One often comes across special vegetable fertilizers in the trade. What makes them so special, how do they work and what are they suitable for? We'll enlighten you.
Self-grown vegetables from your own garden taste best for everyone. Therefore, you should ensure an optimal supply of nutrients in the vegetable patch in order to benefit from it. Special vegetable fertilizers can help us to optimally supply our vegetable beds with nutrients.
The different types of vegetables in our gardens also need individual care and fertilization. Not least because of this, there is a large amount of vegetable fertilizers on the market. These differ in their nutrient composition and are therefore suitable for a wide variety of vegetable crops.
Vegetable fertilizer: composition and characteristics
Vegetable fertilizers contain a balanced ratio of the main nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). These nutrients are essential for vegetables, because nitrogen is important for building protein, among other things, phosphorus is necessary for building DNA and for the formation of carbohydrates, and potassium is an important component of cell sap. However, each of these nutrients fulfills them many other functions in plants.
Vegetable fertilizers are offered in a wide variety of forms, because you can get them in solid form, as granules or as fertilizer sticks. A liquid version is also available on the market. In addition, mineral vegetable fertilizers and vegetable fertilizers that have an organic basis are available. Many vegetable fertilizers even have a long-term effect for several months. If you're interested in learning more about slow-release fertilizers, check out our dedicated article for more on the subject here.
What kind of vegetables need special vegetable fertilizers?
Certain vegetables require more nutrients. These include brassicas such as cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. batrytis) or broccoli (Brassica oleracea var.italica), but also fruit vegetables such as tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) or peppers (Capsicum). types of vegetablessuch as tomatoes, potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), pumpkins (Curcurbitaceae) or cucumbers (Cucumis sativus). also an extra portion of potassium to grow optimally. Therefore, the special vegetable fertilizers always contain a larger proportion of this substance.
Liquid fertilizers such as the Plantura organic tomato & vegetable fertilizer work the fastest and are therefore suitable for compensating for acute deficiency symptoms.
Vegetable fertilizer: effects and benefits
Vegetable fertilizers should guarantee balanced growth and an optimal supply of nutrients for a wide variety of vegetables. We therefore have to pay particular attention to the highly consuming types of vegetables, because these plants need an extra portion of nutrients in order to be productive.
Many commercially available vegetable fertilizers have a long-term effect in order to provide the vegetables with nutrients for several months. In this way you don't have to fertilize as often and the vegetable plants are guaranteed to grow evenly and vigorously. When it comes to vegetable fertilizers, you should always use fertilizers that contain potassium, because this nutrient is of great importance for vegetables. Optimal vegetable fertilization with potassium guarantees firm tissue in the vegetable.
By using organic fertilizers, you not only strengthen the plants, but also take care of the soil. Natural fertilizers ensure the best possible humus formation and protect the environment.
Use of vegetable fertilizer for tomatoes and Co.
If you want to get a decent vegetable harvest, you need to use vegetable fertilizer. You can use fertilizer sticks, organic natural fertilizers, mineral fertilizers or liquid fertilizers. Ultimately, the fertilizer selection is very large.
Organic Vegetable Fertilizer
With organic vegetable fertilizers, we not only provide the vegetables with nutrients, but also create an optimal environment for the soil organisms and promote the soil structure. Organic fertilizers consist mostly of plant and/or animal products and are exactly the right choice for a sustainable way of working. Manure from different animals and compost are also organic fertilizers.
The organic vegetable fertilizers also include our Plantura organic tomato fertilizer, which consists of mostly organic raw materials and is completely animal-free. It has an NPK ratio of 4 - 3 - 8 and containsan additional 2% magnesium. Therefore, it is not only optimal for tomatoes, but it is also suitable for pumpkins (Cucurbita), peppers (Capsicum), radishes ( Raphanus), cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) and many other vegetables.
Mineral vegetable fertilizer
Since the nutrients in mineral fertilizers are usually in a form in which they can be directly absorbed by the plants, they work faster than organic fertilizers, which first have to be broken down by microorganisms. Acute deficiency symptoms can be quickly compensated with mineral fertilizers, but mineral fertilizers are also washed out more easily. In addition, mineral fertilizers do not build up any humus compared to organic fertilizers. Without such a build-up of humus, the fertility of the soil decreases over time. We therefore recommend using mineral fertilizers only in the event of a deficiency.
Make your own vegetable fertilizer
It's not very difficult to make your own vegetable fertilizer, because compost and plant manure are particularly suitable as such. To make compost, you only need kitchen waste such as leftover vegetables, fruit or coffee grounds, and lawn clippings are also ideal for composting.
The more you shred the material, the faster the composting will go. This way you get an excellent vegetable fertilizer. If you want to learn more about how to make a compost, why not read our dedicated article on the subject.
Plant manure is another self-made vegetable fertilizer. Plant parts are placed in water and fermented in it. Manure made from nettles, comfrey and marigolds, for example, are suitable as vegetable fertilizer. These provide vegetables with nutrients and also have a strengthening effect on the plants. You can find out more about nettle manure here.
Various manures, teas and broths can be used as vegetable fertilizer:
- Valerian tea strengthens flowering and fruit-bearing vegetables as foliar fertilizer. You need 30 to 50 g of valerian blossoms (Valeriana officinalis), which you scald with 2 liters of boiling water. Let the tea steep and dilute it with another 8 liters of water.
- Comfrey Manure is made from 1 kg of crushed comfrey leaves (Symphytum officinalis) fermented in 10 liters of water. This dilutes the liquid manurein a ratio of 1:10 and water the plants with it. This liquid manure is rich in minerals as well as nitrogen and potassium. Comfrey manure is therefore ideal for tomatoes and cabbage. But it is also suitable as a compost additive, because it promotes the conversion processes in the compost.
- Fennel manure can have a good fertilizer effect if used alternately with nettle manure and comfrey manure. To do this, 1 kg of fresh fennel shoots (Foeniculum vulgare) are fermented in 10 liters of water and then diluted 1:20.
- Dandelion manure is particularly suitable for tomato fertilization and cabbage. To do this, ferment about 2 kg of dandelion plants (Taraxacum Ruderalia) in 10 liters of water. After two weeks you can finally use it. You can use the liquid manure either undiluted or diluted in a ratio of 1:5. Dandelion manure is also an ideal addition to compost.
- Marigold manure is also good for fertilizing cabbage vegetables and tomatoes and should be used diluted in a ratio of 1:10. For this you need 1 kg of marigold leaves and stems (Calendula officinalis), which are fermented in 10 liters of water. But other types of vegetables and herbs are also happy to be fertilized with marigold manure.
So you can find many useful plants in your garden as well as in meadows that you can use to make manure. These strengthen your plants and can support fertilization with special vegetable fertilizers.