Slow Release Fertilizers- Time & Cost Effective

One of our goals as a landscaping company is to help plants grow and thrive. To do this, plants need a number of different chemical elements. The most important are:

-Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen – Available from air and water and therefore in plentiful supply

-Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (a.k.a. potash) – The three macronutrients and the three elements you find in most packaged fertilizers

-Sulfur, calcium, and magnesium – Secondary nutrient

-Boron, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc – Micronutrients

To make plants grow faster, we must supply these elements in a readily available form. This is the job of fertilizers.

Slow or High?

Unlike “High” nitrogen fertilizers that expend all their chemical content into the soil at an accelerated pace, “Slow” release fertilizers do just the opposite. They release their chemical values at a much slower pace over a longer period of time (up to three months). High nitrogen fertilizers are used when attempting to give a “quick” green to turf or ground covers. Generally, these type of fertilizers must be watered in extensively to avoid leaf burn. Once the nitrogen has been applied and exhausted in the soil, the need to fertilize again is necessary to keep the established green going. This can be an expensive, time consuming process when considering labor, product cost and water costs. Slow release fertilizers are an established way to reduce these costs and supply the landscape with the needed amounts of uniform chemical applications for much longer periods of time. Fertilizing every three months, instead of monthly will go a long way in producing a satisfying landscape look. Slow release fertilizers also add the benefit of potassium and phosphorus for better plant cultivar root development and flowering as opposed to a short lived nitrogen diet.