{"id":7734,"date":"2016-03-03T12:00:37","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T17:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=7734"},"modified":"2015-07-03T17:53:50","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T21:53:50","slug":"slow-release-fertilizers-save-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2016\/03\/03\/slow-release-fertilizers-save-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow Release Fertilizers Save Money"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Organic<\/a>

Organic Fertilizers On Shelf Of Garden Center<\/p><\/div>\n

On garden center shelves in the spring are slow-release fertilizers. Trade names include Scotts\u00ae, Osmocote\u00ae, Fertilome\u00ae, Hi-Yield\u00ae, and Vigoro\u00ae. Many are formulated for lawn use. Cost for these products are more than traditional granular fertilizers but prices have dropped over the years and they are better to use environmentally.<\/p>\n

How do you compare and choose slow-release fertilizers? First, find\u00a0the product\u00a0in the proper ratio based either\u00a0on your soil test analysis or crop needs. A 1-1-1 ratio fertilizer (10-10-10 or 19-19-19) is standard for flower and vegetable gardens. If phosphorus levels are high or very high, look for a no- or low- phosphorus fertilizer such as a 20-1-20 or 4-1-4 ratio.<\/p>\n

For landscape trees and shrubs, a ratio of 3-1-2 or 3-1-1 is more appropriate than a 1-1-1. Turf fertilizers such as 18-6-12 or 24-8-16 are examples of 3-1-2 ratios which can be used for trees and shrubs as well.\u00a0Fertilizer for\u00a0bulb crops (tulips, lilies, gladiolas, etc.) should be high in phosphorus.<\/p>\n

The benefits of a slow-release fertilizer is they slowly supply a steady supply of nitrogen to plants all season long at a time when they can use the nutrients. Nitrogen is absorbed by the plant and not lost\u00a0by leaching. Slow release fertilizer is rated more environmentally-friendly. They are heat sensitive. Less nitrogen is released when the soil is cold in early spring, and more goes to\u00a0plants when\u00a0they’re actively growing in summer.<\/p>\n

Natural organic fertilizers are a separate class of slow release products. Milorganite\u2122 (5-2-0) is a safe organic fertilizer manufactured from municipal waste. Blood meal (12-0-0), rock phosphate, muriate of potash,\u00a0and cotton seed meal (6-2-1) are other examples.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 On garden center shelves in the spring are slow-release fertilizers. Trade names include Scotts\u00ae, Osmocote\u00ae, Fertilome\u00ae, Hi-Yield\u00ae, and Vigoro\u00ae. Many are formulated for lawn use. Cost for these products are more than traditional granular fertilizers but prices have dropped over the years and they are better to use environmentally. How do you compare and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1226,665,9,1125,1224,202,630,646],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7734"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7734"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7789,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7734\/revisions\/7789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}