What fertilizers are best?
Fertilizers are formulated to fit into certain situations. The most common type is the complete fertilizer that contains all three essential nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Their relative amount present in each fertilizer bag is expressed as a percentage and written on the bag or container. A typical complete fertilizer is 5-10-5. This has 5% nitrogen, 10% phosphorus as P2O5 and 5% potassium as K2O. Therefore, in a 100 pound bag you will have 5 pounds of nitrogen, 10 pounds phosphorus (as P2O5) and 5 pounds potassium (as K2O). When you use this fertilizer blend, you are applying all three nutrients at once. If you don’t need all three, then you are adding nutrients that may not be used, might be washed way or occupy exchange sites in the soil that should be used by other nutrients.
