Chemicals & Fertilizer
Plants of all types from time to time need some additional nutrients and we generally recommend a slow release fertilizer like Scotts 11-7-7 or Growers Special 12-6-6 which feed over a period of several months.
Vegetable Nutrition
There are 20 essential plant nutrients known to be required for normal vegetable growth. These elements can be supplied by either organic or commercial inorganic fertilizers. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from air and water, and nitrogen from organic and inorganic sources are four plant nutrients which make up 95% of plant solids. The other 16 essential elements, iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, sulfur, magnesium, manganese, zinc, boron, chlorine, molybdenum, cobalt, sodium, silicon and vanadium, are supplied to plants by the soil. With the exception of nitrogen and phosphorus, most alkaline, clay type soils usually contain enough of these elements for vegetable production. In acid sandy soils, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and, at times, sulfur and boron may need to be added for successful crop production.
Joe Smith Farms Garden Center offers most of these products as well as soil additives like Aluminum Sulfate, Lime, soil amenders and root stimulators to get your particular plant off to a great growing start. If insects and disease are causing you problems, we have a selection of enviromentally safe controls which will help prevent or eliminate the pest problem.