How to fertilize spinach? A detailed guide to the latest fertilizing methods
Spinach, also called Persian spinach, is an annual vegetable. Spinach is rich in carotene and various vitamins, and its nutrition is very beneficial to human growth. Its place of origin is Iran, but it is grown very widely in our country. During its growth and development, spinach prefers fertilizer and has a relatively large demand for nutrients. So everyone needs to do a good job of fertilizing during the planting process. Then how should spinach be fertilized when growing it? Let's take a look below!
1. Base fertilizer
The time from sowing to maturity for spinach is relatively long, so when planting winter spinach we must apply enough base fertilizer. Because winter temperatures are low, soil fertility declines, and insufficient soil fertility will cause spinach to suffer from fertilizer deficiency, which has a certain impact on spinach germination and seedling emergence. The base fertilizer should be applied sufficiently, but not excessively, otherwise it is prone to excessive vegetative growth. For the base fertilizer, fully decomposed farmyard manure can be used mixed with a fixed amount of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, applied together when preparing the land and making beds. This not only allows the soil to fully absorb the fertilizer, but also ensures that spinach has sufficient nutrients to support its growth.
2. Nitrogen fertilizer
Nitrogen fertilizer is the key to ensuring rapid growth of spinach, but it is also an important factor leading to failure in spinach cultivation. When the true leaves of spinach grow to about 6, its cold resistance is also strongest at this stage. Therefore, if spinach is sown within a reasonable sowing time and sufficient base fertilizer has been applied, then we should reduce the application of nitrogen fertilizer before winter. Because excessive nitrogen fertilizer will promote the growth rate of spinach, causing it to miss the stage when its cold resistance is strongest and affecting the overwintering survival rate. If the base fertilizer is insufficient and the sowing time is not right, nitrogen fertilizer can be applied appropriately according to the actual situation to increase the growth rate of spinach and ensure successful overwintering.
3. Green-up fertilizer
After successfully overwintering, spinach enters its green-up stage. During the green-up stage, the demand for fertilizer and water gradually increases, and fertilizer should be applied in time according to the growth of the spinach. When topdressing, it can be done together with watering, but attention must be paid to the timing of topdressing; too early or too late will affect the growth of spinach. If topdressing is too early, it will lower the surface temperature, inhibit the growth of spinach, and affect the recovery of spinach seedlings. Spinach in the green-up stage should be topdressed at least twice. The first time is around the Spring Equinox, and the second time can be around Qingming Festival, because these two stages are key periods when the surrounding temperature gradually rises, which is conducive to the soil absorbing fertilizer nutrients.
4. Key points of topdressing
The best time for topdressing spinach should be before its flowering stage. If topdressing is done before the flowering stage arrives, it can appropriately delay the flowering stage of spinach, which is beneficial for improving the pollination and fertilization rate of spinach, increasing spinach yield, and enhancing quality. Spinach is relatively sensitive to changes in nitrogen fertilizer, and nitrogen fertilizer is divided into ammonium nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen. After overwintering, the soil temperature has not yet risen, so the digestion effect on ammonium nitrogen is not very obvious. Therefore, when topdressing nitrogen fertilizer, we should reduce or even stop the use of ammonium nitrogen and instead topdress with nitrate nitrogen.
The above is a brief introduction to spinach fertilization methods. Do not think that because fertilizing is the most basic task in planting, its importance can be ignored. It is precisely because it is the most basic that it is the most important. Reasonable fertilization can not only promote spinach growth and increase yield, but also prevent the soil from being damaged by unreasonable fertilization methods. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only. Thank you for reading and supporting.