Winter will be here before we know it and trees and vines are already going through some changes to get ready. When night temperatures fall, day length decreases and soil temperatures cool, top growth begins to slow. This is good for the plants.
As winter approaches plants begin to store more carbohydrates and the sap becomes increasingly dense. This concentrated sap containing nutrients and biochemicals within their tissues serve as “anti-freeze”, helping to protect plants during cold weather. This is known as winter dormancy. These dense sap nutrients and biochemicals can then be used as energy for spring growth.
Even when the right fertilizer product is applied late in the growing season, it should be done when the plants are still in active growth mode, allowing several weeks for uptake and storage before dormancy. Applying fertilizer to plants when the soil is cold and they are already going dormant is a waste of time and money and is environmentally irresponsible.
The “right” fertilizer, for those who wish to make a fall application, should be relatively low in nitrogen. Nitrogen stimulates growth which is not desirable when plants are attempting to go dormant.
An application of Great Big Plants Natural Compost Extract will assist your plants with or without the addition of fertilizer. University testing and over 24 years of use has demonstrated the following benefits to plants that are treated in the late summer through early winter:
- The beneficial microbes and microbe food (kelp and humic acids) in Great Big Plants assist the plant in mining more nutrients from the soil and placing them in the plant’s tissues. A healthy microbial population converts available soil nutrients to forms that are not leachable with winter precipitation, thereby keeping more nutrients in the plant and in reserve for an early spring push.
- The humic acids in Great Big Plants help with nutrient uptake and retention in the root zone. Adding humic acids to fertilization programs results in a huge increase in Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC). A higher CEC improves the ability of a soil to provide a nutrient reserve for plant uptake. This means that humic acids provide a way of storing the various nutrients (the positively charged ions of Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Nitrate Nitrogen, etc.) for absorption by the root system rather than allowing them to travel to the water table below and be lost to be plant.
- Great Big Plants provides a broad spectrum of trace minerals in a safe organic form.
Not only do you get proven results with Great Big Plants Natural Compost Extract, you also protect the environment by reducing fertilizer losses and reducing the amount of chemicals being applied in the fall.