Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hi this is Yolanda Vanveen and in this segment we are going to talk about how do crops respond
to Phosphorus Fertilizer? Now we all know about nitrogen because that is what most fertilizers
have a large percentage of nitrogen in them. So my theory about fertilizer is just like
our diet. Fertilizer is like a vitamin so if your plants have good compose or really
good organic matter that means leaves or grass clippings or any type of foliage that is dying
back it breaks down and it gives them their energy and gives them their vitamins that
they need for the next year. So you really don't need to fertilize your plants if you
are giving them good organic composts. That's number one and when you are giving them compost
in the cycle of the plant, they grow, they are beautiful, they bloom, they die back in
the Fall and they mulch themselves. When they die down all the leaves drop and they mulch
themselves and then in the Spring the mulch dies back and makes great soil. It is organic
and then when the plant grows in the Spring it needs nitrogen. Nitrogen is for the greenery
so it will take all the nitrogen out of the soil to grow the lush greenery. Well by the
time Summer hits nitrogen is gone. There is not a lot of nitrogen left in those grass
clippings or in your compost or any type of organic matter, it breaks down and that is
when the Phosphorus is important because Phosphorus is needed for the bloom so for a plant to
bloom well it needs Phosphorus so it is a wonderful mineral that is needed for your
plant and then in the Fall your plant needs Phosphorus to survive the Winter so if you
give it, keep giving it nitrogen based fertilizers through the Fall you are not really doing
the plant any favors because then they are getting rid of their Phosphorus. They are
not using, they are not saving up for the Winter. So if you let them use their own energy
and use their own Phosphorus out of the ground that's the best way to do it but you can always
add some Phosphorus fertilizer to your plants to get more blooms and to give them a little
more oomph for the Winter and a little bit goes a long way with Phosphorus. The plants
will bloom a lot better and be more colorful if you give them a little Phosphorus but in
the end you don't want to give them too much either because you can actually poison them
because plants are just like us. They can't handle too many minerals at one time. So in
the end if it is not broke don't fix it. Give your plants really good compost, let them
go through that cycle of taking in the nitrogen and then the Phosphorus in the Fall and they
need that Phosphorus to survive the Winter because they have found that plants have the
most Phosphorus in their system in the Fall so that they can survive the cold Winters.
So it is a good way you can help your plant by giving them fertilizer but in the end compost
is all they really need.