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What Is Phosphorus Fertilizer?
What Is Phosphorus Fertilizer?. Phosphorus fertilizer is a soil enhancer that adds phosphorus to the soil. An adequate soil phosphorus level is required for healthy crop growth. Phosphorus leaches with the slope of the ground.
Phosphorus fertilizer is a soil enhancer that adds phosphorus to the soil. An adequate soil phosphorus level is required for healthy crop growth. Phosphorus leaches with the slope of the ground.
Benefits
Phosphorous aids in root and flower development and increases the rate of growth. Phosphorous is used by plants to store and transfer energy.
Availability
Most of the phosphorus in soil is in the insoluble form, especially in soil with a pH greater than 7.5. Optimum availability occurs when the soil pH is between 6.0 and 7.0.
Testing
To determine the phosphorus level in your soil, take soil samples at a depth of 0 to 6 inches in no-till fields and 0 to 12 inches in tilled fields. Have the samples tested for phosphorus at an analytical laboratory.
Sources
There are several types of phosphorus fertilizers including beef manure, dairy compost, verimicompost, rock phosphate and bone meal.
Considerations
The amount of soluble phosphorus in fertilizers is small. Beef manure contains one percent of soluble phosphorus and bone meal contains 22 percent, by weight.
