There are a variety of benefits fertilizer provides to your greenery. It can supply necessary nutrients and minerals, promote quicker and better quality growth, increase crop yield, improve quality of surrounding soil, and more. It is essentially the multi-vitamin for plant-life. 

However, choosing the best fertilizer for your outdoor plants can be a challenging task with so many options on the market. The first step – you must decide whether you want a chemical-based product or organic fertilizer. We'll do a deep dive into what makes these products stand out, they're pros and cons, and which we think is best for your plants. For this article, it's only fair that we compare and analyze two products intended for the same kind of use so we'll use Jack's Fertilizer All-Purpose product and our very own  PRO ORGANIC All-Purpose fertilizer. 

Jack's All-Purpose Fertilizer

(Image Source | JR Peter's Inc)

When it comes to chemical-based products it's important to know what makes them considered as such. Chemical fertilizers are comprised of chemically bonded and inorganic substances – the big three being Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (NPK). These nutrients can be naturally produced, however, chemical products are designed to contain specific formulas to align with specific goals. 

PRO ORGANIC All-Purpose Fertilizer

PRO ORGANIC Plant Food boasts a 100% organic and vegan product line certified by OMRI and GrowNYC. Formulated with rice bran, castor meal, and 17 essential nutrient and natural minerals (REEs). It also promotes seed germination and root development, increases plant biomass, and improves the quality of fruiting bodies.

Price

First and foremost lets discuss price points. You always want to get the best quality, but nobody wants to break the bank when there's better products out there! Jacks Classic is generally $10-20 per 1.5 lb bag. With PRO ORGANIC you can get a 1 lb bag for $12.59 or only $11.08 with a subscription.

How often should you use 20 20 20 fertilizer?

Jacks Classic recommends using their product every 7-10 DAYS to perform to its best potential while PRO ORGANIC recommends feeding your plants every 3-4 MONTHS! That's /a huge time difference and could save you a lot of money over time!

Nutritional Quality

Jacks Classic nutritional quality simply can't compete in this category. While it does provide fast nutrient access to all types of plants due to its readily available nutrient ratio immediately after watering the plant and surrounding soil — that's about the only plus side to it. Yes, you can control the formula to know exactly what you are giving your plants, but the quality is short-lived and comes with risks.

It does, in fact, grow plants like it claims — otherwise it wouldn't sell. It works really well with foliage plants. What it doesn't do is sustain the soil. None of the nutrients keep the soil healthy and long lasting for the benefit of your vegetation. Overtime it will actually harm the soil by affecting microorganism activity and depleting soil of essential nutrients. You also are at risk for over-fertilization because the nutrients are so available at the time you apply them.

In our opinion, even with a professional formula by JR Peter's, chemical fertilizer just isn't the way to go for this category.

All of us here at PRO ORGANIC prioritize nutritional value because we want to not only replenish the planet, but sustain it for future generations.

Our fertilizer supports strong root development to improve structure and increase ability to hold more water and nutrients, maximizes microorganism activity, increases vibrant colors, regulates growth, enzymatic activity, and vitality. It also increases immune proteins in crops and strengthens cell membranes and walls to help make your plants more disease resistant.

Application

JR Peter's product is a water-soluble fertilizer. This means you have to mix the chemical fertilizer in water. Don't worry, they provide you with instructions on how much product to mix per gallon of water. This is the jack's fertilizer feed chart displayed directly on their site:

You can then apply the product to outdoor plants as well as indoor plants after you have mixed it in accordingly, determined your desired feed rate, and adjusted your injector settings.

And here we have PRO ORGANIC's instructions:

So simple... as it should be.

Reviews

No doubt, Jack Peter's has great reviews on their product. Repping a 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon with 2,583 total customer reviews is a great accomplishment. The product description proudly says it provides fast green-up and rapid leaf expansion while providing optimal nutrition for strong roots. The customers speak to its effectiveness by leaving comments discussing new sprouting leaves that are greener than ever.

One customer even said her flowers, "...are looking full and beautiful."

Shin Nong's product is still relatively new to the Amazon marketplace and doesn't quite yet have the high number of reviews. Ratings still come in at a impressive 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 40 customer reviews. As previously discussed, PRO ORGANIC will maximize microorganism activity, develop bigger and stronger roots to improve structure, increase ability to hold more water and nutrients, improve soil conditions, and help resist disease, insects, and drought.

One customer left quite the review with comments like:

"This was like magic"

"I'm sitting here in a very dry climate in the heat of the summer, looking at an extremely lush, green, gorgeous lawn".

Just like these photos from our site, your lawn and flowers can be thriving and more vibrant than ever, even in those scorching hot summer months! 

The Verdict

Professional growers want the best product they can find, and so should you. Jack Peters has its customer base that will jump to speak on how great it is because it's been around since 1947. However, like all things, something better will come along that's new and improved — and that is PRO ORGANIC. Feed your vegetation with the highest quality, natural ingredients that produces even better results than its competition.

Why else should you make the switch to organic fertilizer from traditional synthetic chemical fertilizers? 

Chemical fertilizers have been around since the end of World War II and were developed only because there was an abundance of ammonium nitrate left over from making bombs. Going organic is the natural choice if you care about the environment, healthy living, clean chemical free water, safety for children’s play areas, nutritious produce, soil restoration and doing it the way nature intended. 

Wondering if you should fertilize your trees as well? Check out our previous blog post: