If you want to choose the best hydrangea fertilizer, you should select either a chemical fertilizer or use organic matter for fertilization. Both of these methods tend to work extremely well for fertilizing hydrangeas, and you might want to experiment with each method to determine which one seems to work the best for your hydrangeas. Chemical fertilizer comes in either slow-release or fast-release, and organic matter for use as a hydrangea fertilizer is attainable in many different ways. You can create your own organic matter by using compost made from your kitchen scraps, or you can purchase manure for use as organic matter in your garden at a lawn and garden supply center.
Many people get excellent results from using chemical hydrangea fertilizer. When you go shopping for chemical hydrangea fertilizer, you may be confused by all the options available. In general, using a 10-10-10 fertilizer often produces good results for hydrangeas. The numbers 10-10-10 represent the amounts of nitrogen, phosphate, and potash in each fertilizer. If you get 10-10-10, you are buying a general purpose fertilizer that tends to work well for fertilizing most plants.
Another thing you might notice when shopping for hydrangea fertilizer is that some are slow-release and others are fast-release. The type you should select depends on your personal preference. If you buy the slow-release fertilizer, you will need to fertilize your hydrangeas only once for the entire year because the fertilizer will be released into the soil slowly over a long period of time. With the fast-release fertilizer, you will need to fertilizer your hydrangeas twice per year. Most people choose to use chemical fertilizer either once at the beginning of spring and once at the end of summer or just one time during the summer. It is not usually advisable to fertilize hydrangeas in the fall because they are probably beginning to go dormant for the winter during that time of year.
If you are interested in avoiding chemicals while fertilizing your hydrangeas, you might be incredibly successful using organic matter. When you use organic matter, you are using natural substances to provide nutrition to your hydrangeas. There are nutrients that occur naturally in things you might compost, such as fruit or vegetable peelings, egg shells, and coffee grounds. Cow manure also contains lots of nutrients beneficial to hydrangeas. You can work this organic matter into your soil before you plant your hydrangeas to help ensure that they will continually get the nutrients they need as they grow.