to the side of, and 1–2 inches below, the seed level or plant row. Avoid applying fertilizer when foliage is wet, and water after applying it to remove particles from foliage.
Most gardeners should use a complete fertilizer with twice as much phosphorus as nitrogen or potassium. An example would be 10-20-10 or 12-24-12. These fertilizers usually are easy to find.
Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are needed in larger amounts than other nutrients; they are considered primary macronutrients. Secondary macronutrients include sulfur, calcium, and magnesium. Micronutrients such as iron and copper are necessary in much smaller amounts.
"Generally, nutrients are best applied in the spring through mid-summer," Kleinguenther says, but there are nuances. With vegetable gardens, spring is best, but it depends on the plant, Langelo explains.
Applying fertilizer in the wrong season can cause increased tender new growth that can be damaged, especially if applied in cold weather in late fall or in winter. So it is best to stop fertilizing during dormant seasons. Additionally, in zones that can be in danger of a late freeze, it's best to wait until mid-spring.
As well as tomato feed, other high-potassium fertilizers to consider include using wood ash or kelp meal. An example of a liquid tomato feed to use is the Great Big Tomatoes Fertilizer, available on Amazon. There are natural fertilizers that can be utilized to feed cucumbers.
Continue feeding with the water-soluble fertilizer until seedlings are transplanted outside. Look for a fertilizer that has a high middle number, which represents phosphorus, in the N-P-K analysis. Commonly available fertilizer analysis that are great for tomato seedlings include 8-32-16 and 12-24-12.
Vegetables that are growing in well-drained, porous soil need to be fertilized about every three to four weeks throughout the plants' growing season. Continue to apply fertilizer to your plants even when you see fruit or veggies appearing. The fertilizer ensures the plants will continue to produce.
10-10-10 is called an all-purpose fertilizer because it can be used on almost any type of outdoor plant, including vegetables, shrubs, trees, flowers, lawns, and houseplants. Generally, it can be applied to any plant that doesn't need one of the three macronutrients in higher amounts.
The three numbers on fertilizer are the N-P-K ratio, which stands for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These three nutrients have separate functions and are essential to a plant's growth and health. Fertilizers can be organic or synthetic, and come in a dry or liquid form.
Nitrogen helps produce green leaves and stems, phosphorus helps produce root development, and potassium helps the plant withstand stress from heat or cold. A good all-purpose fertilizer would be a 10-10-10 NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium).
Compost is a great choice for the vegetable garden, as it is an all-natural fertilizer. It is created by breaking down organic matter such as leaves, grass clippings, and kitchen scraps and is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, the essential nutrients for healthy plant growth.
In areas where beans, peas, or other legumes are to be planted the application of N should be avoided as this can reduce the yield of these vegetables.
Plant-based fertilizers such as cottonseed meal has been proven to work well, as do many of the animal-based products such as composted manure. Manure must be composted, or broken down over time, so the nutrients are released slowly. This will minimize the risk of burning the plants with a shock of too much nitrogen.
A day or two before applying fertilizer, water your lawn thoroughly. After grass dries, apply fertilizer. Then lightly water again. This second watering is vitally important, because it washes fertilizer off grass blades and into soil.
It's typically recommended to apply fertilizer in clay soil about every four to six weeks after planting. For plants growing in organic soil that's rich with organic matter, only fertilize a little bit every three to four weeks.
Yes, over-fertilizing can harm plants, ecology, soil, and waterways. Using too much fertilizer can cause a lot of problems for your plants and the environment. Over-fertilizing stresses plants, potentially causing “fertilizer burn” that turns leaves yellow, shrivels roots, and can even kill a plant from defoliation.
Introduction: My name is Arielle Torp, I am a comfortable, kind, zealous, lovely, jolly, colorful, adventurous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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