Are plants gluttons?

Question

Do plants eat everything they are fed or do they only take what they need?

Answer 1

umm, I would't really try to associate plants with being gluttons.  They work on a somewhat different uptake system than "hand-to-mouth."  They do tend to take up whatever they can though.  Often they don't have too much of a choice.  In that sense I guess they are "gluttons", but that implies that there is a conscious choice and most people would be somewhat hesitant to ascribe any sort of consciousness to a plant ( I might, but it is not a popular belief).  So to some extent plants can limit the uptake of some things, but I reckon that if you put on a hight npk, you would end up killing the plant by "burning" it.

Answer 2

Plants can only take up a limited amount of fertiliser and the rest is washed away, this causes problems in water bodies downstream so it's never a good idea to over fertilise. Adjusting the NPK is always an option, it depends on your locality and the plants your caring for though, you know.

Generally if the plant has a chronic deficiency I would look at the soil pH before fertilising and see if that can be adjusted or at least stick to a slow release pellet cause the liquid stuff is a bit of a waste of your energies.