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Confused about fertilization
ArghadeepRC
Posts: 4
in Plants
I like plants. I like gardening but I am not expert in this.
Normally we know that phosphorus plays a key role for blooming but I am totally confused after reading few articles about fertilization which are conflicting.
A) Who believes Potassium promotes blooming in plants:
http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/care/feeding.htm
Who says different:
https://www.adonline.id.au/flowers/the-potassium-myth/
Any help?
0
Posts
Accepted wisdom, is that potassium aids flowering and fruiting, and the make up of commercially available fertilisers certainly follows this rule.
Have not read your links, as I should be outside !
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Thanks punkdoc.
In my small garden for Hibiscus blooming Potassium did the job for me but I am not sure as I used All Purpose Fertilizer two months before applying Potassium. After fertilizing with Potassium flower buds appeared within 15 days. Still I have doubt...Ha Ha.
You're suffering from the same problem that i am ArghadeepRC, conflicting information.
Thanks for posting both links; they are both a great read.
I was also under the impression that potassium was also beneficial for flowers, however i found Dr Dimech's post compelling as it jives with (the little) i know about plant cell biology.
I think i will read up on his references and take his advice and read a good book on plant physiology. I'm interested in the current scientific thinking on the matter.
N.P.K. it will be on the side of the box or bag of any make name or brand of fertiliser you buy and makes up 95% of the plants needs in varying amounts of the N.P.K. Nitrogen for green growth, Phosphorus for general health and Potassium for ripening fruit or flowering. The other five percent is made up of trace elements including iron sulphur calcium and magnesium plus many more infinitely smaller traces of many substances found in the ground they are grown in. In other words almost exactly the same we as humans need to exist and also overfeed them they will either die or become blowsy and listless. Lack of certain minerals caused crops to be small or fail though people learnt the hard way certain chemicals were needed at certain times, nothing mysterious just good old nous and experiment and then handed on.
These facts have been know since the first gardens came into existence and carried on from Father to Son or Daughter, natural animal fertiliser from the midden held those minerals remembering that even in my time human waste was often added to the midden. In time the soil is leached of those minerals hence the big effort in 1914 to start making organic fertilisers so more food could be grown on the same amount of land.
ICI came into being in 1926 and I worked for them (not that early of course) seeing what went into the Fertiliser asking the Labs why certain things were added or not. Being a maintenance group we saw it all and products being made up and bagged for almost every fertiliser brand in the Country and even abroad all coming out of the same particular mix, Lush lawns Nitrogen heavy, Tomato's Potassium heavy. The rest down to trial and error from a multitude of Farmers gardeners and General plant growers. Having seen some of the very obvious mistakes that so called Scientific experts have made in recent times I would treat their word with caution.
Frank
Matts, you may be over-thinking it. Try some basic fertiliser bearing in mind what PG has told you above and see what happens. If you then have a problem, you can find out what deficiency is causing it.
Thanks B3. That's good advice. A good post there Palaisglide.
I have been using FB&B with all my plants after reading a number of posts on this forum. That turned a purple coloured mint i had back to green; a good sign i think
Every thing else is planted 'moist but well drained'. That's seems to do the trick for most of my plants.
There is much conflicting information on the web though and i must admit to being intrigued as to why Dr Dimech would blog against just about piece of advice i have read when it comes to Potassium.
Matt's Thanks.
I wonder what your Doctor Dimech would say to the fact we use Potassium in everything from making Nitric Acid to Toothpaste via food preservation and Gunpowder, Potassium Nitrate the stuff used in fertiliser is also called Salt Peter as any schoolboy worth his salt who made his own fireworks as we did knows. At ICI the Potassium Nitrate was always kept in its own silo, kept dry and away from flame, it was dangerous stuff yet without it we would die. It is used to reduce blood pressure and kidney stones, in the fruit we eat although the humble white Potato has more potassium than a banana, good advertising will always raises a product above its station. I could go on all night as I loved Chemistry at school and working with it in all its many modes was great.
By the way Purple Mint is definitely supposed to be purple. Just keep doing what you do now, Air Water Light and a very light dose of fertiliser once every few weeks is all your plants need, that is from an old time gardener not the Chemical Engineer talking.
Frank.