Should I Use Liquid or Granular Plant Food?

 

When it comes to choosing which plant food is perfect for your at-home gardening project, it’s best to start with the most basic choice: liquid or granular?

While it may come down to personal preference or past experience, there are a few deciding factors that distinguish granular plant foods from liquids.

Start by considering the basics:

• Where are you using it? Indoor or outdoors?
• Are you growing in containers, raised beds, in-ground, or another method?
• What kind of types of nutrients are you looking for (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and more)?
• How fast do you need to get nutrients to your plants?
• Are you treating a specific problem? Or aiming for general nutritional support throughout the growing season?
• What’s your watering method?

 

 

When it comes down to it, our liquid and granular or dry plant foods are more similar than they are different. All True Organic™ plant foods contain specific macro- and micro-nutrients that plants and soil need.

Liquid and granular plant food varieties are both:

• Full of specific macro- and micro-nutrients that plants need
• Supportive of soil health by nourishing the microbes that live in soil
• Great for indoor and outdoor use
• Rigorously tested for food safety and certified ISO 22000

What’s The Difference Between Liquid or Granular Plant Food?

What sets them apart (besides the fact that one is liquid and one is solid) has more to do with how each is applied and how their material differences fit with certain types of gardens and planting methods.

Liquid and granular plant food differ in their:

• Immediate nutrient availability
• Nutrient availability over time
• Best application methods
• Single-ingredient options

 

Safe for Indoor & Outdoor

Both liquid and granular plant foods can be successfully and safely used for your indoor and outdoor plants, but many people prefer to use liquid for houseplants and seed starts. Yep, our plant foods are safe to use in your houseplants, even around kids and pets!

A commitment to food safety is one of our core values. We’re proud of the fact that we’re the first plant food manufacturer to be ISO 22000 certified by Bureau Veritas (a world-class food safety management seal of approval). Every single True Organic product is tested and certified safe — liquid and granular, single-ingredient, and blends.

 

 

 

Liquid for Houseplants

Houseplants love liquid plant food! And so do we, because it’s just so easy to measure and apply.

Giving plants a precisely measured dose of liquid plant food is as simple as measuring, mixing, and watering. For houseplants, we recommend our Liquid All Purpose Plant Food.

Because liquid is easy to use, though, it can be tempting to add too much. Remember that it’s essential to measure your fertilizer and apply it on a schedule.

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Starting Raised Beds & New Containers

Starting a new container garden or raised beds? Granular plant food is your best friend. In fact, we made a plant food just for your raised bed crops to support vegetative growth with a healthy boost of nitrogen.

Work dry plant food into the first few inches of your raised beds and big boxes in early spring, and over the next weeks and months, it’ll become available for plants as they grow.

“I put a little dry food into the potting mixture so that nutrients are being released over time,” says Margaret McCoy, our R&D Agronomist.

A good, thorough mixing as you start new beds and containers will ensure that your granular plant food is well-distributed throughout your growing medium.

 

Drip Irrigation

Do you have a drip irrigation system in your outdoor plant habitat? Liquid plant food is perfect for that! Simply add liquid food in at the starting point of your system and let the system do the rest.

“The great thing about liquids,” says Margaret, “is that you can water them into the pot or soil profile or they can be incorporated directly into watering solutions.”

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Nutrient Availability

Do you have plants that need a boost right away? Liquid can help.

Liquid plant foods tend to be more readily available, meaning that plants can more quickly “absorb” the nutrients with each dose of liquid plant food than they can with dry supplements. Dry products generally take more time and energy to be broken down and become chemically available for plants to pick up.

Margaret says, “I use liquids outdoors when I want the plant to get nutrients quickly or I see that there’s an issue — or I want to boost something like blooms or general production.”

You may not see results right away, but that doesn’t mean your plants aren’t feeling the boost of nutrients. (Just another remind to not overdo it with the plant food.)

Ready To Choose?

True Organic plant food is available at more local retailers than ever! Find yours with our convenient store locator or explore our online store.