Best method of application of inorganic fertilizers

[Munir]

Good that you have clarified it, Tahir. Can you now mention at what stage & frequency of its use & to what all ? And also any other product in addition?

[Tahir Khan]

Good that you have clarified it, Tahir. Can you now mention at what stage & frequency of its use & to what all ? And also any other product in addition?

Munir sb if you dont want any hassle you can use Grow More it is a complete fertilizer with trace elements like boron and many others as well, but sometimes there is a need for extra nutrients for some plants like tomatoes! tomatoes are heavy feeders and you can never kill this plant by over fertilizing thats my experience, tomatoes and other plants from the solanacae family require a lot of fertilizing specially magnesium and potassium for fruiting and growing healthy, i use Grow More for most of my annual plants that i grow from seed but i resort to heavy potassium feed once the plants starts to bloom, this ensures good quality and larger blooms for longer period.

[Munir]

Good that you have clarified it, Tahir. Can you now mention at what stage & frequency of its use & to what all ? And also any other product in addition?

Munir sb if you dont want any hassle you can use Grow More it is a complete fertilizer with trace elements like boron and many others as well, but sometimes there is a need for extra nutrients for some plants like tomatoes! tomatoes are heavy feeders and you can never kill this plant by over fertilizing thats my experience, tomatoes and other plants from the solanacae family require a lot of fertilizing specially magnesium and potassium for fruiting and growing healthy, i use Grow More for most of my annual plants that i grow from seed but i resort to heavy potassium feed once the plants starts to bloom, this ensures good quality and larger blooms for longer period.

I am growing veggies/herbs without any fertilizer;using only manure;though the results may not be as good, but never mind. It ll be great if you or some other member -if listening, can dwell on the (magnitude of) ill effects of the use of in-organic fertilizers. Also if someone can list the commonly available organic fertilizers & their source,too . It will be a great service to the kitchen garden growers.

On the point of use of in-organic fertilizers, may I again remind you to advise about "what stage & frequency of its use & to what all ? And also any other product in addition?"

[Syed Adnan]

I tested my soil, thanks to Syed Adnan for a gift of Soil test kit. My soil is alkaline, sandy and has least possible nutrients. I have only added cow manure uptill now and want to experiment with inorganic fertilizers. Kindly suggest methods of application of various fertilizers keeping in mind efficiency of fertilizer for soil as well as application effort and more importantly damage to plant thereby meaning "even application avoiding contact with seedlings".

Urea, DP and NPK(granule form)
Which one is better
1) Soil dressing with generous watering
2) Foilar spray
3) Water solution fed to ground
4) Any other

Any precautions etc

Thanks....

Dear Farhan,

I remember your test indicated you have high PH as well , i used peatmoss to reduce it, most of the plants like to be in slightly acidic medium, your K levels were good only you need to enhance N&P levels, im using granulars on surface and liq fertilizer.

[Munir]

Good that you have clarified it, Tahir. Can you now mention at what stage & frequency of its use & to what all ? And also any other product in addition?

Munir sb if you dont want any hassle you can use Grow More it is a complete fertilizer with trace elements like boron and many others as well, but sometimes there is a need for extra nutrients for some plants like tomatoes! tomatoes are heavy feeders and you can never kill this plant by over fertilizing thats my experience, tomatoes and other plants from the solanacae family require a lot of fertilizing specially magnesium and potassium for fruiting and growing healthy, i use Grow More for most of my annual plants that i grow from seed but i resort to heavy potassium feed once the plants starts to bloom, this ensures good quality and larger blooms for longer period.

I am growing veggies/herbs without any fertilizer;using only manure;though the results may not be as good, but never mind. It ll be great if you or some other member -if listening, can dwell on the (magnitude of) ill effects of the use of in-organic fertilizers. Also if someone can list the commonly available organic fertilizers & their source,too . It will be a great service to the kitchen garden growers.

On the point of use of in-organic fertilizers for flowers , may I again remind you to advise about "what stage & frequency of its use & to what all ? And also any other product in addition?"

[Hamad]

Munir sb I will strongly recommend you to grow your vegies with only and only organic mediums like cow dung and others don’t use in-organic fertilizers for your vegies because or two reasons

1 the veg available in the market are grown by in-organic fertilizers to enhance the yield and size they use hybrid seeds and some of them are treated to get desired results because they sell them in market to get profit and if you observe they are less in taste and satisfaction

2 for flowering plants if you use these in-organic fertilizers, hybrid seeds and sprays or anything that you can to get the best results regarding its size, foliage and flowering yield it doesn’t matter because it look good and the main reason is that we don’t eat flowers

I don’t know whether I made my point clear or not but I tried to show my concern regarding the harmful effects on our health because of un natural means of getting more than usual and even without using these supporting elements if we can get enough veg or fruit to feed ourselves then I think we don’t need to put too much effort in it instead we can still buy in-organic veg from market

Please don’t take my points as sarcastic or rude at the end of the day that was my personal opinion it may differ from others they can still practise the way they desire

Asalam-U-Alaikum

[Tahir Khan]

Good that you have clarified it, Tahir. Can you now mention at what stage & frequency of its use & to what all ? And also any other product in addition?

Munir sb if you dont want any hassle you can use Grow More it is a complete fertilizer with trace elements like boron and many others as well, but sometimes there is a need for extra nutrients for some plants like tomatoes! tomatoes are heavy feeders and you can never kill this plant by over fertilizing thats my experience, tomatoes and other plants from the solanacae family require a lot of fertilizing specially magnesium and potassium for fruiting and growing healthy, i use Grow More for most of my annual plants that i grow from seed but i resort to heavy potassium feed once the plants starts to bloom, this ensures good quality and larger blooms for longer period.

I am growing veggies/herbs without any fertilizer;using only manure;though the results may not be as good, but never mind. It ll be great if you or some other member -if listening, can dwell on the (magnitude of) ill effects of the use of in-organic fertilizers. Also if someone can list the commonly available organic fertilizers & their source,too . It will be a great service to the kitchen garden growers.

On the point of use of in-organic fertilizers, may I again remind you to advise about "what stage & frequency of its use & to what all ? And also any other product in addition?"

munir sb, there are always pros and cons to organic and in-organic fertilizers.. if we talk about flowers or non-edibe plants it wont be a problem but for veggies the question arises that are they safe or not?
Organic ferts like cow dung are slow release so if a plant has a short life span and has less time to grow, flower and fruit you can most probably fail to achieve the desired results, i am using in-organic ferts for quite some time now without any problems and if we see from cradle to grave people eat the vegetables from the market that are raised from hybrid seeds and in-organic ferts most of the time and it more or less does'nt create any medical anomalies to my knowledge.
if farmers dont use synthetic fertilizers they may never achieve the desired output from there labour and even for a home gardeners like us who have a limited space wont also get the desired output for our labour
This is just my opinion if any one has concerns over health risks i would certainly recommend them that they resort to organic fertilizers
these days people are rather more concerned about GMOs than fertilizers

[Izhar]

The debate of using organic or inorganic fertilizers is slightly off-topic... everyone has own views and there is much to read on this on internet... i request everyone stick to the topic.. i positively hope no one feels offended

My following post will appear somewhat off-topic too, but i am trying to explain what i learned and what worked for me:

Soil pH is one of the most important factor in plant's growth, which is mostly neglected in our gardening practices.. that is why the use of fertilizers is in excess.. our soils are mostly alkaline, so as our water supply... when we start a bed or make a potting mix using manure and soil, initially the pH of the mix is nearly optimum due to presence of many organic acids and ammonium ions in manure.. but overtime these organic acids are broken down and the alkaline water supply adds in this situation to make the mix alkaline... remember, the nutrients are already in the soil but the alkaline pH is inhibiting their availability to plants..
So what to do??
1) Add more fertilizers
2) Correct the pH
In both of the above mentioned actions, the plant become healthy and starts doing what we desire.. growing, blooming, fruiting..
But in the long run, adding more fertilizers will cause salt buildup in the mix and you will have to increase the use of fertilizer every time... i must mention here once again, the nutrients are already present in the mix, just unavailable to plants..
We use manure and compost for our flowers and veggies.. if you look at its NPK ratio you will find out that it is very low but the plants respond very well to it.. why? it is because it provides slightly acidic medium, make soil loose and contains natural chelating agents..
So, to provide a good mix for our plants we will have to use organic soil amendments like manure and compost and then use inorganic fertilizer for the best results..

I use and have recommended everyone to use soluble 20:20:20 NPK fertilizers with trace elements..

For seeds & seedlings: 1 heaped tablespoon dissolved in 8-10 liters water, regularly water with this solution.. excellent results
For new transplants: soil mix with manure in 2:1 ratio and granular NPK (I use 08:23:18) 1 tablespoon in each liter of mix.
For perennials and established annuals: top dressing every month with 1 tablespoon granular NPK for 12 inch pot and a handful for 1 sq.meter of bed, If i dont top dress then feed the plants weekly with 2-3 heaped tablespoon of NPK 20:20:20 with trace elements in 8-10 liters of water
For Acidic soil lovers: 1 tablespoon of Ferrous sulfate in one liter of water every month (along with normal fertilizers)
For Tomatoes, Peppers, Brugmansia: 2 tablespoon of Epsom salt in 8-10 liters of water fortnightly (along with normal fertilizers)

Having said that, i know that i am following the "add more fertilizer" approach and seek an efficient use of fertilize.. i am open to suggestions and discussion

[Khalid Abro]

Very well elaborated Izhar,I also wanted to discuss it with you the issue of organic and inorganic fertilizer in more detail some day. Last time when i visited you, we couldnt discuss it in detail.

Though I still remember your comment regarding the efficient and requirement based use of inorganic fertilizer based on knowledge & testing of soil for best results, and the hard part is one has to learn the efficient use otherwise the damage of excess fertilizer is wide especially to our agricultural land.

[Farhan Ahmed]

Thanks all for a healthy discussion......wonderful to see many members contributing their opinions....

@Izhar......Thanks for the detailed feeding program for various plants/sizes.
I tested my soil and its alkaline and deficient. I do not want to change its PH now because i am a guest of my garden and might be leaving soon. I would reiterate that NPK(available in PK) is solution in suspension(atleast some part of it) rather than totally soluble solution as in case of urea.
But from the discussion it appears that NPK dissolved in water works well irrespective as it dilutes the harmful effect of concentrated granule.

Once again thanks all and regards.