What is the Best NPK Ratio for Growing Plants?

Gardeners have been using fertilizer for many years and everyone recommends a particular ratio for each plant type. The rose society suggests, “6-12-6 is considered a Balanced Rose Food, as it supplies the basic ingredients in proportions beneficial to roses on a continual basis.” For tomatoes Burpee recommends, “such as 10-10-10, or where the middle number (phosphorus) is larger than the first number (nitrogen), such as 2-3-1″. Which is it, a 10-10-10 or a 2-3-1? I guess they don’t really know?

If you look at fertilizer supplies at your local nursery you will find numerous products labeled as rose fertilizer and each one has a different ratio. The same for tomato fertilizer – each manufacturer has their onw formula. Fertilizer for house plants or orchids is just as bad.

Here is a fundamental question:

Do different plants need different fertilizer formulations?

Almost everything you have read certainly suggests this is true, but does the science support this? Or is it more correct to say that most plants use exactly the same ratio of nutrients? After all, the biochemistry of all terrestrial plants is very similar.

In this post I will try to answer the question, what is the best NPK fertilizer ratio for plants?

What is the Best NPK Ratio for Growing Plants?
What is the Best NPK Ratio for Growing Plants?, source: SGS

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Fertilizing Gardens the Right Way

Fertilizing gardens is a popular topic and every gardening book and website will give you advice. There are thousands of products on the market claiming they are the best ones for your garden. The problem is that almost none of this information is correct.  Most gardeners are wasting time and money on fertilizer they don’t need. Even worse is the fact that they are wasting a valuable natural resource and polluting the environment.

If you garden, please take the time to understand fertilizers. I know this is not a glamorous topic, but it is very important to the garden and the environment.

Fertilizing Gardens, using correct NPK ratios
Fertilizing Gardens

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