Detailed Explanation of Spinach Fertilization Methods and Technical Key Points
Spinach, also known as 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 fertilization during the planting process. So 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 will have a certain impact on spinach germination and seedling emergence. The base fertilizer should be applied in sufficient amount, but not excessively, otherwise it is prone to excessive vegetative growth. For the base fertilizer, fully decomposed farmyard manure mixed with a measured amount of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer can be used, applied together when preparing the land and making beds. This can not only allow the soil to fully absorb the fertilizer, but also ensure that spinach has sufficient nutrition 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 spinach planting failure. When spinach true leaves 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 survival rate through overwintering. If the base fertilizer is insufficient and the sowing time is not right, nitrogen fertilizer can be appropriately applied according to the actual situation to increase the growth rate of spinach and ensure successful overwintering.
3. Green-turning fertilizer
After successful overwintering, spinach enters the green-turning stage. During the green-turning stage, the demand for fertilizer and water gradually increases, and topdressing should be carried out in time according to spinach growth. When topdressing, it can be done together with watering, but attention should be paid to the timing of topdressing. Too early or too late will affect the growth of spinach. Topdressing too early will lower the surface temperature, inhibit spinach growth, and affect spinach recovery after transplanting or overwintering. Spinach in the green-turning stage should be topdressed at least twice, the first time around the Spring Equinox, and the second time 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 period for topdressing spinach should be before its flowering stage. If topdressing is done before the flowering stage arrives, spinach flowering can be appropriately delayed, 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 apply nitrate nitrogen.
The above is a brief introduction to spinach fertilization methods. Do not assume that fertilization is the most basic task in planting and therefore ignore its importance. 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 all for reading and support.