CORVALLIS, Ore. – Fertilizers are especially important when growing vegetables and small fruits. There are a lot of choices, which can make it hard to decipher what’s best for your approach to gardening.
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Organic fertilizers such as manures, compost or bone meal are derived directly from plant or animal sources, said Chip Bubl, Oregon State University Extension Service horticulturist. Other organic fertilizers are rock minerals that are finely ground like limestone and rock phosphate.
Organic fertilizers usually contain plant or animal nutrients in lower concentrations, depending on the raw material, but may have a much wider range of nutrients.
Fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate or ammonium phosphate are often called conventional or synthetic fertilizers because they go through a manufacturing process. That said, finished conventional fertilizers start with naturally occurring mineral deposits and/or nitrogen in the atmosphere.
Conventional fertilizers usually contain only a few nutrients – generally nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur and sometimes micronutrients, either singly or in combination. These nutrients are in a form generally more available to plants. Some nutrients, such as nitrate, are quickly available for uptake by plant roots, Bubl said. If you need only a certain element such as nitrogen and want it to be quickly available to your plants, an inorganic fertilizer such as ammonium sulfate might be in order. However, since they are lost from the soil quickly, you may have to fertilize plants several times during the growing season unless you use a specially formulated, slow-release type.
Organic fertilizers usually contain plant or animal nutrients in lower concentrations, depending on the raw material, but may have a much wider range of nutrients.
Many of these nutrients have to be converted into inorganic forms by soil bacteria and fungi before plants can use them, so they typically are more slowly released, especially during cold weather when soil microbes are not as active. This is especially critical with nitrogen in the early part of the growing season.
But organic fertilizers have advantages. They don’t make a crust on the soil as inorganic fertilizers sometimes do. They improve water movement into the soil and, in time, add structure to the soil. Organics feed beneficial microbes, making the soil easier to work. But they may cost significantly more than conventional fertilizers, because they are less concentrated, supplying fewer nutrients pound for pound.
Since many conventional/synthetic fertilizers are concentrated and very soluble, it’s easier to apply too much and damage your plants, especially when watering with fertilizer added to the water.
Fresh, non-composted manure can damage your plants as well, because some manure contains harmful amounts of salts. Manures can also be a source of weed seeds and, if fairly fresh, human pathogens. Organic standards require fresh manure be worked into the ground 120 days before harvesting a crop that directly touches the soil (beets, onions, lettuce, radishes, etc.). There is only a 90-day pre-harvest interval for crops where the edible portion won’t touch the soil like pole beans and sweet corn.
One of the most puzzling things for a gardener to determine is how much fertilizer, especially nitrogen, to apply, Bubl said. For a 1,000 square feet vegetable garden, the usual recommendation is 3 pounds of “actual” nitrogen per 1,000 square feet every year.
So, what is this “actual” nitrogen? The first number on a fertilizer bag is what percent of the bag is “actual” nitrogen. For a fertilizer with an N-P-K ratio of 12-11-2, this means 12 percent is nitrogen, 11 percent is phosphorus and 2 percent is potassium. In simple terms, this means each 100 pounds of the fertilizer would contain 12 pounds of nitrogen, 11 pounds phosphorus and two pounds potassium. To know how much fertilizer you need, divide 3/.12, which equals 25 pounds that would need to be applied to get 3 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet.
Blood meal (12.5-1.5-0.6) releases nutrients over a period of two to six weeks. Chicken feather meal, which releases nitrogen a little faster, is also about 12% nitrogen.
A common conventional fertilizer like 16-16-16 would be used at the rate of 3/.16 = 19 pounds per 1,000 square feet.
To boost the nitrogen content of your soil, apply non-organic nitrogen-rich urea (42-46% nitrogen or N) or organic materials like feather meal (12% N), blood meal (12.5% N) or dried blood (12% N).
If you add a lot of organic matter that is not well-composted (strawy manure, freshly tilled in cover crops, etc.) to your garden, you will need to “feed” the composting organisms with nitrogen until the composting process is complete. Otherwise, those tiny composting microorganisms instead of your vegetables will get the nitrogen in the soil. This can lead to poor-colored and stunted vegetable plants.
Organic amendments highest in phosphorus include rock phosphate (20%-33% phosphorus or P), bone meal (15-27 percent P) and colloidal phosphate (17%-25% P). Organic materials high in potassium are kelp (4%0-13% potassium or K), wood ash (3%-7% K), granite meal (3%-6% K) and greensand (5% K).
To make soil less acidic, gardeners use materials rich in calcium, including clamshells, oyster shells, wood ashes, agricultural lime, dolomite lime and gypsum.
Many garden centers and feed stores carry both inorganic and organic fertilizers and amendments for gardens. For more information, see the OSU Extension publication "Fertilizing Your Garden: Vegetables, Fruits and Ornamentals."
Ammonium sulfate [(NH₄)₂ SO₄] was one of the first and most widely used nitrogen (N) fertilizers for crop production. It’s now less common but especially valuable where both N and sulfur (S) are required. Its high solubility provides versatility for a number of agricultural applications.
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Production
Ammonium sulfate (sometimes abbreviated as AS or AMS) has been produced for more than 150 years. Initially, it was made from ammonia released during manufacturing coal gas (used to illuminate cities) or from coal coke used to produce steel.
Today, manufacturers make ammonium sulfate by reacting sulfuric acid with heated ammonia. To get the crystal size best suited for the application, reaction conditions are controlled by screening and drying the particles until achieving the desired size. Some materials are coated with a conditioner to reduce dust and caking.
Byproducts from various industries meet most of the current demand for ammonium sulfate. For example, the nylon manufacturing process produces ammonium sulfate as a co-product. In another, certain byproducts that contain ammonia or spent sulfuric acid are commonly converted to ammonium sulfate for use in agriculture.
Although the color can range from white to beige, ammonium sulfate is consistently sold as a highly soluble crystal with excellent storage properties. As described earlier, particle size can also vary depending on the intended purpose.
Chemical properties
Agricultural use
Growers apply ammonium sulfate primarily where they need supplemental N and S to meet the nutritional requirement of growing plants. Since ammonium sulfate contains only 21 percent N, other fertilizer sources more concentrated and economical to handle and transport often make a better choice for N-deficient fields. It provides an excellent source of S, which supports or drives numerous essential plant functions, including protein synthesis.
Because the N fraction is present in the ammonium form of ammonium sulfate, rice farmers frequently apply it to flooded soils, since nitrate-based fertilizers are a poor choice due to denitrification losses.
A solution containing dissolved ammonium sulfate is often added to post-emergence herbicide sprays to improve their effectiveness at weed control.
This practice of increasing herbicide efficacy with ammonium sulfate works particularly well when the water supply contains significant concentrations of calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) or sodium (Na). A high-purity grade of ammonium sulfate often works best for this purpose to avoid plugging spray nozzles.
Management practices
After addition to soil, the ammonium sulfate rapidly dissolves into its ammonium and sulfate components. If it remains on the soil surface, the ammonium may be susceptible to gaseous loss in alkaline conditions. In these situations, agronomists advise incorporating the material into the soil as soon as possible. Other options include an ammonium sulfate application before irrigation or a predicted rainfall.
Most plants can utilize both ammonium and nitrate forms of N for growth. In warm soils, microbes will rapidly begin to convert ammonium to nitrate in the process of nitrification [2 NH₄⁺ + 3O₂ → 2NO₃⁻ + 2H₂O + 4H⁺]. During this microbial reaction, acidity [H⁺] is released, which will ultimately decrease soil pH after repeated use.
Ammonium sulfate has an acidifying effect on soil due to the nitrification process, not from the presence of sulfate, which has a negligible effect on pH.
The acid-producing potential of ammonium sulfate is greater than the same N application from ammonium nitrate, for example. That’s because all of the N in ammonium sulfate converts to nitrate, compared with only half of the N from ammonium nitrate that converts to nitrate.
Non-agricultural uses
Source: Nutrient Source Specifics, No. 12, International Plant Nutrition Institute.
For more information, please visit NPK 19-19-19 Fertilizer For Plants.