too much nitrogen?

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jburesh Renton, WA(Zone 8a) Jun 10, 2005

I know that it is possible for a plant to get too much nitrogen and I am wondering if there are vegetables that don't like a lot of nitrogen. Does anyone know if there are veges like this? The reason why I ask is that I top dress my vege garden with used coffee grounds from the local coffee shop. My soil is well composted in the spring and fall as well, so I think it is balanced. I've been putting down the coffee every 3-4 weeks, about a handful per square foot. It says that its carbon to nitrogen ratio is 20-1 and it has a ph of 6.9. It further says to use this on nitrogen-loving plants such as most perennials and allium plants.

Should I not put it on my veges? Thanks for the advice!

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Farmerdill Augusta, GA(Zone 8a) Jun 10, 2005

Most vegetables, exceptions are corn, brassicas, and lettuces, overreact to excess nitrogen. Coffee grounds are not very concentrated so I would doubt that they would cause a problem. Fruiting plants, like tomatoes, beans will grow vine at the expense of fruit with excess nitrogen, easily compensated by adding phosphate, Root crops will also have excess vine, compensate by adding potassium. Balance is much more imporatant than amount.

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Zeppy Shenandoah Valley, VA(Zone 6b) Jun 10, 2005

Farmerdill, what's a good way to add phosphorus? Scratch in rock phosphate? That's sort of slow releasing, I guess...

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Farmerdill Augusta, GA(Zone 8a) Jun 10, 2005

Personnaly I use acid phosphate ( 0-20-0) or superphosphate (0-48-0) All of them start with phosphate bearing rock but these are leached out and concentrated. You can of course use bone meal as well as green sand to increase phosphate levels. A quick fix for nitrogen excess in tomatoes and the like is the water soluble foliar feeds like Blooms -a - Lot. How you know when to use it. You have very lush vines with few tomatoes that won't get ripe.

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NatureWalker New York & Terrell, TX(Zone 8b) Jun 10, 2005

NPK: Definition as written by NatureWalker:

These numbers represent the percentage of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (N-P-K) contained in fertilizer.

Nitrogen (always the first number) is important to stimulate growth rate and to "green up" the foliage so that it can process nutrients more efficiently.

Phosphorus, the middle number, stimulates root growth.

And Potassium, the last number, stimulates flowering and fruiting.

~* Robin☺

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Farmerdill Augusta, GA(Zone 8a) Jun 11, 2005

Sorry Robin, Phosphorus is for flowering and fruiting, Potassium for root growth, otherwise you are right.

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jburesh Renton, WA(Zone 8a) Jun 13, 2005

glad to know i'm not going to hurt them. I just want to give them a little extra fertilizing in addition to all the compost I added earlier in the year. I may pick up some bone meal too.

thanks!

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