The mineral is important for all plants. It strengthens the plant tissue, strengthens the plant as a whole, so that it grows stably and strongly and can defend itself much better against pests and diseases. Patentkali works on all plants, whether roses, perennials, lawns, fruit or vegetables. Magnesium also ensures green leaves and a healthy appearance, which is why it is popular for lawns. However, the right date is important here.
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For which plants is patent potash – potash magnesia beneficial?
In principle, patent potash is beneficial for every plant, as the fertilizer is good for the metabolism and the crop is strengthened. The stability is increased and the resistance is strengthened. However, I have read repeatedly that there is no agreement among specialists about the sense or nonsense of autumn fertilization with patent potash. Some swear by it because the shoots harden better and get through the winter more safely, others consider it nonsense. Potash fertilization would be important throughout the year, especially in spring, as an antagonist to nitrogen, so that the plants not only grow in length and width, but are also strengthened. Somehow, in my opinion, they’re both right. Potassium is important. It strengthens the plants all year round. But it also helps over the winter. In previous years, the summer lilacs always froze to death for me in winter and the roses didn’t come through as well as they have since the time I started using Patentkali in autumn. I haven’t used it in the spring, but I will make up for it this week. April is a good time for this.
Patentkali is good for all plants, but especially for:
- Fruit – soft fruit
- Vegetables – especially cabbage, leafy and root vegetables
- Wine
- potatoes
- Strawberries
- lawn
- Evergreen shrubs – especially rhododendrons, boxwood, and camellias
- Evergreen perennials – houseleek, candytuft and bergenia
- Rosen
Benefits of Patentkali – Potash Magnesia
Potash magnesia is extracted from the natural mineral kieserite. It contains around 30 percent potassium, 10 percent magnesium and 15 percent sulfur. This fertilizer is important for the entire plant. It should be emphasized that this fertilizer is also approved for organic farming. Potassium strengthens the entire plant. Roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits benefit from the fertilizer. The resistance is increased significantly, the water balance is balanced and the strength of the stems is increased. It is particularly important that patent potash promotes the formation of sugar and glycol substances, which increases frost resistance. The shoots of plants mature faster and better, frostbite in winter is less common. It is still favorable
Magnesium also makes the plant look healthy, strong, especially green and really good. This is extremely noticeable on lawns. Lawn fertilized with patenkali in autumn strengthens the cell walls of the grass and stabilizes the entire water balance. This makes the lawn much more frost-resistant and gets through the winter well.
Most of the time, a larger amount of sulfur is also contained in the fertilizer. This is important so that the plants can convert nitrogen from the air into protein.
One advantage of Patentkali is that it is still effective when clear deficiency symptoms are already visible. These include pale, dry, and withered leaves and stems. The plant recovers quickly after fertilization. The roots get a real boost. With fruits and vegetables, healthy and strong roots have an effect on the fruits, which taste more aromatic, with lawns on the density and color, it has a healthy and strong effect. Correctly fertilized fruit can also be stored for longer.
Another advantage is that this fertilizer works on any soil, regardless of the pH value.
Patentkali is low in chloride and therefore very suitable for all crops, but especially for those that are sensitive to salt, such as fruit, wine and potatoes.
How do you recognize a potassium deficiency?
A lack of potassium often leads to so-called wilting. The plant tissue is weak and has no resistance. Older leaves initially show lightening at the leaf tips and edges, the so-called chlorosis. It leads to dehydration and necrosis. For plants that are somehow not showing any progress or growth, several doses of the fertilizer per year can sometimes work wonders.
- Necroses form on the older leaves first. At first only small black dots are usually visible. These grow over time. New leaves are smaller.
- It can also happen that older leaves turn yellow and then die off. The leaf veins also turn yellow.
- Older leaves die from the edge.
- Wilted and limp plants that snap off easily, the trunk or stem become limp.
- Leaves curve or curl up.
- A lack of potassium can also be recognized by the taste of the fruit. He’s just worse.
- The stability, frost and drought resistance is also lower.
How is the fertilizer administered?
- Patentkali is water-soluble and therefore available to the plants immediately after watering. The nutrients are in sulphate form.
- Potash magnesia is applied in autumn in normal to heavy soils. Use in spring is recommended for light soils.
- The fertilizer is either applied evenly as granules and then abundantly watered or immediately dissolved in water and administered in this way.
- Do not apply fertilizer to the leaves or directly to the roots
- Spread evenly and work into the soil
- Thorough watering immediately after fertilization accelerates the fertilizer effect
When is patent potash used?
Potash magnesia can be used from March to October. A distinction is made according to what should be fertilized.
- When sowing, the fertilizer can be applied and incorporated into the soil before sowing.
- When used as top fertilizer, potash magnesia is scattered around the plants, which must be 10 to 15 cm in size, and worked into the soil.
- Two fertilizations a year are sufficient for lawns, once in spring and once in autumn. It is best to spread the fertilizer with the spreader, this will be more even. Then rain in
- Fruit and vegetables are fertilized in early spring.
The use of patent potash is ideal in autumn, September or October so that the plants can get through the winter well. It is important that the fertilizer is administered while the plant is still growing, because it still has to be absorbed.
How much patent potash is required?
When using it, you should of course always follow the package insert. What is stated on the packaging or an instruction leaflet must be taken into account. In general, these values can be assumed:
- Lawn – 70g / m²
- Trees and ornamental shrubs – 40g / m²
- Fruit trees and vines – 30g / m²
- Vegetables – 70g / m²
- Strawberries – 50g / m²
- Plants with visible potassium deficiency – 80 g / m²
Prices
The prices for patent potash are often quite different. They start at around 2.50 euros per kilogram, but can also be significantly higher. A comparison is often worthwhile. You can buy the fertilizer at the hardware store and garden center, often from gardeners and on the Internet. There you usually have the most choice. It is important to pay attention to the delivery prices. The heavier the shipment, the higher the delivery costs. The euros that you supposedly save on purchase are paid for in the end for postage and packaging.
Thomaskali – difference or similar fertilizer?
Patent potash is often confused with Thomas potash. But they are two very different fertilizers. Thomaskali is suitable for acidic soils, because the calcium oxide it contains neutralizes the acid. However, this fertilizer must first be broken down by the organisms in the soil so that the roots can absorb the active substances. Potassium magnesium, on the other hand, works immediately. Thomaskali is completely unsuitable on loam and clay soils and has no effect whatsoever. However, a separate potassium fertilization is not necessary for these soils, there is usually enough of it available. If in doubt, a soil sample will help. These should be taken and sent in regularly anyway so that the soil is not over-fertilized.
What is to be considered?
So that the plants can also absorb the fertilizer, the soil must be sufficiently moist. That doesn’t work in dry earth. Every dried out soil additionally weakens already attacked plants. Dry periods must be avoided.
Conclusion
There are supporters and opponents of patent potash. In the end, the only thing that helps is to try it out for yourself. I myself have had good experiences with autumn fertilization. Not a single rose died over the winter and I haven’t lost a buddleia and I have eight of them. In the years before I had a total failure, only two came back and the other year four were gone. Everything has been fine since I started using Patentkali. Whether it was the fertilizer or the changed climatic conditions, who can say that. This year I will use Patentkali for the first time in spring, in the hope that my plants will be strengthened overall and more resistant to drought, diseases and pests. Lets see what happens.
