Test Your Knowledge About Fertilizers In The Garden
The health and balance of nutrients in your soil can make or break you as a gardener and sometimes it needs a little bit of help to supply the right balance of nutrients to ensure your plants can thrive—this is often where fertilizer comes in! Fertilizer is a material that we add to soils to amend the nutrient balance, in turn aiding in the growth and overall health of our plants. Fertilizers can be kind of confusing, though!
There are different types of fertilizers, it can be challenging to know when to apply them, where to apply them, how much to apply, and how often.
Test your knowledge—are you a fertilizer aficionado? Let’s find out!
The numbers 10-5-5 represent the percentage of: ____, ____, _____ (in that order):
Sodium, Phosphorus, Iron
Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium
Nitrate, Potassium, Calcium
None Of The Above
A “balanced fertilizer” is a type of fertilizer that has the following N-P-K ratio:
10-10-10
20-20-20
5-5-5
All of the above
None of the above
All-purpose fertilizer and balanced fertilizer are the same thing:
True
False
What is a “high analysis” fertilizer?
Mostly filler
Can be applied on any and all soil/plant life
An overthinker
A fertilizer with high nutrient levels
Which of the following is not true? Nitrogen is important because it...
Supports a plant’s rapid growth
Encourages health development of fruit/foliage
Helps plants tolerate stress (like drought,) and strengthens root systems
Helps plants photosynthesize
Inactive ingredients or “filler,” are used to dilute the concentration of the fertilizer’s active ingredients. True or False?
True
False
There are two basic types of fertilizers—water-soluble fertilizers and granular fertilizers. Water-soluble fertilizers are the types of fertilizers that help to....
Deliver a fast-acting nutrient boost to your plants
Deliver nutrients to your plants over a long period of time
Hydrate your plants in addition to providing much-needed nutrients
None of the above
It is impossible to over-fertilize if you are using an organic fertilizer. True or False?
True
False
Potassium plays a big role in regulating water in plants. True or False?
True
False
If Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium are the primary macronutrients found in fertilizer, what are the secondary ones?
Boron, cobalt, silicon
Iron, copper, zinc
Sulfur, magnesium, calcium
None of the above
0 - 3: Newbie!
You are new to the world of fertilizer, but that’s ok! It can be a bit of a complicated business. One of the best parts of gardening is that we are always learning. Testing your knowledge is a great place to begin!
4 - 7: You’re A Fairly Seasoned Fertilizer Aficionado
You likely don’t head to this section of the garden center wide-eyed and confused anymore as you have been fertilizing on purpose for some time already. With that said, it’s a pretty complicated topic, and there’s always more to learn.
8 - 10: Head Fertilizing Honcho
This is no easy aspect of gardening to master, but you’ve clearly got it down to a science!