Nutrients

While many plants will potter along with neglect if you want fast growth you need to supply the nutrients. But if you’ve taken a trip to a nursery or hardware store lately you know it can get confusing. Here are some things to know to get the best out of your plants.

To know what you need you have to know what you have. A soil test will show you what deficiencies or toxicities you may have or you can take the cues from your plants. The markings on a plant leaf can give us clues as to what may be going on.

Growth is determined by the least available nutrient not the most available so dumping more of the wrong fertiliser on every Spring may not be helping.

Too much of any one nutrient can affect the take up of another so dumping more of the wrong fertiliser on may actually be harming your plants.

The pH of your soil will also affect the take up on nutrients and if you change the pH you may also change the deficiencies or toxicities. Ideally check and correct the pH before you add fertiisers.

How do we tackle Nutrients?

We start with a soil test to work out an action plan, ideally this is a full lab based test but we can start with simple tests on site. Then we assess your plants to identify individual needs as well as those which are sensitive to certain elements (eg. Proteaceae and Phosphorus)

We then work with liquid formulations to dose lightly and often and monitor to ensure we get your plants on track. We also use amino acids, seaweeds and humates to stimulate growth, encourage root development, enhance the plants ability to cope with cold and drought and reduce the incidence of disease.

Sound like a plan? Book in a garden health check and we can assess your soil and get your plants back on track