Quote:
Originally Posted by coub
I have looked at this Richard but it just say to give these numbers but fails to explain exactly what they mean,[or am I missing something?.]  |
What they mean are the percentage by weight of nitrogen (N), phosphate (abbreviated P for its functional element, phosphorus), and potash (abbreviated K for its functional element, potassium).
Perhaps we are making assumptions that are false outside of North America. Here in the US, fertilizer is required to have its "analysis" stated on the label. You just look at the bag and find the best price on the formula that most closely matches your needs. Lawns usually get really high nitrogen to make them super green ... but that will make other plants tall and leggy. "Bloom booster" types usually have lower nitrogen and high phosphate. Our bananas are fond of potash.
Here is a picture of a brand (deleted) of fertilizer that is available at the big hardware stores (at least in this corner of the US). The big green arrow points to the analysis. This is a 17-3-11 fertilizer, meaning by weight there is 17% nitrogen, 3% phosphate, and 11% potash. The rest is fillers and/or chemicals that aren't really important to plants, and if you are lucky you'll get 8 or 10 or more "minors and micros" in there too.
For (fruiting) bananas you'd actually want something with more potash / potassium (3rd number) ... if it is available for a reasonable price. We aren't trying to land on the moon, we're just trying to do good by some plants. If 12-2-10 is half the price of the 8-3-12, then you might seriously consider the cheaper stuff.
