July 22, 2024

Snika Gupta

10th Grade

Brooklyn Technical High School

Like us, plants require more than just water and sunlight to survive. And for them, their nutrients come from fertilizers. Thought to have existed for eight thousand years, farmers have used fertilizers to support their plants for ages. The Babylonians, Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians have all been recorded using fertilizers on their crops. Throughout time, fertilizer has become fundamental in modern farming. 

Early farmers discovered fertilizer by noticing more plant growth in areas where animals congregated. This led to using manure as a fertilizer for thousands of years, a staple in early farming. This was an early innovation and yet one of the most environmentally sound. Manure is organic and contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It is also extremely natural, coming from a process that animals must go through, meaning that producing it saves energy and money compared to modern fertilizers.

The first commercial fertilizer was invented by Sir John Bennet Lawes in 1842, a single superphosphate made by treating phosphates with sulfuric acid. With this leap, more and more inorganic fertilizers were being made.

In modern agriculture, there are two types of fertilizers: organic and inorganic. Inorganic fertilizers include:

1. Nitrogen type 

Nitrogen fertilizers are useful in the middle of a plant's life because nitrogen helps support protein formation. The most popular types of chemical nitrogen fertilizer are nitric acid and calcium ammonium nitrate. Most plants benefit from this type of fertilizer, but too much of it can cause fertilizer burn, which may even cause the plants’ death. 

2. Phosphorus type

Phosphorus is useful in all stages of a plant's growth. It aids with photosynthesis and other cellular processes. Phosphorus usually comes in many forms, such as single, superphosphate, triple superphosphate, diammonium, phosphate, ammonium, phosphate, and more. Phosphorus feeding, however, can be difficult to penetrate plant tissues.

3. Potassium type

Potassium-based fertilizer is helpful in promoting root development in plants. Potassium helps maintain healthy photosynthesis and can be used as a buffer if the plants do not have enough other nutrients. These stay in the soil for longer, which means they are used less frequently than nitrogen fertilizers.

4. Compound type

These fertilizers use a mix of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. Most plants and soil can benefit from a fertilizer using all of these, but levels are adjusted with the soil type.

5. micronutrient type

Nutrient fertilizer types are fertilizers that have nutrients that are used only in minimal amounts, such as iron, magnesium, zinc, chlorine, and more. These nutrients are often combined with product, nitrogen, potassium, or phosphorus. 

6. Secondary nutrient types, including sulfur, magnesium, and calcium

Secondary nutrients are often mixed with essential nutrient fertilizers. Sulfur is often mixed with nitrogen fertilizers or included in phosphate fertilizers. Magnesium and calcium nitrate are two common fertilizers as well. 

Inorganic fertilizers are chemical substances made from natural elements, but these often can kill microorganisms with their natural access and cause further environmental pollution and global warming. 

Organic fertilizers are often a single type that is produced either plant-based or animal-based. These are the most naturally produced, and when used properly, they create environments where microorganisms and bacteria can survive. They might take longer but often cause better results in the long run.