Plants feed on light, water,Carbon Di Oxide and Oxygen of
the air and NPK . NPK means Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potassium. These are macro
nutrients. Though there are plenty of nitrogen in the air plant cannot use that
nitrogen. Along with these some trace minerals like Cu, Mg, Zn, Boron etc are
also required. They are micro nutrients and required in very small quantity
Cocopeat and other amending agents don't have any nutrients. Soil
may have some left over organic matter in it but soil is a good source of other
minerals and micro-nutrients and ingredients like humic acid etc.
So, while planting we need to add fertilizer, which are
required by the plants. It is also required to replenish the exhausted
fertilizer regularly. This can be very
complicated issue for optimum output of the crops, since different plants have
different requirements. But for us, the home gardener, particularly those who
are starting, keeping things simple does not matter much. I personally , till
now use almost same for all kind of plants.
I just keep few simple things in mind. Nitrogen helps
growing the leaves and potassium is important for fruits. If nitrogen is
excess, the plant will look beautiful with plenty of leaves, but fruits will be
less. Another thing I keep handy is a picture set of leaves, with the signs of
deficiency. I will post it in the blog when I will write about deficiency
management. You can get this type of
images in the web easily.
Fertilizers can be added to the soil and some of them can
also be used as foliar spray. You can
use organic fertilizer and if you wish , may choose inorganic salts too. I
personally use inorganic salt only to combat any particular deficiency as
supplement. I get most of my NPK requirement from my home composting. Another
fertilizer I use and love is Panchagavya or PG in short form . The details of
composting and PG will be here very soon... Keep reading.
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