The growing season is in full motion, which gives us lots of new growth to enjoy! We are busy with propagating cuttings and probably have adjusted the way we care for plants to the season. What also peeks around the corner, is fertilizing your houseplants. Adding fertilizers to our plants brings many benefits since we provide some extra energy to our plants in order for them to grow strong and healthy. This is exactly where the questions pop up. Which type of fertilizers are there and which one is the best? In this blog, we will take a deep dive into two types of fertilizers: liquid and slow-release fertilizers. Let’s get into it!
Types of houseplant fertilizers
Liquid fertilizers
Liquid fertilizers are most commonly used. These are the types of fertilizers that are mixed with water and given to our plants when we water them. This makes fertilizing our house plants rather easy, but we do have to remind ourselves on a frequent basis to add this liquid into our watering can. Every type of fertilizer has its pros and cons, so let’s see what liquid fertilizers have to offer us and where they shoot short in some departments.
Pros of using liquid fertilizers:
- They are easy to use
- When given the plant can absorb the nutrients directly
- The fertilizer will be evenly distributed throughout the water, covering the soil evenly.
- They can be used directly on the soil, or can be added to a spray for foliar feeding*
Cons of using liquid fertilizers:
- Liquid fertilizer washes out of the soil, which makes it not last for long
- It can be more expensive
The best liquid nutrition for houseplants
If you ask us, our PLNTS nutrition is the best liquid fertilizer for houseplants. We have created a liquid nutrition, in cooperation with some real plant experts in order to give you a product that will fuel your plants. With fertilizers, there are main components and micronutrients. These main components are Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P₂O₅), and Potassium (K₂O) (N-P-K-). We made this fertilizer strong, but not too strong. If you want to know more about our PLNTS nutrition and its ingredients, make sure to check our nutrition page.
When you add too much fertilizer to your soil, you may cause a chemical burn in your root system. This is what we call root burn and will explain more about this later on in this blog.
Keep in mind that adding too much fertilizer can burn your roots, even if you use our perfectly blended liquid fertilizer. Our nutrition is almost 100% organic since we try our absolute best to provide you with environmentally conscious products. The nutrition goes a long way, 8 millilitres of nutrition can be mixed with 1 liter of water. Simply water your plants with this cocktail, as you would normally. Generally, plants need this once a month, but some plant families like more nutrition and others less. That is why you should always look at what your specific plant needs and thrives from. You can find all the additional care information per plant family on our PLNTS doctor page.
What is foliar feeding?
Plants have the tiniest holes within their foliage, called the Stomata. These are not visible with the bare eye but do a lot for the plant. These little holes are able to absorb, but also are used by the plant to release substances. When you want to make use of this ability, you could try foliar feeding. This may sound fancy, but is actually quite easy! This is when you add your liquid fertilizer to your spray bottle and mist your plants with this instead of regular water. This way your plants can absorb the nutrients from the stomata. Although the 3 main nutrients are not absorbed as easily through the Stomata as through the roots. That is why we would not necessarily recommend this way of fertilizing your houseplants.
