Different Types of Fertilizers

Fertilizers are chemical compounds applied to promote plentiful plant and fruit growth. Fertilizers are applied through soil for uptake by plant roots, or by applying liquid fertilizer directly to plant leaves. They typical fertilizer provides proportions of the three major plant nutrients; nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The secondary plant nutrients such as calcium, sulfur, and magnesium are also contained in fertilizers. Fertilizers can be placed into categories of organic fertilizers and inorganic fertilizers.

Organic Fertilizers

Naturally occurring fertilizers include:

• Manure

• Worm castings

• Peat moss

• Seaweed

• Sewage

• Guano

Organic fertilizers are used to enrich soil through nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere by bacterial nodules on plant roots, as well as phosphorus content of soils. Processed organic materials from natural sources include compost, blood meal powdered blood, and bone (crushed ground bones) meal from organic meat production facilities, and seaweed extracts.

There is more diversity with organic fertilizers, so choosing the right one is not always easy. In general organic fertilizers cannot cause plant burns, get into ground water, affect surrounding growth, and do not need as strict of watering schedules.

Benefits of Organic Material

By nature organic fertilizers provide increased physical and biological storage mechanisms to soils, reducing risks of over fertilization. Organic fertilizers nutrient content, solubility, and nutrient release rates are typically much lower than inorganic fertilizers. Over fertilization of a vital nutrient can be as detrimental as under fertilization to a plant. Fertilizer burn can occur when to much fertilizer is applied resulting in the drying out of roots along with damage and even death to plants. All organic fertilizers are classified as slow release fertilizers. Studies have found that organic fertilizers:

• Release between 25% to 60% of nitrogen as inorganic.

• Controlled release fertilizers had a relatively constant rate of release.

• Soluble fertilizer released most of its nitrogen content at the first leaching.

Inorganic Fertilizers

Naturally occurring inorganic fertilizers include sodium nitrate, mined rock phosphate and lime stone which is used to raise pH and calcium sources.

Macronutrients and Micronutrients

Fertilizers can be divided into macronutrients and micronutrients based on their concentration levels in dry plant matter. There are six macronutrients; nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (3 main primary elements), calcium, magnesium, and sulfur.

Macronutrient Fertilizers

Synthesized materials are also called artificial, and may also be called straight were a product contains the three primary elements of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Fertilizers are named according to the content of the three elements in the fertilizer. If the main ingredient in the fertilizer is nitrogen, then the fertilizer will be described as a nitrogen fertilizer. But regardless of the name of the fertilizer they are labeled according to the amounts of each of these primary elements, by their weight.

The amount of nitrogen will encourage growth of stems and leaves by promoting protein and chlorophyll. More Flowers, bigger fruits, and healthier roots will result from added phosphorus, and it will also help plants resist certain diseases. Potassium thickens stems and leaves by fostering protein development, meaning the vegetables would prefer a different potassium ratio than flowers or fruit plants would.