Liquid and Granular Fertilizers For Growing Vegetables: Can You Use Both?
Feeding your vegetable plants enough nutrients during the growing season is key for abundant harvests. There are both liquid and granular fertilizers and this article covers when to use both.
Your plants don’t just need water to survive and thrive. They also need plant food. And that comes in the form of various fertilizers.
But you’re likely wondering: what plant fertilizers should I use? And are some types of plant fertilizer better than others to use?
Can you use both liquid and granular fertilizers for growing vegetables? Yes, liquid fertilizers are great to water young seedlings with, before and after transplanting to help with transplant shock. And you can foliar feed greens with liquid fertilizers. Side-dressing with granular fertilizers is great for feeding mature plants so that they can produce a continued harvest over the whole growing season.
What Is The Difference Between Organic And Synthetic Fertilizers
You’ve maybe grown up with seeing your parents using the blue powder, mixed in water to fertilize plants.
Or some other synthetic concoction of chemicals that provide the three letters N-P-K (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium). Often these are sold as 20-20-20 on the package to denote the concentration of all these nutrients.
It’s common however to burn your plants if you use too much or if you apply it at the wrong concentrations.
It gives plants a quick shot of nutrients that doesn’t last very long, so you’re having to apply it regularly.
Instead the trend now is towards organic fertilizers that are made from organic, natural ingredients.
The benefits of an organic fertilizer is that it is hard to burn your plants if you use too much. Most organic fertilizer is slow release and is made available to your plants gradually over several weeks or even months.
And there is less chance of the build-up of salts in the soil, as is common with synthetic fertilizers.
Many organic fertilizers such as compost also help to build your soil, which is healthier for your plants long-term. And organic fertilizers won’t damage the sensitive ecosystem in the soil of worms and microorganisms that help break down the soil so your plants can use the nutrients and minerals in the soil.
The Benefits Of Liquid And Granular Fertilizers
Liquid and granular fertilizers each have their place in the garden and offer different benefits.
Consult this graphic when deciding which one to use and for what purposes:
What Types Of Liquid Fertilizers You Can Use
There are many types of liquid organic fertilizers. Local availability may be dependent on your location although you can also buy these online.
Usually liquid fertilizers are an emulsion where some solid organic material has either been blended with water to form a thick liquid or been steeped in water before being strained. The latter is usually called a “tea” not to be confused with tea you can drink!
Common ingredients include fish scraps, seaweed, worm castings, compost and manure.
Some of these, such as fish, have a strong odour, while others such as compost teas have a slight odour.
It is important that you look for the OMRI seal to ensure the materials used come from organic sources. For fish fertilizer you want to avoid any that contains fish from fish farms that were fed antibiotics or other medications.
Here are some recommendations from Amazon in case you can’t find these easily in your local garden centres or nurseries:
