Landscape Garden Maintenance (PLANT NUTRITION MANAGEMENT)
PLANT NUTRITION MANAGEMENT
Plants require primary nutrients Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potash (K) in large quantities which are supplied through organic manures like decomposed Cattle Manure, Vermicompost, Oil Cakes, Bone Meal and Wood Ash. Chemical Fertilizers like Urea and Ammonium Sulphate for N, Super Phosphate for P and Muriate or Sulphate of Potash for K. Secondary nutrients Sulphate (S) Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg) are required in medium quantities. S is available in Sulphate Fertilizers like Ammonium and Potassium Sulphate. Super Phosphate contains both S & Ca. Other nutrients like Iron (Fe), Maganese (Mn), Boron (Bo), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn) and Molybdenum (Mo) are required in small quantities and therefore called Micro Nutrients. In case of deficiency these are supplied as Micro Nutrient Fertilizers either separately or in combined form. These can be supplied either as Soil Application or as Foliar Spray. All these nutrients are available in organic manures in a balanced way.
Deficiency of any of these nutrients can be identified in the leaves in the ‘’Nutrition Deficiency Chart’’. Oxygen (O), Hydrogen (H) and Carbon (C) also required by plants are made available naturally through water and air. Each Nutrient performs specific function in the Plant Growth. Quantity of each nutrient required by plants may change , but all are equally important and deficiency of any one nutrient can hinder the normal growth of the plant.
Root crops like Potato, Ginger, Turmeric etc. and Solanacious Plants like Tomato, Brinjal, Chillies etc. require comparatively more of cake. All Legumes and Pulse crops like Beans and Grams take N from air and require more of P. Crops like Banana , Sugarcane , Leafy Vegetables need more of N. N has to be given in split doses, more splits may be given in light soils (sandy soil), K in one or two doses and P at the time of planting or sowing and repeated once annually for fruit plants.
Fertilizers when applied separately for each plant, start with smaller doses at short intervals and closer to the plants, and as the plant grows increase fertilizer dose, interval of application and distance from the plant. But application at a depth of 6’’-9’’ and profuse watering soon after is must.
Conversion of Cattle Manure and Farm Waste into Vermicompost and applying is preferred. In case of orchards Soil Testing must be periodically done and application of quantities of organic and chemical fertilizers be made depending on the suggestions based on the soil testing results. Time of application also depends on cultural practices like Bahar treatments.
N fixing and P fixing Bio-Fertilizers can be used to reduce cost of fertilizers and increase efficiency of fertilizers applied. Green manuring and Green Leaf manuring also helps to reduce the cost of Fertilizers.
Organic manures like Cattle Dung and Oil Cakes can also be supplied as liquid manures after soaking them in water for a week and feeding the solution after filtering in a diluted form. Chemical fertilizers like Urea and DAP can be dissolved in water, diluted through 0.5% to 1.5% and after adding jaggery can be sprayed over the foliage for quicker results. Avoid spraying such solution on fresh and emerging leaves which may cause leaf burning.