Hi,
I'm a pharmacist and have some potassium nitrate in the pharmacy. Can I use this next spring in my vegetable garden? If so, how much? Just a small dusting and work it into the ground? Can or should I work it in the ground now and let it sit all winter?
Thanks!!
Sure. Just look at it as fertilizer with 13.9% nitrogen and 38.7% potassium. Don't put it in garden now as rainwater or snow will just leach it into the ground where plants may not get it. In spring make sure you balance with other elements like phosphorous or calcium that vegetables may need.
Kind of a waste to use pharmacy-grade for fertilizer. Dissolve 1 T in
1 gallon of water for plants in the ground. You can use it to help rot stumps, that's what I did. Better yet, have fun with pyrotechnics. Lots of other uses.
My post may attract a "crazy", but my investigation into chemferts (a.k.a chemical fertilizers) boils down to them being bad for the soil, if used as directed, or in greater amounts, and bad for the plants which seem to love them. They are bad for the plants because the nitrogen is stored in the plant leaves, and the nitrogen encourages fast growth, which leads to young, tender, leaves that become targets for insects. If you insist on using your nitrates, grow "organically", and use the nitrates, at 1/4 strength or less, as a performance enhancer.
Does this mean the original saltpeter from decayed organic material is superior to chemically prepared material? I think not. But, fast dissolving fertilizer is best applied sparingly to keep from burning the plant.
I believe the point Billy makes is that salting the soil (which is what chemical fertilizers are) is not a fine idea as it kills soil organisms. This makes sense to me. Is not Potassium Nitrate a salt?
Jeff
Of course, but my point is that an organic farmer might consider it synthetic while in past years it was a naturally occurring material. The world and the soil is full of salts.
indeed Frank. However to my simplistic manner of thinking, the issue is in what form the salts, minerals etc occur and how they are used within the soil to benefit the plants. That is, how the items occurring in the soil and the inputs we add provide a benefit to our soils which them provide benefits to our plants. The other way is seemingly to treat the soil simply as a place to site the plant and simply bypass it and provide the inpits directly to the plant. Sort of like maybe eating a nice meal versus injecting a nutritional fluid in to our body.
rob
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.