I'm not sure what you're looking for. The obvious answers are the percentages of N, P, and K in the bag. And the amount of slow release vs fast release N.
Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
- andy10917
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
Nope - I'm looking for what is the next thing that you should consider after you've done the preliminary inspections and calculations.
Hint: it involves the fertilizer's quality and the potential to cause bad results...
Hint: it involves the fertilizer's quality and the potential to cause bad results...
- micvog
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
My next steps would have been to determine whether the fertilizer is a good fit for my requirements including whether it matches up with my soil test/plan, good fit for the weather/season (i.e. not use fast release during the Summer, organics at the end of Fall, etc.), etc. But based on your hint, I would look at the salt index of the ingredients (i.e. prefer potassium sulfate to potassium chloride, etc.).
- andy10917
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
OK, now we're making progress. What does the Salt Index tell us?
- micvog
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
Salt index tells how, on a relative scale, how much salt would be added to the soil from using a specific fertilizer. Higher levels of salt are bad for the micro-herd/soil biology.
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
In addition, the higher the salt index, the higher the chances of "burning" the lawn.
- andy10917
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
So now, what does "Salt" mean when used in the Salt Index?
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
The amount of salt that will dissolve in the soil. To much salts makes it harder for seed/grass to absorb water from the soil.
- andy10917
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
(The question wasn't just to you, but you're welcome to respond)
Let me be clearer - does "Salt" mean the stuff that you put on french fries, or does it mean something else?
Let me be clearer - does "Salt" mean the stuff that you put on french fries, or does it mean something else?
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
Salt means a lot of different things in a lot of different contexts. The streams and rivers that flow into the ocean are considered fresh water. But the ocean is salty. Why? Well, the fresh water flowing in isn't all that fresh. For an exaggerated example, look at the great salt lake. Fresh water flows in, but the water that flows in evaporates ants leaves the small amount of salt behind. Over centuries, it builds up.
Now take it to the scale of a lawn. If you add fertilizers that increase salinity but you don't have precipitation to dilute it, you're going to have a lawn that is difficult to keep healthy. This is probably less of an issue in areas of high precipitation, but it can cause problems in a hurry in aid areas. It's part of why I don't fertilize and why I try to water as infrequently as possible.
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
I use Sodium Chloride (NaCl) on my fries, but in addition to NaCl the term "salt" includes a number of other substances that result from an acid and base reaction. I apologize if I missed this, but where on the label will I find the salt index?
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
Sodium Nitrate (NaNO3) is/was commonly used in synthetic fertilizers.
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
Assuming you already bought it:
-How much to apply to achieve your needs
-How that should be distributed with respect to soil grass's need for nutrients, seasonal timing, the fast/slow release N content in the bag, synthetic versus organic, etc.
-Whether you can water it in, or can time it with rain
-What you're going to apply it with and the calibration of that (type of spreader, etc.)
If you didn't buy it yet, you might want to shop around to see if prices vary, or if there's something else that achieve the same result at a better price, or similar.
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
Ionic compound; usually sodium as the cation (like in NaCl) is the one we try to avoid. I'm not sure if chloride content of a fertilizer (e.g. in MOP) directly implies that chloride is bound to sodium. I know you say MOP is harsher on the soil than SOP, but I'm not sure if that's due to the chloride itself. I mean, isn't sodium the real bad guy in high amounts? Does MOP contain NaCl?
Last edited by Green on January 10th, 2019, 11:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
And, what does that "100" mean?? Whoever created the salt index scale used NaNo3 as the reference frame for highest salt content (e.g. 100%)???
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
100 is not the "highest", it's just a commonly used reference point value. You will find the 100 reference value used in lime evaluation also. 100 is the value given to the acid neutralizing ability of pure calcium carbonate, its CCE (calcium carbonate equivalency), but some lime products like Calcium Oxide and Calcium hydroxide have a higher CCE value than 100 while most lime products have a lower CCE value compared to calcium carbonate's 100 value. Ditto with the salt index. As TimmyG points out: If NaNo3 is 100 then SOP, comparatively, is 43 and MOP is 116.And, what does that "100" mean?? Whoever created the salt index scale used NaNo3 as the reference frame for highest salt content (e.g. 100%)???
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
Now I understand the reason MOP isn't ideal. It's the KCl itself due to its salt index. Lebanon has an article called "Salt Index and Sodium" which I'm going to read.
Which is worse though, NaCl or KCl? Is it just the salt index that tells us this? And finding the salt index of NaCl would tell us the answer? Or, more to it than that?
- andy10917
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Re: Reading and Interpreting Fertilizer Labels
You're stuck on the idea of involving table salt (NaCl) whenever you see the word "salt". What about Potassium Sulfate ("Sulfate of Potash")? What about hundreds of other salts in inorganic fertilizers, and thousands that have no nutrient value in lawns or gardens?
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