Dear Valued Customers,

Our commitment to fostering a healthier and more sustainable world remains unwavering. This pivotal shift marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter. Arktivate is expanding its horizons into the neighboring agriculture markets. Our core mission, now more than ever, is to champion the growth of better, healthier food for farmers. By contributing to the agricultural advancements in our neighboring countries, we aim to enhance the quality of food imported into Singapore, ensuring that every meal is a step towards better health and well-being.

As we turn the pages of Arktivate’s journey, we find ourselves at a significant crossroads. With heartfelt gratitude, we announce the closure of our retail arm for bio-organic fertilizer. Your unwavering support and trust have been the cornerstone of our success, and for that, we are eternally thankful.

While we bid a temporary goodbye to our retail chapter, the journey of Arktivate continues to flourish. We warmly invite you to be a part of this exciting new phase. Stay connected with us, and witness the growth and impact we aspire to create in the agricultural landscape.

Visit our Bio Ark website for insightful updates, and follow us on our social media platforms to stay engaged with our progress and initiatives. Together, let’s cultivate a future where every meal enriches life, nourishing both body and soul.Thank you for being a part of our journey. Here’s to growing a healthier world, one seed at a time.

Warm regards,

Are you thinking of growing plants? Yet don’t know how to start; we like to share 5 simple steps to get you started in the right direction to begin your planting journey.

Where are you starting to plant? Your office? Your home? Apartment, or do you have landed garden space? Is the location airy or bright, or is sunlight limited, or what happens if you don’t have any sun? These are all the questions you need to answer before deciding what and how to grow?

For landed spaces: If space is not an issue, then you have a wide selection? Do you want to grow Edible or ornamental? You can grow spices, herbs, fruits to vegetable greens for edible. For ornamental, exotic leaves or blooming flowers to beautify your spaces? Even having areas to grow on the ground, you might want to grow in pots as you can easily move them around. 

For apartment: Growing indoor plants, your balcony, walkway, and window areas are your best bet to grow your plants. Planting edible might be a bit of a challenge but not impossible. Growing spices and herb is good, but it does need good lighting. Ornamental plants are great for beautifying concrete spaces with nature. If lighting is an issue, some plants will still grow well, or you can choose to install artificial lighting to help them grow. 

Plants eat, breathe, sweat, and it is very much alive! It needs tender loving care (TLC) to stay healthy and well. That is a commitment, but some plants need more than others. So again, what plants are suitable for your lifestyle? Some plants are pretty introverted and can survive when you go for a long holiday. 

Listed are some low-maintenance plants. Snake Plants, Succulents, Pothos, Snake plants, Aloe Vera, ZZ plants, Peace Lily, spider plants.

If you have time to spare and want to spend more time growing tougher plants, we suggest going for plants like Orchids, miniature roses, Gardenia, and Wandering Jew.

We are what we eat, and so are our plants. The soil we planted them provides the foundation for the roots. We need good drainages, sufficient soil ventilation, and nutrients for healthy plant growth. Below is a list of checkboxes on how to start a healthy planting Journey 

Understanding the ratio for a potting mix is essential. It will significantly depend on your plant type. Growing aroids need a lot of good drainage and ventilation for your roots to grow healthy. Usually, the mix includes pine bark or orchid bark, perlite, pumice, and compost. This allows water and air to pass through, creating an environment for roots to thrive. Other growing mediums like Peat moss, rice hulls, vermiculite, and sand can also be used. 

There are many fertilisers, Solid or liquid form, synthetic, organic, or bioorganic. Choosing suitable fertilisers can be confusing as you need to know what NPK your plant needs. Is there a fertiliser that can help a plant grow naturally yet provide a safe environment for our pets and children? A walk through the fertiliser aisle will cause further confusion. First, let’s know what NPK does.

N stands for Nitrogen. (N) helps the growth of the leaves on your plants.

P stands for Phosphorus. (P) helps in root growth, flowering, and development of fruits

K stands for Potassium. (K) plays a significant role in plant physiological processes for overall growth.

How much you need depends on the type of plants you growing. A good fertiliser provides all the above and doesn’t burn the plant, yet it allows the complete nutrients to be transported into the plant. One of these fertilisers is Arktivate, which comes in both solid and liquid forms. It not only contains bio-organically digestible nutrients but also trillions of beneficial microbes that will continue to process the nutrients for plants to absorb. 

Today part of the battles in our growing process is dealing with pests. Insects and pests attack our precious plants and causes health issues. Thankfully there are many pesticide solutions to help us defend and eliminate unwanted pests. So how do we select a good pesticide? 

A good pesticide must be able to eliminate pests yet not harm the plants and surroundings. It must be organic and does not contain any trace of toxic chemicals. This is a tall order; anything that kills tiny pests will harm our environment.

In our quest, we like to build immunity by surrounding our plants with beneficial microbes that act as a shield of protection against any pest’s infestation. We also believe in using solutions to deter and repel pests rather than eliminate them, as this will also harm an ecological system.  Therefore, again using a biological approach to build immunity is our goal, and Arktivate provides this ability to build up a defensive ground-up solution to deter pests.

When we see a leaving withering, don’t panic, leaves don’t stay green forever. It grows and goes through life like us. What can we do to maintain the health of our plants?

You need to replot when your plant overgrows its pot size, the roots need more space to expand, or when the soil becomes too hard for water and air to penetrate through. We recommend that young plants are replotted every 12 to 18 months but for more mature plants, try to do it every 3-5 years.

Propagating plants is the process of reproducing plants from one source to multiple. There are a few ways to propagate from seeding, tissue culture, layering, and cutting. The most popular seems to be cutting. In the cutting process, you can use a leaf, stem, or root to regenerate the whole plant. 

When a plant or tree has dead and overgrown branches, it is time to prune; removing unwanted parts reduces the nutrient uptake in these areas. Pruning causes plants to look better and healthier, and it improves the quality of foliage, flowering, and fruiting.

Growing plants is like personal self-development. We need to be patient, humble, and, most importantly, passionate. Joining a community of like-minded individuals to share, learn and discuss is part of a growing process. There are many Facebook plant lovers’ groups, or you can join a local plant community. Some Facebook online groups are Singapore urban gardening, SG container gardening & urban farming, Home Gardening Singapore, Organic gardening, and health Singapore. 

Starting a plant-growing journey helps us discover ourselves better. It is a process of having clarity, patience, commitment, and discipline. I wish you all the best in your plant-growing journey. This is one journey that you don’t have to travel, and it will bear fruits of satisfaction. 

Most keen gardeners will agree that there is nothing better than a garden in full bloom.

Whether it’s a cottage style front-yard of a landed property full of lavender and daisies or a small HDB balcony packed with pots, everyone loves big flashy flowers.

If this sounds like you, read on, because we’ve got some tips on how to make your flowers bloom faster and for longer.

The best thing that you can do to make your plants flower sooner and for longer is to plant them in good soil. By providing good quality soil or potting mix you can ensure that your plants are in the best possible conditions for their root systems to fully develop.

Good soil health is so important to plant health, it really needs to be the first thing gardeners think about when planting up a garden bed. 

Optimal garden soil should be rich in organic material. Organic material in your soil can be from the use of organic solid fertiliser, incorporating composts and manures, or from turning over gardens between seasons and working in leaf litter or the remains of annuals.

Good organic material will provide nutrients for plants as they break down but will also aid in moisture retention and drainage. It will also ensure your soil has a strong ecosystem with microorganisms and worms. These all combine to improve the structure of the soil. 

You can improve your garden soil before planting out a garden bed by working through composts, manures, or worm castings. 

You can also use a specific soil conditioner or improvers like the Arktivate solid bio-fertiliser or a simple wetting agent and seaweed extract. 

Incorporating these into your soil at the start is a great first step in getting your plants to flower.

It should go without saying, but if you’re sowing seeds, or planting up in pots or beds that don’t get the correct amount of sunlight, you’re not going to get good flowers.

It also makes sense that if you’re pruning your shrubs when they’re full of developing buds, you probably won’t get a lot of flowers either.

Planting your plants in the right place, and doing things at the right time of year is a really easy way to ensure good blooms. 

Getting the correct light levels is extremely important for flower production. Plants will convert sunlight to energy through photosynthesis, which they use to develop and set flower buds.

Conversely, too much sun on a shade-loving plant can physically burn the leaves. This means that photosynthesis can be impacted, and energy production reduced.

Where you plant other plants can also impact your blooms.

By using companion planting you can clump plants that work together to help you get the best out of your garden. This could be through deterring pests and attracting beneficial insects or fixing nitrogen in the soil. 

Remember, flowers are a part of a plant’s reproductive cycle, and they don’t tend to want to reproduce if conditions aren’t favourable.

If you’re growing flowering shrubs like gardenias, camelia, or azaleas that benefit from being pruned, knowing when you should prune is absolutely essential as well. 

If you prune at the wrong time you risk physically cutting the buds that the plant has already set. Incorrectly timed heavy pruning can also encourage your plant to spend all its energy on putting on foliage growth in response, rather than developing flower buds. 

Doing a little bit of research on when your favourite plants flower, and what their sun requirements are is incredibly beneficial in the long run. You can save on watering, pest control, and fertilising simply by planning out your garden better.

Without getting too heavy into botany, plants use certain nutrients and hormones when they develop flowers. These nutrients are potassium and phosphorus.

Phosphorous is used by plants in developing reproductive parts of the plant, like flowers.

Potassium is used by the plant to move sugars around and to thicken cell walls. Using potassium helps develop the quality of flowers and fruits already set.

To increase the numbers and quality of flowers on a plant, gardeners can increase the availability of these nutrients to their plants by adding fertiliser.

By applying the correct fertiliser blends at the right time, you can encourage more buds to develop, and improve the quality of your flowers as they begin to bloom. 

There are two main types of fertiliser you can use to get better flowers: Inorganic and Organic. They differ in what they do and how often you should use them.

Inorganic fertilisers are products that are man-made. They come as liquids, granules, or powders that you can dissolve in water. 

By using inorganic fertilisers a gardener can drill right down to the specific nutrients they want to apply to their plants. They also make things easier when sold as specific plant blends that have been tweaked to suit really specific situations. However, they come with a risk of overdose and consequently burning the flowers.

Organic fertilisers, on the other hand, are fertilisers where the nutrients have been created by an organic process. These include products like compost, manure, worm castings, or decomposed seaweed concentrate.

They’re not as fast at providing specific nutrients, and on a weight-for-weight basis, they don’t generally contain the same volume of nutrients as their inorganic counterparts.

Where organic fertilisers excel though is what else they contain. Generally, you’ll be getting plant nutrients, as well as enzymes and micro-organisms that just aren’t present in inorganic fertilisers. This creates a favourable environment for a creation of a micro-ecosystem that will sustain your plants for way longer.

You’ll also be getting a lot of organic material that is still yet to break down and release nutrients, so they actually feed plants for longer.

Organic fertiliser will often be a lot better for your overall garden and soil health, through the broad array of nutrients they contain and their ability to improve the soil health, through micro-organisms, and by improving soil structure.

When it comes to getting your flowers to bloom better and for longer, you should give your plants organic fertiliser that might not give as much of a nutrient boost, but improves the health of your entire garden, which achieves long-term results.

When it comes to making your flowers bloom more and for longer, the knee-jerk reaction is to go and pump fertilisers into your garden, which is not always the best solution.

With a bit of planning and research, you can do quite a lot to aid flowering without adding anything artificial to the soil.

Getting enough sun, having healthy soils, and pruning at the right time of year means your plants should be full of buds. 

Once you’ve mastered these tricks, then you can reach for an organic fertiliser that contains ingredients to improve your soil as well as microbes to create an ecosystem, a good feed can do wonders for your flowers.

There is a thriving ecosystem of microorganisms beneath the surface of the earth that provides nutrients to flora and fauna. Here’s a breakdown: Plants derive their food from the soil they grow in. The “food” is absorbed in the form of nutrients. These nutrients are materials that are mechanically and chemically transformed by the microbes in the soil. 

Microbial lives are crucial to soil and plant health because these organisms contribute greatly to agriculture and farming. Strategic increase or control of these species can potentially improve how we grow the plants that provide us food.  

Soil microbes break down the organic matter from dead plants and animals and convert it into nutrients, improving soil structure, increasing nutrients in the soil, and helping plants thrive. 

In this blog, we will explore some of the microbial lives and how they benefit plants.

Microbes are tiny living organisms (found all around us) that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. They inhabit soil, water, and air and are even found in our bodies, which gives them their name, microorganisms. 

Microbes are single-celled living organisms, including microscopic organisms of all three groups of life, i.e., bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. Fungi is another common group of microbes found in single and multicellular forms and can be seen with and without the naked eye.  

Soil is enriched by naturally occurring microbial lives from these three domains. Together, these microbes have shaped the soil structure and generated habitable conditions for plants since the beginning of time. 

Microbial lives are most abundantly found in most terrestrial environments, water, ocean floor, and garden soil. Their presence is essential because microbial lives greatly improve soil fertility and sustain plant growth. 

Microbial lives work together to form symbiotic relationships with plants. Plants direct as much as 30% of their energy to the root zone to produce food for microbes. Microbes, in return, feed the plant by converting and holding nutrients in the soil, making it fertile and healthy. 

Other than nutrient cycling, microbes are involved in the production of hormones and chemicals essential for the stimulation of plant growth. 

Soil microbes also play a preventive role in protecting plants from getting infected by pathogens. They induce disease resistance and physically coat the surface of roots to shield plants from infectious diseases. Examples of these plants include Acacia, Agapanthus, Tomato, Pittosporum etc. 

Environmentalists have started to deem synthetic fertilizers to be harmful to environmental health, leading to the increased usage of beneficial microorganisms for developing agricultural systems among gardeners and farmers. 

It may also include the use of organic fertilizers available in the market like Arktivate, which are made up of beneficial microbes essential for your plant’s health. 

Microbial lives have been known to farmers and gardeners as essential to plants’ health. Recent research reveals that nutrients are not recycled without a healthy microbial community, considerably reducing the plants’ potential to thrive.

Here is a list of 5 beneficial microbes: 

Soil bacteria represent some of the smallest single-celled organisms that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Scientists have discovered over 10 million species of bacteria occurring in various morphologies, i.e., different sizes and shapes, like a spiral, rod, sphere, etc. 

Beneficial soil microbes, i.e., bacterial cell biomass covering the surface of the earth, are approximately greater than all plants and animals biomass combined. 

Soil bacteria serve as inoculants to stimulate plant growth by increasing nutrient uptake. Bacteria are found in a variety of environmental conditions and are known to form symbiotic or parasitic relationships with plants. 

Bacteria are beneficial as they improve soil nutrients in the root zone and shield the plant against infectious diseases. 

Actinomycetes are single-celled bacteria abundantly found in the soil in thread-like filaments. Actinomycetes are responsible for the characteristic “earthy” smell of fresh soil. 

The major role actinomycetes play in plant growth is the cycling of organic matter that provides nutrients to plants. They inhibit the growth of various plant pathogens in the root area. Actinomycetes also decompose dead plants and increase the nitrogen levels in the soil. 

Actinomycetes act as biofertilizers and help maintain the soil equilibrium, aiding the development of a healthy ecosystem for plants. 

Fungi are found in the root zone and help make nutrients like Nitrogen, phosphate, and water available to plants. Fungi act as a decomposer; they improve soil quality by decomposing complex compounds to increase organic matter in the soil. This stimulates nutrient cycling and helps soil retain nutrients and moisture. 

As a beneficial microbial life, fungi help plants grow. Because fungi are made up of fine threads, they can spread over long distances, extract water and nutrients from far and bring it back to the plant roots. 

Fungi also help improve the plant’s resistance to pathogens and stress. 

Protozoa are single-celled organisms essential to the soil ecosystem. It is known to consume bacteria. This process is essential because the nutrients eaten by bacteria are released when protozoa eat the bacteria. 

Protozoa play an important role in increasing soil fertility by feeding on bacteria that extract nutrients and regulating their population. It helps boost nutrient cycling, thus causing an increase in the uptake of Nitrogen by plants. 

Protozoa are also beneficial for other soil microbes and help suppress diseases by competing with or feeding on pathogens. 

Nematodes are microscopic worms living inside or around the plant. Nematodes are beneficial microbes because they feed on organisms that are pests to plants. Gardeners also use nematodes to control the population of parasitic insects that are harmful to plants. 

Nematodes improve soil quality by regulating the population of other soil microorganisms, making nutrients available to plants, and consuming other disease-causing pests. 

Some nematodes are predators that feed on plant roots, while others are beneficial in mineralizing plant nutrients. 

Plants’ soil needs to be rich in nutrients, fertility, and equilibrium. All of these characteristics are upheld by the microbial lives found in soil. Farmers and gardeners have long known that soil microbes are essential for plant productivity and wellness. 

Without a thriving microbial community, plants cannot function well. So it is important to realize the benefits of microbial lives like fungi, bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, and actinomycetes along with other naturally occurring organisms and how they contribute to the health and wellness of your plants. 

Gardening can be a great way to spend time with a child. Add to that the benefits of growing flowers and vegetables and it’s a win-win for all involved

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Being part of a community garden in Singapore is a great way to get to know your neighbors, grow fresh produce and beautify your neighborhood. Similar to other methods like vertical gardens, it is a creative way to make some green space and generate more fresh air in an urban housing area.

Community gardens in Singapore offer a great opportunity to create green spaces where people can come together and cultivate a vibrant community. A community garden is generally a space where people can grow edibles and flowers, work with their hands and nurture a sense of connection with nature.

A good community garden has a few key features.

1. It should be easily accessible to all members of the community. This means that it should be centrally located and well-marked.
2. The garden should have both individual plots and communal areas. This will give gardeners the opportunity to grow a wide variety of plants and flowers, some for personal use and others for common use and sharing.
3. The garden should be well-maintained. This means regular watering, weeding, and pest control.
4. Finally, it is important to have a strong sense of community. This can be achieved through events, programs, and other opportunities for interaction and exchanging gardening tips.

A community garden with these features will be a valuable asset to any community.

One of the great things about community gardens is that they provide opportunities for people to grow their own preferred edibles and food like ladies fingers, chilli, basil and more. Whether you’re an experienced gardener or just starting out, you can find more info how you can get a small plot in a community garden or share it with someone.

In community gardens there are individual garden plots assigned. Each gardener has their own plot of land to tend. This is a great option if you want the independence of having your own garden, but you also want to be part of a supportive community.

Another benefit of individual garden plots is that they allow each gardener to tailor their gardening styles and approaches based on their own crop preferences and interests.

Some community gardens will have a designated area where you can hook up your watering hose. This allows you to water your plants without having to lug around a heavy watering can.

The garden hose should be long enough to reach all of your plants, and it should be equipped with a nozzle so that you can adjust the flow of water as needed.

The path between the different garden beds in a community garden is an important feature. It allows gardeners to move easily from one bed to another, and it also helps to keep the garden beds clean and free of debris without you having to walk over your plants.

In addition, the path provides a space for gardeners to rest and enjoy the view of the garden. The path should be wide enough for two people to walk side by side, and it should be well-lit and smooth . Gardeners should take care to avoid walking on the garden beds, which can damage the plants. SOme gardens even have enough space for a bench or deck chairs.

One important component that a community garden can have is a robust composting system. Compost bins help to reduce the amount of waste that goes to the landfill, and they provide a source of nutrient-rich compost for gardeners.

The best compost bins are made from durable materials like concrete or metal, and they should be large enough to accommodate a sizable volume of waste. Unfortunately in Singapore, this is still not yet widespread and still something that is growing emphasis in the pipeline.

A useful feature of a community garden is a place to store tools. This ensures that everyone has access to the necessary equipment and that it is properly maintained. If agreeable with the community, a tool shed can also be proposed for gardeners to gather and plan projects.

Community gardens have become increasingly popular in recent years, and for good reason. Gardening has been shown to promote healthy habits and lifestyles, increased wellness, stress relief, and a sense of community.

In Singapore, the community gardens are typically located near residential areas, they make some varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables more available to people who might otherwise not have easy access to them without taking some mode of transport.

Ultimately, community gardens provide a wide range of benefits that make them well worth the effort required to create and maintain them.

One of the most obvious benefits of community gardening is that it helps to beautify the landscape. Gardens can add color and life to an otherwise drab urban environment, and they can also provide a welcome respite from the noise and concrete of city living.

Community gardens in Singapore are often located in areas where there is a big and dense amount of residential units and households, making them a helpful addition and resource for members of the community.

Community gardens can help to create a sense of community pride and ownership. In an age when many people feel disconnected from their neighbors, community gardens provide an opportunity for people to come together, chat and work towards a common goal.

In addition, community gardens is proven to also improve mental and physical health. Gardening has been shown to reduce stress levels, improve dexterity, and increase levels of vitamin D.

In addition to providing healthy food options, community gardens also offer a place for people to connect with nature and their neighbors. Community gardens provide an opportunity for people to come together and create something beautiful, while also working towards a common goal.

A community garden can be a great place to teach people both beginners young and old about gardening. By working together in a communal space, people of all levels of gardening can learn from each other about different techniques and methods for growing plants and how to nurture them and what fertilisers are good for what type of plants.

Gardening can be a therapeutic activity, and it has been shown to reduce stress levels and improve mental health.

Singapore’s community gardens offer a variety of benefits to Singaporeans and urban residents young and old, from providing green space and fresh produce in an otherwise concrete jungle, to creating social connections and teaching children and seniors of all ages about gardening, environment and nutrition.

We’d love to hear about your personal experience with your own community gardens and what benefits your garden brings to your local community and heartland.

If you’ve ever read a gardening article or picked up a pack of fertiliser, you will have seen these three letters before. If you’re wondering what they mean, we’ve got you covered.

NPK is an abbreviation of the chemical symbols for the three main nutrients required by plants to grow – Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K).

The reason these get their own little abbreviation is because of how important they are for basic plant health. These three nutrients are responsible for almost every aspect of plant growth and are 3 of the 6 macro-nutrients plants need in heavy supply for proper growth. 

When it comes to adding nutrients to the soil for plants, the most important mix contains these three nutrients, because of how important they are. These are generally known as whole fertilisers. 

The reason that most fertilisers have an NPK analysis on the side is for comparisons between products. A product with a high concentration of N will act differently in your garden than a product with a higher P or K.

An NPK analysis lets buyers quickly know what type of fertiliser they’re buying.

Fertilisers are products that farmers and gardeners can add to their soil to increase the nutrients available for their plants. 

Fertilisers can come in organic or inorganic forms and can contain a variety of different nutrients that plants might need for proper growth.  

All products that are being sold as fertilisers will generally have an NPK analysis somewhere on their label. The exception to this rule is raw manure and composts or worm castings purchased directly from farms.

Nitrogen is one of the three primary nutrients in plant growth because it’s one of the main components of chlorophyll. 

Plants convert carbon dioxide and sunlight into sugars that they use for energy via photosynthesis. Chlorophyll in plant tissue is the main driver behind this process, so photosynthesis can be interrupted when nitrogen is lacking.

Part of the metabolic process that plants use to consume energy also relies heavily on nitrogen. 

So without nitrogen, plants wouldn’t be able to create or use energy from sunlight.

In terms of plant growth, nitrogen is responsible for amino acids and protein creation in leaves and stems, which provide strength and structure. It’s also a component of DNA, so is literally involved in plants right down to their basic building blocks. 

Because of these roles, fertilising with a high nitrogen fertiliser will result in big green growth in leaves and stems. Plants will grow rapidly and can bulk out really well. This is great if you’re growing leafy vegetables, or to get colour and coverage into your lawn. It’s not great if your plant is about to flower or fruit though.

An important point with nitrogen fertilising is that the plant can’t use it if it’s not actively growing. If you’re in a country with all four seasons (read: not Singapore) and you’ve got dormant plants over winter, or deciduous trees, adding nitrogen won’t do anything for them until they come out of their dormancy. By this time though, it’s likely the nitrogen will have leached from your soil, and been stolen by weeds or neighbouring plants. 

Phosphorus is also used by plants in the process of photosynthesis, but differently from nitrogen.

Phosphorus makes up part of the sugars produced by photosynthesis.

It’s also used in the metabolic processes which convert these sugars to energy through adenosine triphosphate (ATP). 

Finally, phosphorus is also involved in the transport of nutrients around the plant’s cells. 

For plant growth and reproduction, phosphorus is also extremely important. 

It’s responsible for cell multiplication as plants mature and grow, as well as in reproductive organ development. This includes leaves, stems, flowers, fruits, and roots. 

Plants that lack phosphorus won’t completely die, but growth will be stunted as they take longer to reach maturity, and will often have a low yield of flowers, fruits and leaves.

Phosphorus doesn’t really move much in the soil once it’s applied, so plants with good, strong, and expansive root systems will absorb more than those that don’t.

Gardeners can counter this by applying P directly to the root zone of their plants and watering it thoroughly. Moisture helps the nutrients diffuse through the soil and make contact with the root system to be absorbed. 

The periodic table symbol for potassium is K, which can be confusing.

A brief rundown of why potassium is known as K rather than P can be read here.

Potassium is involved in moving water, nutrients and energy sources around and within plants’ tissues, and is involved in the production of ATP for using energy. 

As Potassium is involved in moisture movement, one of its main roles is to help control the opening and closing of pores on the leaf surface called stomata.

Stomata control the exchange of oxygen, carbon dioxide and water with the air and are important for absorbing carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and transpiration for temperature control. 

This transportation around cells also helps in thickening cell walls, so plant stems are strengthened when there is good potassium availability. Strong cell walls also mean an increased resilience to pests and diseases. 

Its other main function is to move moisture and sugars to reproductive parts of the plant and control the metabolic processes of flower, fruit and seed development.

A plant with ready access to potassium should have juicier and sweeter fruits, and higher-quality flowers.

A big drawback of applying too much potassium to your garden though is that it can inhibit the absorption of other nutrients, like nitrogen and magnesium.

Plant nutrition goes way beyond the 3 letters we just spoke about. Plants, as living organisms, are complex and so are their needs.

In order to provide your plants with both nutrients and an ecosystem where they can thrive, it is best to use organic fertiliser, like Arktivate, that contains balanced NPK content as well as trillions of microbes. This would ensure healthy soil for your plants to grow faster and bloom longer.

You can get a fairly good understanding of what NPK is without getting too into plant physiology and soil science, but the more you know about these three nutrients, the better you’ll be in the long term.

Nitrogen is responsible for leaf and stem growth. Applying it will give big green leaves or thick lawns that you’ll need to harvest or mow shortly after.

Phosphorus is responsible for energy transfer and utilisation in your plants. Applying it will help your plant grow and mature, and help its root systems develop better.

Potassium is responsible for sugars and water movement around plant cells. Applying it will help with fruit and flower quality and will thicken cell walls which improve pest and disease resistance.

And finally, don’t forget about other nutrients as well as microbes that you plants need for a healthy and balanced growth.

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Due to the rising popularity of gardening as a hobby in Singapore, many have tried their hands on adding a little color to spice up their living and working spaces. Where some have succeeded in creating lush and vibrant gardenscapes that have their own mini eco-systems in their home, others may experience the opposite due to constraints in space, knowledge and time to care for their plants or simply lacking ‘green thumbs’.

Almost all growers know that nitrogen is required for plant growth and is one of the first things people look out for in fertiliser compositions.

Nitrogen is a key nutrient required for plant growth. It is classified as a macronutrient for plants, in that it requires a fairly large amount for adequate growth, and is present in relatively high concentration within the plant. Healthy plants can typically contain 3-4% of nitrogen, and as high as 5-6% for legumes. Outside of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, nitrogen holds the highest concentration in plant tissues.

Interestingly, nitrogen is an essential element, not just for plant life – but for all life. It is a key component for all amino acids and nucleotides, in which DNA, RNA, enzymes and proteins are made from.

Plants use nitrogen to produce the necessary protoplasms and amino acids required for the building of plant tissue and plant proteins. Nitrogen is also required to produce enzymes necessary to support various biochemical processes during its life.

The production of these proteins and enzymes present themselves to us as plant growth – new leaf formations, stems and shoot growth, proteins and enzymes in the roots, and finally in the storage of protein in the grains, fruits and seeds of the plant.

Chemical structure of amino acids. Look out for the N(nitrogen) in every one of them. Protein synthesis from amino acids. N, which is present in every amino acid – is the building block for all proteins, which all living matter is made of.

A simple way to visualise the importance of nitrogen would be to imagine that a plant is trying to build itself a large, towering structure. N (nitrogen) would be the basic material that makes up the “brick and mortar” in which it uses to do so.

Nitrogen is also a major factor in the process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process that allows plants to convert light energy, water and carbon dioxide into sugars and biochemical energy, which it uses to fuel its growth.

Nitrogen not only makes up a vital part of chlorophyll molecules – the all important green pigment that gives plants the ability to photosynthesise, but is also a required element in the actual biochemical process.

With this understanding, to look at it in practical terms, plants that have sufficient nitrogen present are able to build bigger structures from more roots, stems and shoots (from better cell growth). This in turn results in more, bigger and greener leaves (better cell growth and higher chlorophyll content), and can photosynthesise better (higher rates of biochemical processes).

This combination of a larger surface area (from a larger leaf cover) to capture light and energy, together with higher rates of photosynthesis means the plant produces more energy, in which it can channel toward better plant growth and development.

On the flip side, plants that are lacking in nitrogen will be smaller and have smaller leaves (poorer cell growth), and potentially yellowed leaves (lower chlorophyll content) and lower rates of photosynthesis.

This means that the plant has less ability to photosynthesise, which directly translates to less energy for growth.

Both cycles described above can be reinforcing as a virtuous or vicious cycles. As such, nitrogen availability becomes a vital part of plant nutrition.

Nitrogen is actually the most abundant element in our air and atmosphere; 78% of our atmosphere is made of nitrogen. To give an illustration of how abundant nitrogen is, it is calculated that the air over 1 square metre of land space holds about 9 metric tonnes of nitrogen. Yet, we still find the need to add nitrogen as fertiliser for our plants.

A reason is that nitrogen in the air is incredibly unreactive. It is inert and insoluble due to the strong triple covalent bond between the N2 particles. As such it is considered non-bioavailable and cannot be used by most plants in its gaseous form.

However, we know that for many millennia, plants have grown without the assistance of fertilisers. In the case of nitrogen, this is due to the natural series of repeating processes known as the nitrogen cycle.

As mentioned, the triple bond in N2 is extremely strong, and is very difficult to break into something usable by plants and animals. However, when and once are broken apart, they are able to quickly form other chemical molecules that can be used by living matter. Some of these other forms include ammonia and ammonium, nitrates and nitrites, as well as nitric oxide gases.

When this occurs, the atmospheric N2 gas is considered “fixed” into a usable form for plants.

Naturally occurring phenomena with great energy, such as lightning and volcanic eruptions have enough energy to break apart these triple bonds, and combine with the oxygen in the air to form nitrogen oxides. When rain falls, these oxides in the atmosphere are then dissolved into nitrates, which are then absorbed by the ground as a form of nitrogen that is now available to plants.

However, such natural phenomena do not contribute the bulk of nitrogen that is considered “fixed” and usable in the ground.

Most of the nitrogen fixation in our ground is done by bacteria. These bacteria exist in our soils and water, and produce a unique enzyme known as nitrogenase, which is able to reduce nitrogen gas to ammonia.

This unseen role of bacteria and the scale at which it occurs underlies the importance of microbiology in our natural ecology and the benefits it brings. Without the action of nitrogen fixing bacteria, there would be significantly less plant matter on the Earth, and as a result, significantly less animal life and biodiversity.

Before the advent of synthetic and industrial fertilisers, bacteria, together with naturally occurring weather patterns and other natural phenomena was the primary way of fixing nitrogen into the ground. In the early 20th century, a industrial process was found to be able to fix nitrogen from the air, also known as the Haber Bosch Process.

This process combines Nitrogen (N2) gas and Hydrogen (H2) Gas under high pressure and high temperature to produce ammonia (NH3)

The Haber Bosch process has undoubtedly helped increase land and farm productivity, having been a key component in the green revolution of the 20th century in feeding our world population. However, in the industrial production of nitrogen inputs, there have also been environmental concerns, as it is an extremely energy intensive process, and may have contributed to disruptions in the natural nitrogen cycle due to a buildup of reactive nitrogen in our atmosphere.

At Arktivate, we are using the same spirit of innovation from those that have come before us, to find more efficient and ecological solutions to fixing nitrogen for plant growth.

Our live microbial formulation in all our products contain large live populations of bacteria to fix nitrogen for plants. Complementary microbial populations also help create the ideal environment for microbial life to proliferate, and bring life back into our ground.

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