Thread: Kno3
View Single Post
Old 07-08-2013, 05:30 PM   #6 (permalink)
Olafhenny
 
Olafhenny's Avatar
 
Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada
Zone: Hardiness Zone 6
Name: Olaf
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,705
BananaBucks : 245,296
Feedback: 0 / 0%
Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times
Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts
Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times
Default For what it is worth

Here is a copy of an edition of my often repeated mantras on chemical fertilizers (if you are
strictly into natural fertilizers, look away and consider yourself lucky to have enough of them
available ).
This one submitted to the local garden club:

That brings me to fertilizers. That industry, especially in the retail end is IMOEO a bit of a racket.
They would have you buy a different batch of the stuff, for every plant category in your yard,
at horribly inflated prices.

There are only three fertilizers, everything else is trace elements and nutrients:
- Nitrogen, the first one in the number group, promotes plant mass and greenery,
- Phosphates, the second, is responsible for fruit and bloom and
- Potassium, the third and last number, for root development. (*All a bit simplified!)
You always need all three of them, you just weigh them differently: In spring you pronounce
nitrogen and phosphates and in fall you go heavier on potassium.

I usually buy one 25kg bag each of nitrogen (per example 46-0-0), phosphates (0-45-0) and
potassium (0-0-60) from Growers Supply and mix them as needed. That way my costs are less
than 1/6th of what I would pay at the cheapest retail prices. Just keep in mind that, if you mix
the above in equal parts, you will get 15-15-20 and not 46-45-60. A ‘set’ of three bags will set
you back about $100.-, but look at it as an investment in the future of your yard.



__________________
The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences,
my own and those of others and to learn from them.

Olafhenny is offline   Reply With Quote Send A Private Message To Olafhenny
Said thanks: