How to Fertilize Indoor Plants?

Fertilizing House Plants – Plant Feeding Methods:

Providing fertilizers to the house plants or what we call it as plant feeding is very vital so that we can provide plants the nutrients they require. These nutrients help the plants to grow during the best of their growing season and promote their health.  Fertilizers are materials of natural or synthetic origin that are used to aid in the process of growth of the plant. These are either added to the soil or applied to a plant part, which helps the plant to grow healthier. But using fertilizers more than required can spoil the health of the plants and can hamper their growth. In the article below, we discuss the basics of fertilizing the plants to provide them with much-needed nutrients in the right way.

 

Types of fertilizers:

• Water-soluble fertilizers: these are the most popular types of fertilizers that are used especially for indoor plants. They are simple to use and are available in different other forms like crystals, soluble granules, powder form, etc. However, this should be an extent to which the water-soluble fertilizers should be used. Sometimes, people overuse fertilizers that damage the health of the plants.
  
  

• Slow-release granules: These are used popularly for both indoor and outdoor plants. They are convenient to use as they are just spread right on top of the soil. Then they dissolve themselves within six months of period or more and release the granules and provide the plants with the nutrients.
  
  
• Sticks or fertilizer spikes: These are small sticks that contain food. They are spread over the soil, and the plants derive their nutrition from them. Once you are done feeding the plants, you can easily remove the sticks. However, it comes with the disadvantage that they do not distribute the nutrients in the soil quality. Some portion of it gets a larger part of the nutrients while the other portions get deprived of it.
• Orchids, Bonsai, etc.: there are some plants like orchids that require fertilizers of their own. Because these plants have more requirements than others, therefore the fertilizers for them come with the kind of nutrients that they need the most. They have the correct amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and the other macro and micronutrients that are most suitable to promote growth. Therefore, some fertilizers are made specifically for some plants only.

 

What nutrients are there in fertilizers?

You can only use fertilizer for plants when you know what it contains. Then you will know what kind of fertilizer is to be used for what sort of plant. Every fertilizer has a packaging that states the number of macronutrients and micronutrients that are used in making that fertilizer. Let’s study about the main components of those nutrients below.

 

Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium are the three main macronutrients that you will always find in fertilizers.

• Nitrogen is known to improve the growth of a plant and its leaves. Using nitrogen makes the leaves grow larger and quicker, and much greener.
• Phosphorus is used to promote the growth of the roots of a plant and improve its overall health. The flowering plants use fertilizers that have the most phosphorus in them.
• If you want to support the overall growth of a plant and promote its reproduction, fertilizers with more potassium are highly recommended. It helps in the fruiting, flowering, and promoting the growth of the plant.

 

When we talk about the micronutrients, they are as important as the macronutrients for the growth of a plant. Boron, copper, zinc, manganese, etc. are some of the micronutrients that are needed in small quantities but overall promote the health of a plant.

 

How and when to feed the plants:

Spring season is known to be the most appropriate season for feeding the plants with the fertilizers. The winter season is the season when the plant should never be fed. With October approaching, the plants should be stopped feeding.

 

Also, when you re-pot the plants, we should not be fed with fertilizers as the new soil already has that much nutrients that can support the growth of the plant. Overcrowding your plant with fertilizers will not only affect its health but can also lead to its death.

 

Diagnose your plants:

You should be able to diagnose your plants and tell them about their health. The plants get affected when they are not being given enough nutrients, or they are being oversupplied with nutrients. Therefore, you should know how to diagnose the problem of the plants and then come up with a solution to maintain their health in a good manner.

 

Whenever you buy a fertilizer, usually it comes with instructions as to when to feed the plants. The most appropriate way to feed the plants is said to be once a week or twice during the growing period and afterward, once or twice during a month. That is enough because most of the plants do not need feeding every week. Overfeeding the plants when they do not need feeding can lead to negative results. It is better that you feed less than overfeeding your plants.

If you are feeding your plants less, they will have very slow growth with very few new leaves and roots. The flowers will be of very small size with pale in color. Also, the leaves will get yellow very soon, hinting at wilting.

But if you are excessively overfeeding your plants, it will also lead to its slow growth with multiple roots and leaves problems. The flowers will not grow, and the leaves will have brown and yellow spots. And after a prolonged time of overfeeding, the plants will eventually die.

 

So, here we discussed the use of the fertilizers and how they are used to feed the plants. The plants should be fed in the right amount. Overfeeding the plants will only affect their health and will cause them to die. You should know how to diagnose the state of the plants and take care of them.