Quick Tip: Go Easy on Nitrogen-Heavy Fertilizers

garden fertilizers pictured in greenhouse

By Jennifer Poindexter

Have you ever fertilized your plants only for them to become lush with green but fail to produce much fruit?

If you haven’t, maybe this article will find you in time before you do experience this. If you have, hang around as I explain why this could have occurred.

Here’s my quick tip on fertilizing. When adding nutrients to your plants ensure you’re using the right ingredients. Too much of one thing could lead to a lush plant but no harvest. Here’s why:

Quick Tip: Go Easy on Nitrogen-Heavy Fertilizers

When fertilizing crops, it’s important to select a well-balanced fertilizer. If you go too heavy on specific ingredients, it could lead to a gorgeous plant with no fruit.

In some cases, if you supply your plants with a fertilizer heavy in nitrogen, it’s common for this situation to arise.

The reason being is plants need other nutrients (such as phosphorus) to stimulate root growth and encourage ripe fruit on the plant.

Nitrogen is important, but it’s common to see plants with too much nitrogen experience one of two things:

Either your plants are lush and green with no blooms, due to the focus being on foliage production, or your plants are experiencing nitrogen toxicity which will cause stunted growth and curled, thick green leaves.

If you’re afraid you might have overdone it with a nitrogen-heavy fertilizer, begin by aerating your soil.

This creates better draining soil which should encourage some of the nitrogen to drain away along with excess water.

Moving forward, ensure you’re supplying your plants with a well-balanced fertilizer as frequently as recommended. The time and amount of fertilizer needed at application may vary by plant variety.

Now that you know why too much nitrogen is a problem for plants, hopefully this tip helps you avoid this situation.

Providing adequate care to your plants can be a learning experience, but it’s a vital lesson when encouraging optimal growth of the plants in your garden.