 I used to think my plants did not need fertilizer. Fertilizer is for pros and for agricultural purposes. That's what I used to tell myself. I only started thinking about fertilizer more seriously when I saw that my palliative permeatives started to have black spots on the leaf. I went online and I saw that one of the possible causes is lack of nitrogen. But I can tell you, I did not know where to start. Should I start making my own fertilizer at home? Should I go to the shop and buy one? And if so, which one? Because there are so many options. When should I start fertilizing? What should I look in the labels? There were so many questions, but I can tell you now that after taking care of my plants for three years now, I'm very happy that I put my fears aside and I learned about fertilizer because now they're growing really healthy and they really are thriving. So if you are where I was, this video is especially made for you. We're gonna go over all of the things that I know of fertilizer for houseplants so you can get there and your plants can be happy and thrive. Let's start from the beginning. When I went to the shop, I just didn't know where to start. There were so many options, but what I saw is that there is so much of liquid fertilizer and then you can also pick liquid fertilizer for specific plants. For example, for succulents, for orchids, for tropical plants. So I thought, okay, liquid fertilizer may be a good option for me to start my process. Another thing that you can check at the shop is that you can look at the labels and you will get a lot of information from there. And one of the most important things is the percentage of macronutrients that your plant will get from this fertilizer. These macronutrients are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. So if you look at this bottle right here, you can see that we have three numbers, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. This is the percentage of each of these macronutrients in this bottle. Now, after doing some more research, I learned that organic fertilizers and fertilizers that use naturally derived ingredients are going to have a lower percentage of these macronutrients than synthetic fertilizers. So if you look at a synthetic fertilizer, you will see that the percentages will be up in the 30s, 20s. So it's going to be a higher amount of these macronutrients. So since I still consider myself a plant beginner and I'm still experimenting with my plants, I tend to stay with lower concentrations of these macronutrients. So I try to go for organic fertilizers or fertilizers that use natural ingredients. I can see your next question here, which is, okay, but then what's the rest in that bottle? And that is actually filler. So this can be water or any other substance that is not going to affect your plant. When I learned this information was one year after using liquid fertilizer for my plants. And I can tell you it was working for me really well because it's very easy to use. All you have to do is to follow the instructions in the bottle and just add whatever measurement they tell you to whatever measurement of water that you're going to be using for your plants. So you dilute the fertilizer there. When I learned that most of that liquid was filler, it didn't go well with me because first I was paying mostly for filler. And second, it's not very sustainable because if you think about it, we're transporting plastic bottles with filler inside. So it's not really sustainable for the planet. So I went online and I looked for a more sustainable alternative for my plants. And this is when I found this one right here. This is called Instant Plant Food. And as you can see, it's very small. So these are actually tablets that you put in the water that you're going to use to water your plants. In that sense, it's very similar to liquid fertilizer because with liquid fertilizer, we also add this fertilizer to the water that we're going to use to water our plants. And it is very easy to use. However, the big difference here is that it comes in this very small tablet. So we're now transporting a big amount of liquid inside of plastic bottles around the world. This was a game changer for me because I'm taking care of my plants with this wonderful fertilizer. And at the same time, I'm opting for a more sustainable alternative. You know, there's a reason why I'm publishing this video today. And this is because spring is here and we usually start fertilizing our plants during the spring. But why is that? Spring is generally the growing season for most of our plants. And we want to provide that extra nutrition for our plants so they can grow and thrive. Some plants may grow the whole year. And this will depend on different factors. For example, where you are in the planet, what kind of plant you have. So always observe your plant and if you see that your plant is actively growing, this is a good time to provide some fertilizer. And you know, in this video, I'm really trying to encourage you to observe your plants and experiment with them. I think that's the most beautiful thing about taking care of a plant. You start observing it and then you start seeing new leaves, new stems and that's super exciting. So I encourage you to do that. And this takes me to how frequently do you want to fertilize your plant? Again, this depends on many different things. It depends on the type of plant that you have, the type of fertilizer that you're using. So for example, with the one that I'm using here, they recommend that we use it once every three months for tropical plants and once every six months for desert plants. But I can tell you, because it is very mild, this gives me the opportunity to experiment a little bit more. So I have a friend that actually uses this fertilizer every time he waters his plants and they are thriving. Of course, if you're just starting to experiment with your fertilizer, I recommend that you follow the instructions in the package. But as you go, you can just observe your plants, how they react and adjust your routine accordingly. How do you fertilize your plants? I would love to know. So make sure to go in below. I can assure you the whole community will appreciate it. And that's including myself because I really learned from you so much. So keep the conversation going down below. Also, if you would like to support this channel and the work that I do here, we do have a Patreon page where we meet every month and we talk about these issues. We talk about plants. We talk about fertilizer propagation. So if you would like to join us over there, just check out this link right here. And as always, I will see you in the next one. Okay, adios.