How to fertilize potted plants

Fertilization of potted plants is an important care procedure, affecting the abundance of flowering, leaf color and plant growth rate, as well as their health and general condition. When you should fertilize potted plants? How to dose the fertilizers and which ones are the best? Here’s everything you need to know about hopw to fertilize potted plants.

In the process of photosynthesis, plants independently produce the nutrients they need. Nevertheless, they also need an adequate amount of minerals containing elements necessary for life. In the wild, plants absorb these compounds from the soil.

The same happens with potted flowers, but the amount of soil in the pot is limited and the available nutrients in such a small amount of soil are quickly depleted. For this reason, during the growing season (plant growth), we must provide them with nutrients by fertilizing potted plants.

Why is fertilization necessary?

In larger quantities, plants take the so-called macronutrients. The most important thing is:

• nitrogen (N) – affects the proper development of foliage,
• phosphorus (P) – ensures proper root growth,
• potassium (K) – affects the overall condition of the plant as well as the production of flowers and fruits,

In addition to macronutrients, plants also need micronutrients, such as iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), and molybdenum.

Plants absorb these substances in much smaller amounts, but they are just as necessary as macronutrients.

Unfortunately, providing the plant with all macroelements and microelements is not enough. Well, they must be provided in the right proportions.

For example, ornamental foliage plants require fertilizers in which nitrogen predominates, while the nutrient medium for feeding flowering plants should have an increased concentration of phosphorus and potassium, and a low concentration of nitrogen.

Of course, it would be very difficult to choose the right proportions of these ingredients on your own. Therefore, it is worth using ready-made fertilizer mixtures suitable for individual groups of plants for fertilization.

Remember! When fertilizing plants, the individual components should be supplied in the right proportions. Using too little or too much of one of the ingredients may limit the intake of the remaining ingredients.

Fertilizers for potted plants

In order to facilitate the fertilization of potted plants, you can use ready-made fertilizers containing appropriately selected proportions of nutrients, appropriate for particular groups of plants, or even prepared specifically for specific species.

Depending on what plants you grow, you have a choice of min. special fertilizers for flowering plants, plants with decorative foliage, cacti and succulents, palm trees or ferns. There are also special fertilizers that help solve specific problems in plant cultivation, such as anti-chlorosis fertilizer.

Fertilizers can also be grouped in terms of “route of administration”. Most plants absorb macro- and microelements through the roots. Therefore, for fertilization, you can choose from a number of soil fertilizers:

1. Fast-acting fertilizers:

• liquid fertilizers – you can use them for watering plants, usually they are in the form of a concentrate
• powder fertilizers – usually you must dissolve them in water before application,
• granulated fertilizers – mix the granules with the ground before planting the plant or, if the plant is already in a pot, sprinkle them onto the soil surface,

2. Slow-release fertilizers:

• fertilizer sticks and tablets – you press them into the soil, they dissolve slowly, gradually releasing nutrients, ideal for people who do not remember to fertilize regularly.

You may be wondering: why use fast-acting fertilizers when the use of slow-acting fertilizers is much simpler and less engaging?

Well, unfortunately, slow-release fertilizers are usually more expensive, and besides, they do not allow us to regulate the dose of fertilizer administered on a regular basis depending on the needs of the plant.

Apart from soil fertilizers, there are also foliar fertilizers. The plant absorbs foliar fertilizer much faster, butyou cannot fertilize all plants this way.

Fertilization frequency and fertilizer dosage

Fertilizing potted plants is necessary first of all in the period of their strongest growth, most often from spring to autumn.

If the fertilization needs of the plant are high,you should apply fertilizer every week (e.g. for many flowering plants). However, most plants need to be fertilized once every two weeks or even only once a month (cacti and succulents).

Just like the frequency of fertilization, the you must adjust doses of fertilizer to the needs of the selected plants. Remember to never use doses higher than those indicated on the fertilizer packaging!

If you use less fertilizer than you should, the plant will at best grow slower or bloom less. Using too much fertilizer can be very dangerous.

Of course, the above comments regarding the frequency of fertilization apply only to fast-acting fertilizers. You’ll apply slow-release fertilizers much less frequently, some of them need to be placed in the soil once a year, at the beginning of the growing season.

Over-fertilization can cause more damage than failure to fertilize. Too much fertilizer can even kill the plant! Never exceed the doses of fertilizers recommended by the manufacturer.

Fertilizing potted plants in winter

Most potted plants should not be fed in winter, as they are then dormant. You start fertilizing in March, when the plants start to put out new leaves, and end at the turn of August and September.

Remember that fertilization does not compensate the plant for a lack of light, moisture or adequate temperature. The worse the growing conditions, the slower the plant takes up the nutrients contained in the substrate, i.e. it requires less fertilization.

The exception to the above rule are the few plants that bloom in the winter and do not require a dormant period.