The Best Plants To Use 10-10-10 Fertilizer On (& Ones To Avoid)

Providing fertilizer is an essential part of care for most plants. Fertilizer provides plants with many of the nutrients they need, and for some plants, including many flowers and leafy green vegetables, the equal amounts of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K) found in 10-10-10 fertilizers like Espoma Garden Food is the perfect amount and ratio. Of course, this isn't the case for all plants and some, like turf grass and woody plants that are already established, benefit from fertilizers that are heavier in nitrogen. Plants' fertilizer needs can also change over the course of the growing season.

It's always best to check the health of your soil before you begin adding fertilizer. This will ensure you don't use more fertilizer than you really need in your garden. It's also important to understand how to read fertilizer labels, seeing that the numbers on the fertilizer label show the percent by weight of each of the three primary macronutrients plants need. This means that while both a 10-10-10 and a 30-30-30 fertilizer are balanced, with equal amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, the 30-30-30 fertilizer is much more potent. Of course, more potency isn't necessarily better considering the fact that overfertilizing and showering your plants with nutrients can lead to damage to both your plants and the environment. 

As long as your soil tests support its use, 10-10-10 fertilizer is a popular option for vegetable gardens, with the nitrogen helping support growth, the phosphorus benefiting flowering and fruiting, and the potassium helping to promote overall plant health. Spinach, lettuce, and many other leafy greens often thrive with this fertilizer ratio. Even vegetables like tomatoes, which benefit from the addition of fertilizers with higher levels of potassium once they start flowering, often do well with 10-10-10 fertilizer earlier in the season. This is also often a good option for flowers because this combination of nutrients can lead to healthy plants with plenty of blooms.

Of course, not all plants grow their best with a 10-10-10 fertilizer. Fertilizers for lawns like GreenView Fairway Formula Lawn Fertilizer generally have high amounts of nitrogen and little or no phosphorus and potassium, providing the lawn primarily with the nutrient it needs to be lush and green. This option also isn't usually the best for established shrubs and trees, as these tend to grow better with 4-1-1 fertilizers.