It is very hard to know the best soil preparation for every plant in your garden. If you are a newbie gardener or you have a busy schedule but still you want to have your own beautiful garden then you simply need an optimal solution for your container garden soil preparation. So here is solution to prepare the best potting soil for any vegetable & fruit plant that too without being an expert.
I have come across many videos or article about different potting soil preparation for different plants. So it makes gardening very difficult.
Experts say that plant needs three types of macro nutrients (Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium & Sulfur) and micro nutrients (Boron, Cobalt, Copper, Chlorine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Sodium, Zinc)
Macro Nutrients for plants:
Carbon needs to form carbohydrate, protein, nucleic acid etc
Nitrogen needs to form protein and nucleic acid
Hydrogen needs to form many organic compound
Oxygen needs to form many organic compound as well as to store energy in the form of ATP
Phosphorous need to synthesize nucleic acid & phospholipid. It convert food energy to chemical energy by oxidative phosphorylation
Sulfur needs to form some amino acids
Potassium helps in regulating stomatal opening and closing and main a healthy water balance
Calcium helps in many nutrient transport and also supports in many enzyme functions
Magnesium helps in photosynthesis process
What is N-P-K?
N-P-K are 3 most important macro nutrients for plant. Plants need those three nutrients more than anything else. Here N means Nitrogen, P means Phosphorous and K mean Potassium.
- Nitrogen is needed to grow long stem and plenty of leaves.
- Phosphorous helps plant in robust root growth and vigorous flowering
- Potassium is an essential macro nutrient to boost protein production, disease resistance, promote balanced water usage.
Micro Nutrients for plants:
Boron helps in structural and functional integrity of plant cell membranes (Deficiency effect – Shallow root tip, curly & brittle leaves)
Copper boosts enzymes and catalyzes reactions in several plant-growth processes (Deficiency effect – necrosis on tip & margin of young leaves)
Cobalt heals in stem growth and nitrogen fixation
Chlorine boosts activities of several enzymes. (Deficiency effect – Stunted root formation & reduction in fruiting)
Iron is a component of many enzymes that helps in energy transfer, nitrogen reduction and fixation
Manganese boost the reaction of chlorophyll formation (Deficiency effect –Chlorotic & necrotic spots on intern-venial areas of younger or older leaves)
Molybdenum helps in nitrogen fixation & protein synthesis (Deficiency effect – Inhibits flower formation, leaf to wilt)
Nickel is an important micro nutrients which is a part of urease enzyme
Silicon boosts seeds production and strengthen cell walls of plants
Sodium enhance drought resistance and increase sugar content in plants
Zinc helps in protein synthesis (Deficiency effect – Short leaves & malformed fruits)
Now you can understand how much difficult it will be to understand plants need and provide a right nutrient for a specific syndrome. It is almost impossible unless you are well trained or you are doing gardening for many many years.
That is why I never tried to do plant’s nutrient deficiency syndrome analysis. Rather I prefer to prepare a best potting soil for vegetables & fruits. A soil which will be good for any plant. All essential nutrient will be there. The potting soil will never be water logged but there will be always some moisture in the soil.
So here is my the best potting soil for vegetables & fruits plants will grow perfectly in this soil as my experiences.
- 2 parts cow manure
- 2 parts vermi compost or kitchen compost
- 2 part garden soil
- 1 part river sand (alternative – any available sand)
- 1 part coco peat (alternative – wood powder or rice husk)
Regular fertilizing your plants
Once you prepare your best potting soil then you need to add fertilizer regularly to those containers. I prefer to add nitrogen based fertilizer four times a month and potassium fertilizer twice a month and phosphorus based fertilizer twice a month too. But add if it is growth season then I give less amount potassium & phosphorous based and bigger amount of nitrogen fertilizer. But when it is flowering & fruiting season then I add less amount nitrogen based fertilizer but bigger amount of potassium & phosphorous based fertilizers.
Best organic fertilizer
Mustard cake: It is best organic fertilizer for nitrogen.
Banana peel: Banana peel compost/tea or directly adding raw finely chopped banana peel for potassium.
Steamed bone meal: A great organic source for phosphorous. It is easily available in the market. You can even use rock salt to plants for providing phosphorous nutrient to plants.
Multi micro nutrients fertilizer: It is also easily available in any nursery. You can prepare liquid fertilizer by adding it to water according to instruction and spray monthly on each plant.
I believe that this is the easy way to prepare the best potting soil for vegetables & fruits plants and keep providing all nutrients to plants regularly.
Also read:
Grow papaya plant in backyard | Grow watermelons in container
If you are foodie and also love gardening then never miss any opportunity to grow your favorite seasonal vegetables in your garden. It is a pure fun and stress reliever. The joy of observing the growth your plants, flowering, fruiting and harvesting is more effective than any meditation or stress relieving tablets.
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