Below are six signs you can easily recognize to determine if you are giving your plants too much fertilizer:

1. Yellowing and wilting of lower plant leaves.
2. Browning of leaf margins and tips.
3. Black brown or rotting roots.
4. Slow to no growth.
5. Leaf drop.
6. Crust of fertilizer on soil surface.

The terms “plant food” and “fertilizer” are often used interchangeably. Indeed, it’s true that home gardeners use fertilizer to help their plants get the essential nutrients they need to grow and bloom properly. Scientifically speaking, however, fertilizer is not the same thing as plant food.

These include blueberries, gardenias, rhododendrons and citrus. Plants don’t care if they get nutrients from organic or synthetic fertilizers, Miller noted. It’s all the same to them.

High-nitrogen fertilizers are known for causing huge growth in plants, which is why many types are rich in nitrogen or include it as the main component. Fertilizers high in nitrogen will also restore bright green hues to your foliage.

Plants that aren’t fertilized will also be less visually appealing than fertilized plants, because healthy plants produce more foliage and blooms. Plants that don’t get fertilizer may also be malnourished, which makes them susceptible to infestation by garden pests and makes them more likely to catch plant diseases.

Generally speaking, the best time to fertilize landscape plants is around the time they begin to grow actively. The worst time to fertilize plants is at the end of their growing season. Trees, for example, begin to wake up and grow in early spring, and typically are fertilized once in February or March.

Here, the best fertilizers for your garden’s needs.

• Best Overall Fertilizer: Miracle-Gro Water-Soluble All Purpose Plant Food.
• Best for Lawns: Scotts Turf Builder 12.6 lb.
• Best for Tomatoes: Vigoro 3.5 lb.
• Best for Gardens: Jack’s Classic All Purpose Water Soluble Plant Food.

Quite a few plants, including trees, shrubs and most perennials, will be fine without it. Fertilizer is sometimes described as “plant food,” but that’s a misconception: Plants make their own food through photosynthesis. In nature, plants absorb these nutrients from the soil, and good soil always is the best source.

Fertilizers provide crops with nutrients like potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, which allow crops to grow bigger, faster, and to produce more food. To grow, plants require nitrogen compounds from the soil, which can be produced naturally or be provided by fertilizers.

Though chemical fertilizers increase crop production; their overuse has hardened the soil, decreased fertility, strengthened pesticides, polluted air and water, and released greenhouse gases, thereby bringing hazards to human health and environment as well.

Excess fertilizer alters the soil by creating too high of a salt concentration, and this can hurt beneficial soil microorganisms. Over- fertilization can lead to sudden plant growth with an insufficient root system to supply adequate water and nutrients to the plant.

Plant fertilizers can poison people and pets if they are inhaled or accidentally ingested. Touching the fertilizer may cause skin irritation, and ingesting it may be poisonous. Nitrates are the ingredients that cause the poisoning. Nitrates are a form of nitrogen that plants can easily absorb.

There are several alternatives to chemical fertilizers available at most garden centers and greenhouses that use natural materials to enrich your soil.

• Bone Meal.
• Cottonseed Meal.
• Alfalfa Pellets.
• Bat Guano.
• Fish Emulsions.
• Composted Manure.

Banana peels are good for gardens because they contain 42 percent potassium (abbreviated to its scientific name K), one of the three major components of fertilizer along with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) and shown on fertilizer labels as NPK. In fact, banana peels have the highest organic sources of potassium.

Place fresh grass clippings in a five gallon bucket and then cover with water. You’ll need to let this sit for about five days. Then dilute the fertilizer tea by adding 10 cups of fresh water to one cup of tea and pour on soil. The grass clippings help to add essential nutrients back into the soil.

Place 4 tablespoons processed poultry manure or blended dry organic fertilizer into a quart jar, and fill with lukewarm water. Screw on the lid and shake vigorously, then keep at room temperature for two days. Pour off the liquid and dilute with water to the strength desired.

By adding a tea bag to the earth in your garden, you provide it with extra nutrition. The bag itself is made out of fibers from the stalk of the abaca plant, which is a type of banana plant. The tea will easily dissolve in the earth and provides a healthy environment for flowers and plants to grow.

Tea bags make a great organic fertilizer for plants that need rich, acidic oil—such as roses, ferns, and many hanging plants—as the tannins and other nutrients can help stimulate growth.

A tea bag can be reused one or two times. The resulting second cup of tea is only slightly less strong than my usual cup, but perfect for the afternoons when I don’t need too much caffeine. Reusing tea bags is best reserved for tea drinkers who drink a few cups a day, otherwise keeping the tea bags becomes an issue.

Generally tea, like other dry herbs, doesn’t really expire, but may loose flavor and aroma. So while your tea bag may not taste great, it should still be ok to consume, if the tea bag hasn’t come in touch with too much humidity. Only with excessive humidity, the dry leaves may absorb it and develop mold.

Old tea will have an inferior taste and antioxidant qualities. It will not necessarily make you sick, but it is not recommended to be consumed. The same rule applies to old tea leaves, which may be safe as long as they have been stored properly, but will be of poorer quality.

If the tea has been stored correctly away from light and moisture then it will be OK to consume however not at its best. Tea past its due date may manifest as having a stale dull taste, with little life to the brew.

Tea leaves may be contaminated with coliform bacteria. If iced tea is brewed at inadequate temperatures or in an improperly cleaned urn, or if it is stored for too long, it may grow coliform bacteria, most frequently Klebsiella and Enterobacter, and less commonly E. coli.

Tea and coffee are acidic in nature and having them on an empty stomach can disrupt the acid-basic balance which can lead to acidity or indigestion. Tea also contains a compound called theophylline which has a dehydrating effect and might cause constipation.

Here are the 12 best foods you can eat in the morning.

1. Eggs. Eggs are undeniably healthy and delicious.
2. Greek Yogurt. Greek yogurt is creamy, delicious and nourishing.
3. Coffee. Coffee is an amazing beverage to start your day.
4. Oatmeal. Oatmeal is the best breakfast choice for cereal lovers.
5. Chia Seeds.
6. Berries.
7. Nuts.
8. Green Tea.