Soil Vs. Water As Plant Nutrients

Soil

• Soil, especially near a plant's root structure, is a complex ecosystem in which many thousands of tiny organisms are competing for and changing the chemical structures of nutrients any good dirt is loaded with. Plants depend on nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and a multitude of other micronutrients in order to grow, photosynthesize and remain generally healthy. These minerals and elements are available to plants only through the soil, with few exceptions.

Water

• For plants, soil acts much as a food source would for any mammal, and water is essential to the equation for plant nutrition just as it is for mammals. Two of the most important nutrients for plant growth are derived from water, the elements hydrogen and oxygen. Water also has many functions in the plant, helping to move nutrients through the plant, regulating temperature, facilitating cell growth and expansion as well as facilitating other essential actions within the plant's system.

Water's Effect on Soil Nutrient Uptake

• Most of the nutrients that plants need to survive are derived from the soil, although plants need water in order to take the nutrients up from the soil. It is the root systems that transport nutrients from the soil. And since their root systems drink water, not dirt, plants ultimately rely on water to uptake all the nutrients that are in the soil. So water itself does not provide nearly as many nutrients as the soil, but it is essential in facilitating the uptake of the minerals and nutrients which are in the soil.

Fertilizers

• Fertilizers containing nutrients, generally loaded with nitrogen, come in either granular or liquid form. This may be perceived as introducing nutrients via water or through the soil, but truly, even if a liquid fertilizer is used, it is still the dirt that holds the fertilizer until a plant's root system discovers the added nutrients. The water in liquid fertilizer helps facilitate, once again, the nutrient's journey toward the plant.