Plant nutrition - a bit of science
Contents ✓
Plant nutrition - what you need to know using fertilizers
What are the plants made of and how they eat - we will analyze “on the shelves”.
The source of all living things
The source of all life on Earth is in the leaves of the plants surrounding us. In their green part (chlorophyll), under the influence of the light energy of the sun, simple organic compounds are formed - carbohydrates (primary sugars). This process is called photosynthesis.
Primary sugars are a kind of "bricks" from which all organic tissues of plants, mushrooms and animals are built.
See also: Top dressing for plants - correct application
From simple to complex
When other chemical elements are added to carbohydrates, new organic compounds are formed that are more complex in structure and chemistry; proteins, fats, vitamins, etc. For this, plants need a large amount of macroelements nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
Plants need micronutrients (cobalt, zinc, iodine, iron, fluorine, manganese, selenium, silicon, etc.), but in smaller quantities.
Green "construction"
By combining carbohydrates with each other, plants build from them complex "designs", or polysaccharides (polymers), of which they are composed.
In this "construction", some chemical elements cannot be replaced by others. As, for example, when building a house of bricks it is impossible to make doors, and the windows do not block the floors. If something is missing, the "construction" just stops - the plant is developing poorly.
Help
The body of the plant consists of carbon (50%), oxygen (20), nitrogen (15%) hydrogen (8%), minerals-phosphorus, potassium, etc. (total 7%).
Small "cooks"
93% of the chemical elements of plants are derived from air and water and only 7% from the soil. Most often, the chemical elements are in the soil "in a bonded" state, in the form of natural minerals and their salts.
To prepare a solution that the plant can “eat”, substances that break down various compounds, enzymes, are needed
Plants do not have digestive glands, like humans, and they go to the trick. Allocating nutrient, aromatic and other substances to the basal zone, they attract assistants who extract chemical elements for plants from the soil, dissolving them and turning them into affordable food products. These "cooks" are germs and mushrooms
They secrete enzymes directly into the environment, wait for everything to dissolve, and then suck in the necessary substances from the entire surface of the body. And next to it are the roots, which also suck in the prepared solution, i.e. food.
Preserved plant stocks
There are many germs, until the food (leaf and grass litter) is over. And as long as they live and multiply, they breathe, that is, they release the carbon dioxide that plants need for photosynthesis.
In addition, they release into the soil the products of their vital activity - biological active substances. Thanks to them, uneaten residues combine with mineral elements, and primary humus is formed.
Reference by topic: Care of the garden: sludge and fertilizing
Worms heal the soil
After some time, earthworms crawl up and eat up all the microbes and mushrooms along with the debris (decaying dead plant tissues) and soil, but after digesting this whole “kitchen”, the worms absorb only part of their “food” - they release the rest out.
The role of the digestive process of earthworms is very high, since their defecation (coprolits) disinfect the soil and give it a pleasant scent of the earth.
But the main benefit of the worms is that during the digestion of plant residues and microbial mass with mushrooms, humic substances (complex polymers) are formed in their digestive canal, and, secreted with coprolites, they form complex compounds with minerals of the soil - the same humus. It prevents the leaching of nutrients from the soil ...
To be continued ...
© Author: T. Kryuchkova Ph.D.
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- Feeding and fertilization with yeast
- Which vegetables can be fertilized with bird droppings and which cannot?
- Planting plants - gardener tips
- Fertilize flowers according to science - balanced and on time
- 5 best green manures for spring
- Correct preparation of compost from waste for site fertilization. Vermikompostery.
- Folk remedies recipes
- Fertilizers for indoor plants
- The scheme of fertilizing flowers - MEMORY - gardeners-florist
- Growing green manure - simple about the complex + soil green manure TABLE
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To make plants feel good, feeding should be done correctly. If you adhere to agrotechnics, fertilizing is divided into basic, presowing, sowing and after-sowing.
Presowing fertilizing is carried out evenly during the spring cultivation of the soil (plowing, digging). Usually 70% of all mineral fertilizers are applied just before sowing.
If top dressing is introduced when planting or sowing crops, this is a post-sowing top dressing. Not all plants need it, since an excess of organic matter or mineral fertilizers will impede normal development.
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What is missing cucumbers and tomatoes?
The appearance of fruits grown in a greenhouse can tell a lot. They themselves will prompt what they lack.
Let's start with cucumbers. The ovaries fall, the leaves are dark green, but small, and the old edges are browned-this indicates a lack of phosphorus.
Thin lashes, light leaves, growths weak, fruits pointed downward, will indicate a lack of nitrogen.
Council
Twisted fruit signals a lack of moisture. If they have turned yellow at the stalk, it means high humidity and temperature.
Fruits, pointed at the stalk, dry border around the edge of the leaf - most likely, there is not enough potassium.
Cucumbers like top dressing with a fermented solution of breadcrumbs (without mold, so as not to spread diseases). Soak the breadcrumbs in a bowl and leave in the warmth until the solution is covered with bubbles. Then dilute with water, strain and pour from the watering can.
And what are the symptoms of starvation in tomatoes? If they do not have enough nitrogen, the leaves become smaller, thinner, the coloring of veins from yellowish-green gradually turns into dark red, especially on the underside.
If there is not enough potassium, then tomatoes turn into weak plants with increased susceptibility to pests and diseases, grow slowly. The lack of potassium in the soil can be determined by changes in the coloration of all the vegetative organs of plants. This is also indicated by the spots that appear as a result of the disintegration of tissues.
Phosphoric fasting manifests itself in the slow growth and development of plants, the fruits are small, with poorly filled seeds. The hunger will be indicated by crimson impregnations on the lower surface of the leaves (where we do not look, and therefore we do not notice).
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I used to be skeptical about my plans - I’m not so big in my garden to plant a bureaucracy around it.
However somehow the granddaughter was not too lazy to sketch the plan of beds with crops. And next spring it was very useful for me to observe the crop rotation, because in the winter I had time to forget where I grew up. Then I began to supplement these records: what sorts of plants are planted, at what time. Now it is written out at what time and what to feed the planting.
If the planned processing times for different crops are close and fertilizers are required to be the same, then their fertilizing is carried out at one time. It became easier for me to plan the amount of fertilizers I bought. If earlier records were kept on random pieces, now I bought a thick notebook. Granddaughter calls it onboard. And I can not imagine how I used to do without it.