- Author: Cheryl A Potts
We have come to the third and final installment of my series discussing the three macronutrients essential for a healthy garden. My first blog was about nitrogen, why it is needed in the garden, what it might look like if there is a deficiency, and what do do about correcting it. The second article was about phosphorus. This final submission of the series is about potassium.
To catch you up, these three essential macronutrients are contained in the bag or bottle of fertilizer you purchase. However, unless you are informed, you will simply see three meaningless numbers listed there, e.g. 5-10-5; or 12-10-5. You must know that these numbers refer to the percentage of each macronutrient included, and these are always in a specific order; nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). In the first of these examples, the fertilizer contains 5% nitrogen, 10% phosphorus, and 5 % potassium. Use these numbers to decide which product you need to purchase for your gardening needs.
So why do we need potassium? Potassium helps regulate photosynthesis, moisture content of plant cells and stomata, which controls the carbon dioxide exchange. Potassium helps move vital nutrients around in the plant itself. It also aides in the formation of proteins, which directly effect the nutritional value of the fruit. Lastly, potassium aids the soil as it is responsible for fixing nitrogen in legumes which need a potassium rich soil.
What would a potassium deficiency look like? It would be much subtler than a nitrogen or phosphorus deficiency, even to the extent that you might not notice it. Your plants may appear a bit smaller or thinner than expected, but they do not look "sick". There are a few symptoms to be on the lookout for, however. If your plants appear weak and spindly, attract more pests than usual, and/or plants bear small, thin-skinned fruits that are lacking in flavor, you most likely have a potassium deficiency. This deficiency, as with the other two, can be remedied by composting.
Another highly recommended remedy is the use of greensand. This is really green, and has the consistency of sand. Add 10 pounds per 100 square feet to a new garden. Add it to your compost pile also to ensure against future. It also contains iron, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and more than 30 trace elements.
Wood ash contains about 5% potassium in a relative quick release form. Spread on a new garden without plants (late fall or winter), as the ash can actually burn plants. A third recommendation is granite dust. It will provide a water solvable potassium that your plants can use immediately. Granite dust is about 3% immediately available, and 3% available over time. It will not effect your pH balance. (pH balance? Ah, fodder for another blog!)
Ground kelp has been noted as a source of potassium, but its percentage is less than the above mentioned additives.
In reviewing these macronutrients, it is clear that all of them are essential. Most likely, like the vitamins our bodies need, if your garden is lacking in one, it is lacking in others. As I review the differences in the appearance of the deficiencies, I see more similarities the differences. I have come to the conclusion that I must not only keep feverishly composting, but actually increase the amount I compost, as compost contains the nutrients required by most plants. Then, if that fails, and deficiencies continue to appear, I will have my soil professionally analyzed. There are testing kits available for around $11.00, but in researching these, I found numerous reports of unreliability. Instead, I would recommending using the UC Davis Analytical Lab. Information on how to use this resource, the costs, and the procedures are available if you simply put UC Davis Analytical Lab in your search engine.
I have learned a lot from writing a three segmented blog about N-P-K, but I must admit what has really increased is my ever growing awe of nature and how it comes together and works to produce what we need. Little, tiny, invisible nutrients effecting big leafy, greens--with or without my understanding. Remarkable!
- Author: Cheryl A Potts
In my last blog, I talked about my struggle with the chemistry, the science of gardening, the bones that make it all work--not my forte. However, I decided to face it as a mature gardening adult, and learn, for starters, my N-P-Ks, those three mysterious numbers found on boxes of fertilizers and bottles of plant food. As I mentioned in my last blog (May 1), the first number listed stands for nitrogen, "N", which is essential for for healthy leaf growth. I discussed what your plants might look like if they were nitrogen deficient, and some suggestions to solve the problem.
Now we come to the second number, which informs the user of the percentage of phosphorus, "P", contained in the product inside.
I have been told (by a former science teacher, no less) that phosphorus has been used since WWI up through present day wars as a smoke tracer, an explosive, a poison and nerve gas, and has been called "the Devil's element". So why would I want this destroyer of life in my benign veggie garden? Well, it turns out that phosphorus comes in many forms and colors. It actually takes up 1 % of each one of our body weights, and is found in each cell of the human body without smoking or poisoning. It's primary use in our body, unlike in Vietnam, is the formation of bones and teeth. And just to prove to you phosphorus' versatility, it is the primary ingredient found on the head of a safety match. Believe me, this is all very confusing to a science dropout.
Phosphorus was actually discovered by a man from Munich, Germany named Hennig Brand in 1669, who found it while experimenting with urine, producing a product that actually gave off a pale green glow. He kept his method secret, as he, along with all alchemists of the day, was planning on turning his discovery into gold. He finally agreed to share his formula, and gardening has never been the same since.
But back to the question as to why any of us would want phosphorus in our gardens. Phosphorus is actually a mineral that is essential to metabolism. It is the principal element in the structure of the nucleus and cytoplasm of all tissue cells. Without it, as with nitrogen, plants do not thrive. Phosphorus is instrumental in aiding a plant convert needed nutrients into the useable building blocks that it needs to grow. If your plants are spindly, stunted in growth, have leaves that are blue/green with a purplish tinge, produce small fruit with an acid taste, or set very little fruit at all, you most likely have a phosphorus deficiency. Plants that are especially susceptible to this deficiency are carrots, lettuce, spinach, apples, currents, and gooseberries. The purplish tinge seen on the underside of tomato leaves indicates a "P" problem.
These deficiencies occur primarily in areas where there is a high level of rainfall, especially if the soil is acidic, clay, or poor chalk. Cold weather can also be a factor in the poor absorption of phosphorus.
The remedy is simple. Add organic material such as fish fertilizer as a soil drench, bone meal, colloidal phosphate or compost (food wastes are quite high in phosphorous). Also, the addition of rock phosphate is highly recommended. Edward C. Smith, author of The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, states that as phosphorus is most likely to be the nutrient missing from the soil, adding rock phosphate whenever you start a new garden is a wise move. He recommends 10 pounds per 100 square feet. Be forewarned, however. Plants that naturally adapt to low levels of available phosphate are more likely to suffer from phosphate poisoning. Aha! Back to a war reference.
Mr. Smith also makes another interesting point; do not be misled when you read numbers on the package of rock phosphate (0-4-0) that its phosphate contents is only 4%. That 4% represents the immediate available phosphorus. The product actually is about 30% phosphorus with more than 25% of it in a slow release that will become available over time.
We have one more letter to explore in our nutrient alphabet, and in my next blog I will discuss that third label number. Mmmmmm. Could "K" stand for "Kompost"?
![Phosphorus symbol from the elemental chart. (graphic from www.blackdiamond.org) Phosphorus symbol from the elemental chart. (graphic from www.blackdiamond.org)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/USS/blogfiles/16280.jpg)