Best Fertilizer For Growing Potatoes

Everybody understands the importance of breast milk to infants’ mental and physical developments. Fertilizers are equally essential when it comes to the growth of potatoes.

But, what is the best fertilizer for potatoes out there? To keep it short and sweet, try the Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food Vegetable & Herbs!

The product contains within itself an all-inclusive pack of all the top-rated nutrients for growing plants. For that reason, it will promote the development of your potatoes and crop uniformity while protecting the soil quality.

Best Fertilizer For Growing Potatoes Review

Dr. Earth Organic Fertilizer Poly Bag – Best For Nitrogen-rich Soil

Features:

Dr. Earth fertilizer has 4% of water-insoluble nitrogen, considerably lesser than the average range. This percentage is perfect for any soil that is already rich in nitrogen.

A reasonable amount of nitrogen in the formulation will prevent the nitrogen-rich terrain from reversing the desirable results.

What We Love

• Gives your potatoes more taste and nutritions
• Works as the ultimate support for primary plants
• Contains no GMOs, sewage sludge, or chicken manure
• Probiotic ingredient included for well-balanced and healthy soil
• Has 7 champion strains of beneficial soil microbes

What Can Be Improved?

• Should deal with more kinds of plants and tufts rather than just potatoes and tomatoes.

Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food – Best Commercial Fertilizer

Features

The plant food from Miracle-Gro contains 18% of nitrogen and 18% of phosphate in the formulation. These numbers are remarkable compared to the rest on the list.

This nutrition richness is the best option for damaged commercial terrain that has gone through multiple crops continuously.

What We Love

• Developed using only natural and organic ingredients
• Increases the number of tubes per plant
• No burning at the plant roots
• Versatile fertilizers, effective on potatoes, tomatoes, squash, herbs, and other vegetables

What Can Be Improved?

• Include calcium

Jobe’s Organics Granular Fertilizer – Best For Quick Result

Features

After application, it usually takes some time to see any noticeable results. The more mobile the material, the faster the roots and foliage will absorb the nutrients.

To promote the mobility of the nutrients, Jobe’s Organics includes in the ingredient the proprietary microorganism archaea. Their main jobs are breaking down chemical compounds to produce faster results.

What We Love

• A multipurpose, organic plant food
• Contains microorganism archaea to break down materials faster
• Helps resist disease, insects, and drought during the growth process
• Improves soil quality remarkably

What Can Be Improved?

• The guide seems to indicate a larger amount than the needed amount in reality.

Miracle-Gro Nature’s Care Organic Plant Food – Best For Versatility

Features

Knowing versatility is the top priority for many purchasers, Miracle-Gro pays lots of attention to the multifunction aspect of its product.

This pick comes with 2 different options. The first standard version was specifically developed to deal with raised beds. The second version has calcium in the formula for the most fruitful potato, tomato, and herb harvests.

What We Love

• Big capacity that can last for up to two months
• Environmentally-friendly thanks to the organic ingredients
• In the OMRI list
• Easy-to-use formulation

What Can Be Improved?

• Additional supplements seem limited.
• No zinc, iron, or copper
• Slow-acting effect.

Fox Farm Fertilizer – Best Liquid Fertilizer

Features

This Fox Farm product is a liquid concentrate fertilizer, meaning it can absorb into the growing potatoes much faster.

This product has 3% of nitrogen, 2% of phosphate, and 6% of potash. The ratio is tailor-made for cultivating the plants in the growing stages.

What We Love

• Offers a lush vegetative growth in a short amount of time
• Enhances the plant’s size and structure
• Allows more abundant production
• Formulated with a low pH to maintain stability in storage

What Can Be Improved?

• The application process might be considerably time-consuming.
• There is no sprayer included in the order

Burpee Organic Granular Plant Food – Best For Strong Roots

Features

This Burpee plant food is an excellent source of phosphorus and calcium since one of its main ingredients is bone meal. These two compounds are the best contenders when it comes to producing strong roots for developing potatoes.

What We Love

• Easy-to-apply granular form
• Contains beneficial microbes, nutrient for superior results
• Perfect for young bedding potato plants
• Being listed by Omri

What Can Be Improved?

• The fertilizer has pungent smell

Down to Earth Blood Meal Fertilizer – Best For Barren Soil

Features

As the concentration ratio of 12-0-0 suggests, the Down to Earth fertilizer has a largely available amount of organic nitrogen in its ingredients.

There is no phosphate or potash, but instead, the percentage of sulfur is considerably high. Even in the most barren, low-heat soil, the plants can easily absorb this compound.

What We Love

• A natural fertilizer that makes the plant greener with the 12-0-0 formula
• Potent formula to compost piles heat up and break down past
• Applicable on a wide range of plants like tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc.
• Significant scent to scare away wild animals

What Can Be Improved?

If the mixing ratio is not proportional to the potato crop area, this fertilizer is likely to cause burning to the plant roots. Therefore, carefully follow the instructions for the best results.

Best Fertilizer For Potatoes Buying Guide

Organic vs. Inorganic

Organic Fertilizer For Potatoes

Organic fertilizer comprises only compounds coming from the natural world. They are all-natural ingredients extracted from living things.

An organic fertilizer’s standard formulation includes some essential minerals for the potato’s growth, materials taken from natural animals and plants. To name a few, manure, dried blood, crushed shells, phosphate rock, and animal bones are some of the main ingredients.

Since they contain no chemicals, organic fertilizer keeps the soil nutritious in the long term. After one potato harvest, going back down into business right away will not be a problem at all.

Stimulating and softening the soil using chemicals can produce instant results in such a short amount of time. However, the toxic ingredients kill the soil slowly. As time goes by, it can significantly damage the harvest’s overall quality.

Essential to the potatoes’ growth but there is a specific drawback to organic fertilizer you should bear in mind.

Growing potatoes, especially in the early days, crave a significant amount of phosphorus. This substance is essential if you want your potatoes to reach their maximum potential height and nutrient requirements.

The phosphorus level in organic fertilizer isn’t sufficient to simultaneously cultivate the soil and feed the plants the essential nutrients.

For that reason, start using them after 2 weeks of your potato planting might be a smart move to make. At this stage, the spuds are fully-developed and ready for more supplementation.

Therefore, incorporating organic fertilizer into the daily plant care process is a good thing to do since they support the plant’s growth.

Inorganic Fertilizer For Potatoes

Inorganic fertilizer is entirely human-made. The inorganic formula contains a wide range of chemical compounds to fertilize potatoes efficiently.

There is a list of some active ingredients that you can come across in almost every chemical fertilizer. They are nitrogen, sulfur, potassium, phosphorus, and some other micronutrients.

While you should only use organic fertilizers for potatoes as a supplement to the soil and the plant development, inorganic fertilizers are not the same. They are mostly required in the early days of potatoes planting.

Applying chemical fertilizer can stabilize the root, making the studs the most well-shaped and healthy as possible.

For that reason, chemical fertilizers are considered the standard option. People only refer to them as “fertilizer” since they are widely used in any potatoes planting season.

You shouldn’t be confused from now on when people throw the word “fertilizer” around as a short version for chemical fertilizer.

Water-soluble vs. Granular

Absorbing the nutrient from an organic or inorganic fertilizer can lead to completely different results in the plants’ quality. But when it comes to the fertilizer form, it doesn’t affect the efficiency much.

Dry fertilizers

It is the most common option, come in the form of small granules. They have a high temperature due to the density of nitrogen and potassium level.

Applying them too closely to the root can cause the studs to steer away from the fertilizer band. Farmers often scatter them in two places: 2 feet away from the root and 2 inches to the side.

Dry fertilizers are preferable in dealing with pre-plant applications. For instance, you can apply them as a broadcast, a band, or a cultivating sidedress.

With no further interference in the mixing product, granular fertilizers are cheaper in bulk and easier to store. Since they are hard-textured and won’t change form over time, you can keep them in the garage as long as possible.

However, speaking of nutrient mobility, they don’t seem to perform as well as the water-soluble ones. The fertilizer can’t get closer to the root and will only stay at the exact place it lands on

Also, each granule contains a different nutrient component. Therefore, you can’t figure out which chemical the plant already has enough, which chemical it lacks, potentially leading to disproportionate spreading of fertilizer.

Liquid fertilizer

The liquid form’s nature enables the nutrient component to be absorbed better into the plant compared to the granular form.

There are 2 ways to apply this type of fertilizer: foliar-applied or ground-applied.

The former method involves the functioning of the plant leaves. The chemicals stay right on top of the leaf surfaces, forcing the leaves to soak in all the nutrients instantly.

The ready availability can lead to immediate but short effects as the nutrients sticking on the plant leaves will be in exposure to external conditions. The layer of plant dressing, no matter how thick it is, can easily be wiped away.

For that reason, foliar-applied liquid fertilizer only acts as a supplement for mid-season nutrient deficiencies.

Ground-applied fertilizer whereas works wonderfully as a nutrient provider for the plant roots. Every spray with the same amount of nutrients will land on the ground and penetrate deep into the roots, helping them grow faster.

This application method solves the granular fertilizers’ immobility and heat issues. You can freely spray the liquid on the area surrounding the roots without worrying about the root burning.

The Nitrogen Amount

Without the contribution of nitrogen, there will be some form of a decrease in the potential production. Thus, fertilizing potatoes with a sufficient amount of nitrogen is vital, especially in the early stages.

However, feeding the crop with too much nitrogen will do more harm than good, reserving the effect. You should determine the compatible amount of nitrogen-based on your living area’s climate conditions, the terrain’s futility, and the pre-applied amount of manure.

The Phosphorus Amount

Phosphorus has a substantial impact in balancing out different plants’ uneven growth rates. The whole crop will be more uniform when fully-developed.

Apart from that, phosphorus enables the plants to produce more tubes, increasing the overall productivity. Therefore, this chemical inevitably appears in any top-rated fertilizer brand for growing potatoes.

Without the constant phosphorus supplement during the developing stage, the potatoes will likely encounter signs of nutrient deficiency. The severity ranges from mild to extreme.

With mild or moderate lack of phosphorus, the foliage usually won’t show any symptoms. If the malnutrition worsens, the leaves will turn to a darker shade and reduce in size.

The Bottom Line

If you need a suggestion, we encourage you to check out the fertilizer from Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food Vegetable & Herbs 2 lb since it is the best one, in our opinion.

The 7 potato fertilizer recommendations on our list are carefully selected; you can give any product a crack without any doubt. If you find yourself drawn to a specific product, further researching the manufacturers and the ingredient list will do you good.

All things considered, we wish you luck, and please drop by for our similar future reviews!

Last update on 2024-06-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API