04/23/2026
What is NPK or Up , Down & All Around
Almost every fertilizer contains chemical
Elements . What organic enthusiasts don’t get is organic fertilizers also contain chemicals . What we term as inorganic is chemically made in a factory . Even that isn’t too accurate because a lot of NPK is coming from nature . For eg Potash which is very important for plants are mined for the most part
What is N Nitrogen, it is a gas so a fertilizer pack cannot hold it so it is a salt . When you look at a fertilizer pack it will say the actual salt and how much Nitrogen it provides
Nitrogen is responsible for leaves growth . So a way to remember is Up
P stands for phosphorus it is a very flammable element so usually they store in school land under kerosene if you take it out it will light up spontaneously So the P for plants is good for Blooms or what we say as Down
K stands for Potassium again it is supplied to the plant as Phosphate . It is usually mined . For the plant it is needed for All Around
So a useful mantra is NPK equals Up , Down , All Around
Blood Meal natural high N2
Bone Meal natural high P
You can get these as pre mixed ones or a balanced see pictures
Another interesting aspect and one cannot explain plainly other than classroom settings is do not worry too much about the numbers if something says the plant is getting 13 nitrogen it isn’t really there is -; percent of nitrogen rather what they are saying is probably the plant is getting Urea like fertilizer
The world attained food security only because of chemical and in organic fertilizers. The organic fertilizer is a huge scam on everyone. Srilanka banned in organic fertilizers / chemical and in a very small time they went belly up on food production.
PS : there are factual errors on this but it is for light reading
