Stone Cold

Has anyone used the liquid fertilizers? How effective are they versus the grannule fertilizers? What type do you use?

1sagittarius

Liquid form is fine for Nitrogen because it is water soluable. But Phosphorus and Potassium are not easily water soluable.

lunchbucket

The problem with the granulated fertilizers is that they must be absorbed by the soil first before being utilized by the plant. Also, many of the granulated fertilizers are salt based and the nitrates and may contributate to leeching into the ground water. We liquid organic fertilizers be used when possible.
They are more often than not sistemic, that is they are absorbed directly into the plant thereby over stepping the need to be absorbed by the soil first. They, as a rule, do not leech into the ground water and are not toxic or seen as a pollutents.

Russ otten

I've been thinking, (I know, that could cause trouble). A person may be able to use Nitrogen in a liquid form; but that means carrying it in some carrier like a tank from the supplier to your plot. But then, if I understand this, you have to transport the P and K in ganular form and spreading this dry. This would create a lot of extra steps to get fertilizer on a plot or plots. A farmer working with large fields may be able to operate this way OK, but for plots would create a lot of extra work. An I thinking straight?

Russ

Stone Cold

That is the way I am thinking also. But, do the farmers spead granules? I haven't been around farming much but I never saw them spread granules....it was always liquid.

Wooddust

I'll try to help you on this...First, recognize that liquid fertilizers come in two forms..a clear true liquid and a suspension. The suspension is made by literally suspending a dry granular fertilizer in a liquid (water)...it involves a reaction and some complex steps but a suspension delivers a dry product in a liquid form...thus no difference really vs a dry material.

liquid Nitrogen is often sold as 28% or 32% liquid N. It is manufactured using Anhydrous ammonia and water in a reaction that creates aqueous ammonia...again its the same, just a different form.

Knowing that, you can see that the plant and soil interactions are the same regardless of the form of the nutrient delivered to the plant. There is some absorption by plants from a foliar feeeding but it is not enough for that to be the sole source of plant nutrition. The majority of the plant nutrients come from the soil. In crop production, there have been some commercial uses of foliar feeding but never to a great extent and only with some crops.

In all cases, the actual form of the fertilizer is altered in the soil through chemical reactions to become "available" to the plant.

You will see references to "organic"...well all Phosphate is organic by definition...it is mined from the earth. Potash is also mined...and nitrogen, no matter what you may believe is present in the air, water and soil in one form or another and again, it is organic in that sence. Most commercial nitrogens are manufactured starting with natural gas, converted to anhydrous ammonia then formulated into a dryor liquid product. Until it goes though a breakdown in the environment (called the Nitrogen cycle) to be a Nitrite form, its unavalable to plants. Then it becomes a Nitrate form and that is the form that is most water soluable.

Manure has nitrogen in it. But the N in manure is the same N in any fertilizer. and if Nitrate gets into water from manure or from decompsing leaves, or commercial fertilizer, its all the same.

Thus ends todays fertility lecture....