Gardening, growing houseplants, growing vegetables, and landscaping are all some of the most popular hobbies in the world, and they can help keep you healthy and feeling young. Whether you’re growing tomatoes or have a few houseplants decorating your home and freshening the air, the best plant fertilizers will help your indoor and outdoor plants grow big and healthy, giving you a great return on your precious time and money.
Which fertilizers are considered the best on the market today? StudyFinds did the research, consulting eight home improvement and gardening websites in an effort to bring you a consensus list of the best plant fertilizers. Our list comprises the five most frequently listed fertilizers from across these sites. Did we miss your favorite fertilizer? Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
The List: Best Plant Fertilizers, Per Gardening Pros
1. Miracle-Gro All-Purpose Plant Food
The top spot on the list of the best plant fertilizers belongs to Miracle-Gro All-Purpose Plant Food. If you’re trying to grow bigger, healthier plants, then Miracle-Gro’s All-Purpose Plant Food is a great choice, according to reviewers at The Spruce. Miracle-Gro’s fertilizer is water soluble, so you can add it directly to your watering jug to fertilize your plants.
Martha Stewart agrees that Miracle-Gro All-Purpose Plant Food is the top choice on the market. This all-purpose plant food and fertilizer will help elevate your plant’s soil, giving it all the nutrients it needs to grow strong and healthy. Miracle-Gro All-Purpose is perfect for a range of plants, vegetables, trees, shrubs, and flowers.
As Bob Vila notes, you’ll want to add this fertilizer to your watering jug and apply it every one to two weeks during the growing season. Although you can comfortably use this plant food on all types of plants, it works best for green houseplants. This particular formula has a higher nitrogen content, making it perfect for growing indoor and outdoor plants.
2. Dyna Gro Grow Liquid Plant Food
Next up on the list of the top plant fertilizers is Dyna Gro Grow Liquid Plant Food. Dyna Gro features a blend of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium formulated to promote ideal growing conditions, explains Gardening Products Review. Dyna Gro also includes several micronutrients such as iron, magnesium, and zinc designed to maintain the pH of your soil or other growing medium, including hydroponics.
As Bob Vila explains, this fertilizer is a liquid concentrate, so you’ll have to mix it and dilute it carefully before applying it to your plants and soil. You only need a quarter of a teaspoon to mix a gallon of fertilizer. Dyna Gro is formulated to provide ideal growing conditions, adding micronutrients such as cobalt, copper, and iron to the soil along with the essential nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) at a 7-9-5 ratio.
Dyna Gro Grow is perfect for all types of plants but as SF Gate explains, it’s also high in phosphorus, which makes it great for your flowering plants. The lower nitrogen content makes it great for preventing your plants from stretching out. Stretchy, elongated plants are known to attract aphids and other insects, so this is a great fertilizer for keeping those unwanted pests out of your garden and away from your home.
3. Dr. Earth Organic Life All Purpose
Next up on the list of the top plant fertilizers is Dr. Earth Organic Life All Purpose. Dr. Earth All Purpose is designed to help you elevate your gardening skills and take your plants, flowers, trees, and shrubs to the next level, explains HGTV. This is a certified organic fertilizer that uses pellets infused with beneficial microbes and mycorrhizae.
As Bob Vila notes, Dr. Earth Organic Life All Purpose is designed for growing herbs, vegetables, and fruit indoors where it would otherwise be tricky. Dr. Earth offers the perfect blend of nutrients to promote ideal indoor growing conditions. This organic slow-release fertilizer can help feed your plants for up to two months after application.
Dr. Earth Organic Life All Purpose features a nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium blend (NPK) of 5-5-5. This balanced NPK formula is perfect for your indoor edible plants, furthers SF Gate. And, this plant fertilizer is extremely easy to use. Simply apply the pellets to the top of your plant’s soil once per month and let Dr. Earth do the rest.
4. Neptune’s Harvest Fish and Seaweed Blend
The fourth spot on the list of the best plant fertilizers belongs to Neptune’s Harvest Fish and Seaweed Blend. Neptune’s Harvest features fish byproducts that would have otherwise been wasted during the fillet process, notes House Beautiful. True, this fertilizer smells like fish, but the smell dissipates within a day or two and it’s truly organic.
As SF Gate explains, Neptune’s Harvest Fish and Seaweed Blend is one of the best organic fertilizer options on the market. This fertilizer is formulated with an NPK ratio of 2-3-1, making it ideal for anyone worried about overfertilizing their precious plants, flowers, and vegetables. Simply mix a tablespoon of Neptune’s Harvest with a gallon of water and slowly add it to your plant’s soil, allowing it to absorb.
The 2-3-1 NPK also makes Neptune’s Harvest a great choice for flowering plants, adds Bob Vila. The higher phosphorus content makes it great for fertilizing your flowering plants and vegetables. Aside from smelling like fish, this fertilizer is 100 percent safe to use around your home and pets. You might want to reconsider using this if you’re fertilizing plants in an enclosed area as the smell might aggravate you without proper ventilation.
5. Espoma Plant Tone Organic Fertilizer
Rounding out the list of the best plant fertilizers is Espoma Plant Tone Organic Fertilizer. Espoma offers a range of fertilizers for your plants, vegetables, trees, lawns, and shrubs. This all-inclusive organic fertilizer features a 5-5-3 NPK and also contains five percent calcium. Espoma Plant Tone Organic Fertilizer works well with a variety of plants, trees, vegetables, and shrubs, according to Thomasnet.
If you’re just starting out with a garden or houseplants, then an organic fertilizer is probably the best choice. Organic fertilizers are great because they reduce the risk of burning your plants or overfertilizing, adds The Spruce. Espoma is extremely user-friendly and safe for a variety of plants, flowers, and vegetables. This Espoma fertilizer is a slow-release formula ready to use out of the bag. Simply apply the right amount to the topsoil and it’s designed to work for up to six months.
If you’re looking for an organic fertilizer for your houseplants in a concentrate that’s designed to last a little longer, then consider Espoma’s Indoor Houseplant Food concentrate, notes Bob Vila. Regardless of which you choose, the concentrate or the ready-to-apply formula, Espoma’s fertilizer products are incredibly easy to use and safe for your home, kids, and pets.
Different Types of Fertilizers:
Fertilizer is meant to be applied to the soil or the exterior of plants to provide and enhance ideal growing conditions. It’s important to use fertilizers as intended or you could risk harming your plants, vegetables, or flowers. To help, here’s a quick breakdown of some of the different types of plant fertilizers:
- Organic fertilizers: These fertilizers are derived from natural sources, such as animal manure, compost, and other plant materials. They release nutrients slowly over time and help improve soil structure and enhance growing conditions.
- Examples: manure, compost, blood meal, bone meal, fish emulsion, seaweed meal
- Inorganic fertilizers: These fertilizers are man-made using various compounds and chemicals and contain high concentrations of nutrients. They are often fast-acting and can quickly boost nutrients in plants and soil.
- Examples: ammonium nitrate, potassium chloride, superphosphate
- Compound fertilizers: This group of fertilizers combines two or more primary nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Compounds can be tailored to meet the specific needs of different plants and are often identified by a three-number code, such as 10-10-10, which represents the percentages of the nutrients in the fertilizer.
- Slow-release fertilizers: These types of fertilizers release nutrients slowly over time, which can help to prevent plants from being over-fertilized. They are a good choice for busy gardeners who don’t want to fertilize their plants as often or beginners who don’t want to fertilize their plants improperly.
- Water-soluble fertilizers: These fertilizers are applied in liquid form and are readily taken up by plants. They are a good choice for giving plants a quick boost of nutrients.
- Micronutrient fertilizers: These fertilizers contain small amounts of nutrients that are essential for plant growth, such as iron, zinc, and manganese. They are important for use in soils that are deficient in these nutrients.
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Note: This article was not paid for nor sponsored. StudyFinds is not connected to nor partnered with any of the brands mentioned and receives no compensation for its recommendations. This article may contain affiliate links in which we receive a commission if you make a purchase.
Thanks for the article. Very informative and much-needed resources for my small garden in the desert.