Sunday, April 8, 2007

21-0-0. It's all about Nitrogen.

It's time to fertilize peach orchard.

We are going with fertilizer 21-0-0. It's just Ammonium Sulphate, primarily adds Nitrogen to the soil.

All fertilizer have a label in the form of N-P-K (Nitrogen- Phosphorus- Potassium).

21-0-0 is 21% nitrogen with some amount of micro-nutrient sulfur.

Did you know that about 80 percent of the air you breathe is nitrogen? It's true. In fact, every acre of land in the world is covered by thousands of tons of Nitrogen. Not an ounce of that N can be used by crop plants until it is changed by natural processes or by commercial fertilizer production. Through various processes of 'fixation,' gaseous atmospheric N is changed to a plant-usable forms: ammonium and nitrate.

Nitrogen is essential to promote vegetative growth as it is a crucial part of chlorophyll. More nitrogen means more chlorophyll. More chlorophyll means more photosynthesis. More photosynthesis means more growth, more fruit. As simple as that.


As per the Sulphate part of 21-0-0, when fertilizers containing elemental sulfur are added to soils, microorganisms in the soil convert it to sulfate-sulfur which is the only form plants can consume. Sulfur is used up in making plant proteins. I think..