Why Fertilizer

Why Fertilizer?

Fertilizer means plant nutrients

There are many ways to formulate fertilizer – plant nutrients. Two main types are solid fertilizer, often shaped as granulates, and liquid fertilizer, that is most commonly a solution of nutrients. Suspension fertilizer (solid particles in a flowable liquid form) is an intermediate.

Solid fertilizer is the easiest to transport, as it contains very little water, whereas liquid fertilizer often contains more water, and hence weighs more per kg of nutrient. On the other hand, liquid fertilizer is easier for the plant to take up and more precise to dose.

What nitrients are fertilizer?

Plant need 14 essential nutrients, and therefore fertilizer is often comprised of these:

Out of these, the first 6 are so called macro nutrients, meaning the nutrients the plant needs the most of. The latter are micro nutrients, of which the plant need much less. For instance molybdenum and nickel the plant needs less than 1 gram per ton of dry matter.
Besides these elements, the plant needs water (H2O) and carbondioxide (CO2) and light to grow.
There are also other elements that can have a positive effect on plant growth in some plant species, e.g. sodium – Na – cobolt – Co – silicon – Si – vanadium – Va and Selenium – Se.