Organic Fertilizers
Fertilizers are divided into organic, combined( organo-mineral), mineral and bacterial, among mineral, sometimes separate microfertilizers.
Organic fertilizers include various animal and plant vital products such as manure, slurry, faeces, peat, bird droppings, blood, bone and horny flour, horny shavings, and the siderates( green fertilizer).
Dung
Manure is the most common type of organic fertilizer. It can be in a different state, depending on the degree of its decomposition: fresh manure, half-baked, reparted and humus. The state of manure can be determined by the state of the straw contained in it.
Fresh manure - straw retains its color and strength.
Semi-tempered manure - straw has a dark brown color and is easily torn.
Dumped manure is a black mass in which it is impossible to detect individual straws.
Humus is a loose earthy mass.
The rates of manure application depend on its quality, as well as on the characteristics of the soil and plants. The fastest effect is on plants rotted manure.
Manure contains almost all the main nutrients( nitrogen - 0.5%, phosphorus - 0.2-0.3%, potassium - 0.2-0.4%, etc.) and a significant amount of trace elements.
Warning! With all these positive qualities, many flowers( especially indoor ones) do not tolerate manure in fresh form, so it is better to use it for ground plants.
In conditions of closed ground, slurry or a solution of fermented cow manure - mullein is more often used.
Liquid manure fertilizer is prepared as follows: the tank is filled with fresh manure for a third and two-thirds filled with water, after which the mixture is closed with a lid.3-4 days it should be opened and mixed until the appearance of bubbles, which signal the onset of fermentation. After about a week, the color of the solution brightens, and the solid parts settle to the bottom. The fermented solution is diluted( 1:10 for hard-leaf plants, 1:15 for others) and is used as a fertilizer.
Peat
Peat is a mixture of plant residues that are not completely decomposed under conditions of lack of oxygen and excess moisture, its chemical composition depends on the starting material and the degree of decomposition. As already mentioned above, it is freely sold in stores in pure form or in the form of peat land. It includes all the basic elements of nutrition, but for their use the plant also requires a good supply of air, which is not always possible to achieve in the flower pot. But in the open ground it serves not only fertilizer, but also meliorant.
Bird droppings
Bird droppings - a strong fertilizer, it should be introduced in small concentrations. For house plants, it is better to prepare a fermented solution( prepared similarly to dung, but in a different ratio: 200 parts of water is taken for 1 part of dry bird droppings).The finished solution is diluted 1:20 or 1:25.
Warning! When the bird droppings are fermented, the volume of liquid can increase greatly. Do not top up the lid.
Blood flours
This kind of fertilizer is also used for ground plants: in rooms it should not be used because of the smell. Blood flours are applied to the ground or applied as a solution. The solution is prepared in a ratio of 1 part of flour to 50 parts of water and is not diluted later. Stir it daily for 4-5 days.
This fertilizer is considered to be nitrogenous( contains up to 12% nitrogen), but it contains other elements.
Particularly valuable blood meal when planting plants.
Bone meal
Bone flour is primarily a phosphate fertilizer. It refers to slow-acting fertilizers( as opposed to blood meal and bird droppings).It is best to use it for large perennials.
Bone flour can be used as a component of earth mixtures( 10 g per 1 kg of soil) and in solution. To prepare the solution, water is used hot, 20 parts per 1 part of the fertilizer is taken, the solution is mixed twice a day for a week, then filtered and diluted at a ratio of 1: 400.
Horny shavings and horny flour These fertilizers are similar to the previous ones both in composition and in the way they are used, with the difference that they are used in a mixture of earth in a ratio of 1:30.A solution of horny shavings is prepared with hot water 1: 100, cooking takes up to 20 days, then the liquid is filtered, but no longer bred.
Ciderates
Ciderates, or sideral fertilizers, can be called "green fertilizers".Of course, this is not about their coloring. Some plants are so good at absorbing nutrients from the soil that it does not require special efforts to turn them into deciduous humus - it is enough to bury their remains from the fall. Lupine, which itself is highly decorative, has long been used as a green fertilizer. For this purpose, they plant entire fields on an industrial scale. According to the chemical composition, the green mass of lupine can replace the introduction of large doses of manure. If you are not lucky with the soil of the garden plot, try a couple of years to increase the lupine on it - and it will be beautiful, and the improvement of the land is guaranteed. This plant will lift all nutrients from the deeper layers of the soil closer to the surface. Nodule bacteria, living on the roots of lupine, bring about 100 kg of nitrogen per hectare into the soil! Seradella also has similar properties, but given the "external data" of lupine, preference should be given to him. For indoor plants, you can prikopat in the soil withered lyugashovy bouquet.
Concentrated Liquid Organic Fertilizers The most efficient and easy-to-use ready-made concentrated organic fertilizers. Now their range in stores is quite large: from liquid "Agricol" or "Rainbow" to specially selected mixtures for certain colors. The main thing is to observe the recommended dosages exactly.
Looking ahead: such ready-made fertilizers are not only organic, as well as not only liquid. Very useful are mineral sticks, stuck in the ground and gradually absorbable after watering. They are, as a rule, designed specifically for indoor flowers. The most famous of them are the Riga Mix, Vito and others.