How to Know What Fertilizer to Use On Your Garden Plants and When to Use It

Know how to read the numbers on fertilizer and what each does for your plants.

Things You'll Need

• Garden
• Fertilizer

Instructions

1. When using a fertilizer the first thing you need to know is what the three numbers stand for. The numbers stand for the percentage of Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium the fertilizer contains and in that order.

2. Nitrogen the first number will promote green growth. Makes bushes leaf out, grass grow and vegetative growth.

3. Phosphorous is the second number and promotes root and bloom growth. So when first starting plants you would want to use a higher percentage of nitrogen, just before plants start to bud switch to higher percentage of phosphorous.

4. Potassium is the third number and is used for over all plant health. I use about a 10 percent of Potassium on any side dressing. Remember if any number is "0" it means that element is missing 20-0-0 would mean it only contains 20% Nitrogen.

Tips & Warnings

• I like to use a high percentage of Nitrogen after plants are a week old as a side dressing. 20-10-10 would be a good overall choice. About a month after that I would use a 10-20-10 to help promote buds as a side dressing.

• Be very careful with the Nitrogen as getting too close to the roots will burn and kill your plants. When using as a side dressing keep well away from roots. If using Nitrogen on grass lawns make sure that it is going to rain and try to apply it just before it rains. You really haven't seen a green lawn until you use Nitrogen. Most grass fertilizer use Nitrogen only. If you see a fertilizer that reads 20-0-0 it means it contains 20% Nitrogen and none of the other elements.