Vitality, growth and, last but not least, the breeding success of your plants are essentially linked to the soil quality and sensible greenhouse fertilization. The regulation of important trace elements and nutrients also prevents plant damage that can reduce yield.
How should you fertilize a greenhouse?
When fertilizing the greenhouse, attention should be paid to the soil quality, the necessary nutrients and trace elements. Common nutrients include nitrogen, potassium, iron, sulfur, phosphorus, calcium and manganese. Liquid fertilizer can help with acute nutrient deficiencies, while targeted trace element fertilizers can compensate for deficiencies in individual components.
There is hardly a topic on which garden owners' opinions differ more than when it comes to fertilizing the greenhouse. The fact that natural gardening completely avoids the use of industrially produced fertilizers with chemical additives is just as clear as the insight into generating heavily stressed greenhouse soil with targeted additions of nutrients and trace elements in order to make these ingredients available to plants. However, it is undisputed thatoverfertilizationwith organic and inorganic soil improvers can cause just as mucha lot of plant damage as if these nutritional supplements were completely avoided would.
A little compost is not always enough
A soil analysis from the laboratory provides very reliable information about the extent to which the required nutrients are actually present and, what is equally important, whether they are available in an optimal concentration for the plants. However, a nutrient deficiency or missing trace elements cannot be compensated for simply by adding compost, which may still contain pathogens and weed seeds. Therefore, inorganic or organic solid or slow-release fertilizers (€11.00 at Amazon) cannot be completely avoided, but appropriately and only to the extent that the plants actually need itfor he althy growth
Nutrients and their functions in the greenhouse fertilization
In the following brief overview, we will show you what trace elements and nutrient additions do or do not do (if there is no or incorrect supply) when fertilizing in the greenhouse.
| Nutrient Type | Nutritional properties |
|---|---|
| Nitrogen | Promotes growth of shoots and leaves; Used by plants to form enzymes and proteins; |
| Potassium | Regulates fluid balance and strengthens tissue; promotes resistance to organic pests; |
| Iron | Essential for chlorophyll and enzyme formation in plants; Use is particularly necessary on extremely calcareous soil; |
| Sulfur | Important building block for the plant's own vitamins, proteins and enzymes; |
| Phosphorus | Responsible for flower and fruit formation; important energy source for plants; |
| calcium | Promotes cell proliferation and the strength of cell walls as well as length and root growth in plants; |
| Manganese | Necessary for assimilation and development of plant enzymes; |
Liquid fertilizer: easy to dose when growing
If an acute nutrient deficiency in soil crops needs to be compensated for as quickly as possible, the greenhouse can be fertilized using the irrigation water. However, the dosage of the funds and the frequency of their use should be carried out strictly in accordance with the recommendationsprinted on the packaging.
Find out about fertilizing tomatoes.
Tip
If the results of soil analyzes only reveal a lack of trace elements in individual components, very targeted fertilizer applications are sufficient to improve the soil. Special trace element fertilizers are available commercially, for example only for diagnosed iron deficiency.
