Roots on grass supplied with N, P, and K

The N-only pot looked pretty good when I showed roots after 184 days.

But that same grass grew a lot more, and produced a lot more underground roots and rhizomes, when P and K were added.

You’ll notice in the image sequence above that the manilagrass supplied with N, P, and K almost had full cover of the pot by January 9. At 100 days after planting, the grass with N-P-K had about the same ground coverage as the N-only grass did at 184 days.

There’s a lot more undergound plant material too, when the grass is not deficient in N, P, or K.

I arranged the images side-by-side for comparison.

For more about this, see:

• Roots, growth potential, and fertilizer

• Roots on grass kept deficient in P and K

• Fertilizer response at planting

• Experiment update: fertilizer response at planting