16:34 - 20 August 2010
Summer isn’t over yet. You can keep your plants in tiptop condition for longer by giving them some care and attention now. Regular feeding is essential to ensure your plants perform to their full potential. It is particularly important for plants that are at their peak of growth. Although plants make food in their leaves they also derive nutrients and minerals from the soil to boost their growth. Nutrients are quickly depleted from soil and compost by vigorous plant growth, heavy feeders and high rainfall. This food source needs to be replaced or your plants will start to show signs of stress.
This late in the season you need to take care what you feed your plants with. For annuals and productive crops that are now fruiting you need to provide a rich, instant food that supports flowers, fruit and foliage, but if you use something like that on trees, shrubs and some perennials now, you may encourage some plants into too much soft and sappy growth that will suffer in early frosts and hard winters. Don’t’ be tempted to use a long lasting slow or controlled release fertiliser this late in the year. Instead opt for some fast food, which will deliver short bursts of fertiliser to plants that need it now. Choose a liquid feed that can be applied to the compost or in emergencies used as a foliar feed.
Fast Food
For the fastest and easiest route you can opt for a ready diluted, ready to use liquid fertiliser, but remember that you are in effect paying for the water! Ready to use plant food is already diluted to the correct level so you simply add it to moist compost. It usually contains high levels of potash and micronutrients that are just what your plants need to perform to their full potential. And because it is ready to use, you don’t need to fiddle about with watering cans and measuring devices. It’s a great choice for indoor and outdoor plants growing in pots and a perfect feed to administer to hungry or stressed plants.
Budget Choice
For the best value for money opt for a concentrated plant food that you dilute with water before you feed. It is usually a liquid concentrate that is diluted down and watered onto the soil and over the foliage of your plants for fast acting results. It’s the perfect choice for containerised plants and it gives fast, effective results. Look for a formulation that contains trace elements, which are important where mineral deficiencies in the soil or compost may be present. Choose a product that is high in potassium (K) to encourage the development of strong, healthy flowers and has a generous proportion of nitrogen (N) too, for healthy leaves. Make sure the compost your plants are growing in is well watered before you apply liquid feed and use when the plants are not in direct sunlight.
Power Powders
You can also choose to use a soluble plant food, which is usually a dissolvable powder that is added to water and applied to the plants directly on a weekly or fortnightly basis. These are easy to dissolve in water and are simply added to a watering can and applied to plants as you water. Look for a quality product that contains a good balance of nutrients and trace elements to provide everything you plants need to promote masses of flowers and fruit and to support the growth and development of healthy foliage and ensure you plants have everything they need to perform to their full potential.
