fertilizer Why do so many people still use high P fertilizers?

Another thought: I wonder if indoor marijuana growers contribute to the large numbers.  Due to the retail on their product, they can throw tons and tons of light at their plants.  Some even increase the ambient CO2 in their grow rooms or tents.  It kind of makes sense that if a plant is going to grow faster due to the increased light, they might need increased nutrients.  Then they talk about it on various forums and the knowledge gets passed on, only the lighting doesnt get figured in.

Just a guess.
 
No, AJ, as I mentioned before, there is even debate amongst those growers.  I've seen more than a few MJ growers who stick to the 3-1-2 rule, and don't try to megadose P. (if anything, they just back off N, or use the same fert through the lifecycle)

Simply, there is no plant on Earth that takes up more P than N and K.  Do they think it does?  Probably.  Are they responsible in large part for the continued production of high P ferts?  Probably more so than any other constituent.
 
Some time ago, I read this article.  It's probably BS, and I don't normally like to repost this kind of unproven nonsense.  But it's on topic.
 
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1388370/the-uselessness-of-high-p-fertilizers
 
There are issues that are magnified growing inground compared to container gardening and part of the reason for them initially. Same with other macros.The other reasons being companies raping ignorant people and cannabis growing.

Capsicum are about as easy to grow as grass. High P ferts are as silly as lowering N to promote fruiting. Sure,they can be forced to do what you want them to do,but to grow a well-rounded pepper plant is pretty basic.

The biggest mistake I see new and old gardeners make is not having soil testing done. It's like trying to start your car without the keys.
 
you really have to watch the plant to see what nutrients it is needing. less is sometimes more, because of the uptake time.
 
Voodoo 6 said:
you really have to watch the plant to see what nutrients it is needing. less is sometimes more, because of the uptake time.
Click to expand...
 
I don't dispute what you are saying at all, except to clarify that there is NEVER a need to give more P than N or K.
 
Nitrogen is the most mobile nutrient in container or in-ground planting.  It's the most likely of the macros to need adjusting.  P is the least mobile.  In fact, there is usually an abundance.  The trick isn't getting enough of it - it's making available what is already present.
 
Pr0digal_son said:
There are issues that are magnified growing inground compared to container gardening and part of the reason for them initially. Same with other macros.The other reasons being companies raping ignorant people and cannabis growing.

Capsicum are about as easy to grow as grass. 
Click to expand...
 
It's funny that you happen to mention grass, right after the first part.
 
In our area, grass is one of the biggest reasons why your first statement is compounded by the ignorance factor.  The old inground issue was always that it was believed that P wasn't taken up properly when the ground was cold.  So, megadoses of P would be added, as compensation.  The problem is, almost none of it was available. (there is enough P in the ground just about everywhere)  P is only available in a certain PH range, which is somewhere just south of neutral.  That old-school ignorance has been handed down as science fact for a very long time, and seemingly became applicable everywhere.  So here I am, sitting in a beachside town, where the native soil has a PH of 8-8.5, and I see the truck every two weeks come to people's lawns to dump a shitload of high P fertilizer down.  Since our "soil" is nothing more than porous sand, that stuff ends up in our waterways, where it turns to algael bloom, and other stinky funk, that makes the once crystal clear waters, look like a giant open cesspool.
 
I personally wish that grass was banned in our area.  It's a complete alien, and growing it is destructive to the native environment.
 
solid7 said:
 
It's funny that you happen to mention grass, right after the first part.
 
In our area, grass is one of the biggest reasons why your first statement is compounded by the ignorance factor.  The old inground issue was always that it was believed that P wasn't taken up properly when the ground was cold.  So, megadoses of P would be added, as compensation.  The problem is, almost none of it was available. (there is enough P in the ground just about everywhere)  P is only available in a certain PH range, which is somewhere just south of neutral.  That old-school ignorance has been handed down as science fact for a very long time, and seemingly became applicable everywhere.  So here I am, sitting in a beachside town, where the native soil has a PH of 8-8.5, and I see the truck every two weeks come to people's lawns to dump a shitload of high P fertilizer down.  Since our "soil" is nothing more than porous sand, that stuff ends up in our waterways, where it turns to algael bloom, and other stinky funk, that makes the once crystal clear waters, look like a giant open cesspool.
 
I personally wish that grass was banned in our area.  It's a complete alien, and growing it is destructive to the native environment.
Click to expand...
My comment was directed towards pH and uptake,not soil temperatures. I don't believe in high P ferts,never claimed to either. Quite the opposite actually.

I take better care of my grass than myself and don't use high P on it either,nil actually.
 
Pr0digal_son said:
My comment was directed towards pH and uptake,not soil temperatures. I don't believe in high P ferts,never claimed to either. Quite the opposite actually.

I take better care of my grass than myself and don't use high P on it either,nil actually.
Click to expand...
 
Maybe your comment was, but mine was directed towards an old myth, AND the PH. (I grew up in a farming area, where the cold ground theory still enjoys some airtime)  I'm not attacking you on any facet.  Just relating that it was funny that you mentioned growing grass.  I said that people in MY AREA use high P fertilizers for grass, in an area that grass isn't even meant to grow.   People who live in a beautiful sub-tropical paradise, who don't seem to give two shits about impacting their immediate locale, for the sake of a green rug in their front yard.  It's a parallel to this whole topic - just because you can, doesn't mean that you should. 
 
For clarification - when I say "you", it's in the general sense, not "you" specifically - lest there be any misunderstanding.
 
So here's a wonder:
 
Two years ago I tilled two yards of 20-year-aged turkey shit into only half of my eighth acre garden. That year I grew two rows of peppers; Anaheim and sweet bell, running consecutive and parallel. The anaheims went nuts, growing to over five feet and producing one of the best crops ever. The bells suffered the entire season and produced one pretty small harvest, though not as bad as this year. Both annuum, yes?
 
Interesting reading at:
www.haifa-group.com/files/Guides/Pepper/Pepper.pdf
 
It seems that the ratio of Big Three nutes does vary over the pepper's growing season.  A high K fert might not be such a stupid idea late in the year...
 
NuteCurve.jpg

 
That said, I'd agree that the "N to grow, P to bloom" dogma is more Marketing Monkey Malarkey than science. 
 
OK, but to be fair...  K isn't exactly mobile, and the planting medium is sand.  How did we arrive at the "uptake" vs "application"?  Where did this data come from?
 
I'm also seeing marketing talk.  "Nutrigation" with a little TM beside it.  That throws questions marks for me, also.  
 
The 3-1-2 is not an absolute, but more or less the "average" of all plant types.  I am definitely not going to say that there aren't deviations or differences. 

I actually sent away for a sample of Nectar for the Gods line this season, because it was too good of a deal to resist.  I was mortified when I saw how heavy on Phosphate that stuff is.  They constantly dose with it, and then they flush with a 0-SuperPhosphate-0 solution of some sort.  Calcium is added by way of Calcium Phosphate.    This was what really got me thinking on this whole thing.  
 
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