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Here’s How to Get Growing with the Right Fertilizers for Your Plants

Fertilizers feed plants, helping them grow strong, beautiful and healthy.

Also known as plant food, fertilizers can be organic or chemical and come in a variety of specialized formulas designed for lawns, vegetable gardens, blooms like roses and orchids, and even trees and shrubs. Here’s how to find the right food for every plant in your yard and garden.

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Organic Fertilizer vs. Chemical Fertilizer

All fertilizers are either organic (natural) or chemical (synthetic) and provide nutrients to plants that include nitrogen (for growth), phosphorus (for root, flower and fruit development) and potassium (for drought and disease tolerance). While one type is not definitively “better” than the other, each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Here’s how they compare.

An organic fertilizer

Chemical fertilizer

Plant Fertilizer Types

Whether organic or chemical, virtually all garden fertilizers contain some kind of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium combination. (Labels like 10-10-10 or 15-30-50 refer to the ratio of each nutrient). Confused? Don’t be: Finding the right food is easy if you shop by need. Here’s what to look for.

Plant & vegetable fertilizer

Tree & Shrub Fertilizer

Lawn fertilizer

Specialty fertilizer

Fertilizer Formats

Plant foods come in a variety of formats, whether liquid or solid. Each has its own merits, based on ease of application, speed of plant absorption and so on. Here are the most common types.

Liquids

Liquids

These concentrated fertilizers are designed to be diluted with water. These water-soluble chemical or organic blends deliver lawn or garden food in a flash.

Plant Spikes

Plant Spikes

Quick-and-easy plant food spikes are inserted right into the soil. Their slow-release formulas cut the risk of over or underfeeding indoor and outdoor plants.

Tree Spikes

Tree Spikes

These extra-large spikes require a mallet for insertion into the ground and are scaled to outdoor trees and shrubs.

Granules

Granules

A “shake and feed” solution that’s scattered around garden or potted plants, granules offer gradual release nutrients for steady feeding over time.

Pellets

Pellets

Made from composted hen manure, these organic pellets are spread around garden plants to break down into the soil.

Powders

Powders

Available in large tubs or “single-serve” watering can packets, these water-soluble chemical fertilizers are diluted to provide instant nourishment.

Spray & MIsts

Sprays & Mists

Sprays and mists are used to feed delicate plants, such as orchids and succulents, through their stems or leaves.

Hose Sprayers

Hose Sprayers

These 2-in-1 fertilizer delivery systems attach to your garden hose to deliver the perfect proportion of plant food to water for your lawn or garden.

Compost & manure

Compost & Manure

Loose organic compost, manure and earthworm castings are all worked into the earth to nourish plants and improve the soil.

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