About The Long Island Gardener Expertise Do you know the wrong fertilizer will keep your plants from blooming?
Do you know that too much Nitrogen can kill your grass, even if it does not burn the roots? Do you know that Roses need a LOT of Nitrogen to bloom -- and why is that?
There's some complex chemistry in those plant foods. The secrets behind N-P-K are the key to the ultimate lawn, the the biggest flowers, the most fruits and vegetables. And if you don't get it right, you could be sorry.
I'll show you what you did wrong, and how to fix it.
Experience Homeowner with gardens indoors and outdoors, lawns back and forth. I wrote my first gardening column for our college newspaper, teaching roomates about the right way to feed those windowsills gardens. Today I look for challenges. Organic Fertilizers are the key to proper feeding of all our plants. Can you make your own fertilizer? Some people think so -- but there are side effects. I have been there, done that for 54 years and there is nothing like the voice of experience when it comes to Horticulture and Fertilizers.
Publications Numerous and sundry but only in college did I write about plants.
Education/Credentials B.A., Botany and Mass Communications.
Question does fertilizer makes violas grow better.
Answer Depends.
If the Soil is good Soil, adding 'fertilizer' that has nutrients ALREADY in the Soil can make Violas grow WORSE.
You read that right.
WORSE!
How's that?
Take Potassium. Even i you THINK your Violas show symptoms of Potassium deficiency, you can't just run out and buy Potassium Fertilizer. 'Plant Food' is serious stuff. Giving your plants too much Potassium is sort of like giving them too much HEAT!
Why?
Because excess Potassium, like excess Heat, does BAD THINGS to Violas and other plants.
Because unlike Nitrogen, which waters out or evaporates, Potassium STICKS to Soil. And Potassium STAYS there until someone uses it.
If that someone happens to be your Violas, and they already have plenty of Potassium, bad things start to happen. The most common of these bad things is Magnesium or Calcium deficiency. Potassium molecules have very big egos. Actually, they are your basic bullies. They will just take ALL the spaces in the plant that need Magnesium and Calcium. There is NO space left for the Mg or the Ca. And you get a shortage.
Hard to believe. But true. Basic biochemistry.
So, you see, Fertilizer can make Violas grow better. Or it can make Violas grow worse. It depends on the Soil the Violas have.
Any followups? You should have at least one. Thanks for writing.
