What is top dressing? Top Dressing is just the term for when you add dry fertilizer on top of the soil next to the plant. The benefit of top dressing is that the fertilizer seeps into the soil slowly with watering and rain feeding over a longer period of time the water-soluable foliar fertilizers. Also, you do not have to get the foliage damp, which can lead to a risk of various problems if it does dry out or has poor air circulation around the leaves. In addition you do not risk disturbing the roots of your plants by digging the fertilizer into the soil. Your plants roots are busy gathering nutrients from the soil, and to disrupt their flow would hinder your plants growth and may disrupt their fruiting.
Some vegetables are especially helped with top dressing. These include corn, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. But all vegetables will be benefited with even the addition of well seasoned manure or compost top dressed around their plantings. For more specific needs you can top dress with vegetable specific fertilizer that is slightly higher phosphorous than nitrogen to promote fruit or vegetable growth rather than being high in nitrogen which would only promote more leaves and less fruit or vegetables. You can do this any time during the growing season up until the first fruit and then to a lesser extent as the season draws to a close.
Well, those are the basics of top dressing. Remember to use according to package directly and not over fertilize, and you can expect loads of fresh and healthy vegetables soon.
Go To Page: 1
