Fertilizer and Pesticide Distributors Key Terms

Familiarize yourself with the vocabulary of fertilizer and pesticide distributors

By Lisa Maloney

If you'd like to deal with fertilizer and pesticide distributors confidently, you need to understand as much as possible about the products in question and the governing organizations and processes. Many pesticides are considered to be hazardous chemicals and, in some cases, chemical fertilizers may require careful handling as well. Use this list of basic key terms as a starting point for your research and education about the workings of fertilizer and pesticide distributors.

Exposure assessment

An exposure assessment is a process through which the Environmental Protection Agency and other monitoring organizations evaluate who and what--including people, animals and ecosystems--will be exposed to a given chemical or substance, including fertilizers and pesticides. In short, it's a way of looking at the long term distribution of fertilizers and pesticides throughout the ecosystem.
Try: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency details what an exposure assessment is and how an exposure assessment is conducted on chemicals such as pesticides.

Organic

While most of us tend to equate the word "organic" with certain standards of food production, the word has a slightly different connotation when used in the world of fertilizer. A statement that a fertilizer is organic simply means that it's been processed little, if at all, and is made from plant and animal matter as opposed to synthetic sources.
Try: Rainy Side Gardeners explains both organic matter and organic fertilizer in its glossary of gardening and growing terms.

Pesticides

While most people associate the notion of pesticides with harsh chemicals, the true definition of a pesticide extends to anything that kills pests, of both plant and animal varieties. Some natural products make extremely effective pesticides and, in fact, an herbicide used to kill pest plants would be considered a pesticide, too.
Try: The Global Healing Center explains the benefits of organic pesticides and provides examples.

Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium

Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the three most critical nutrients needed for plant growth and production. The ratio of these nutrients present is often noted on the label of commercially available fertilizers and is sometimes designated as NPK.
Try: The Fertilizer Institute gives examples of common fertilizer products that contain each of the critical NPK nutrients and the concentration of each nutrient as well.

IPCS INCHEM

The International Programme on Chemical Safety, or IPCS INCHEM, monitors and provides rapid access to, as stated on their website, "internationally peer reviewed information on chemicals used throughout the world, which may also occur as contaminants in the environment and food." These, of course, include pesticides.
Try: IPCS INCHEM offers collections of data sheets on the hazards of pesticides that may be in use around the world.

Soil pH

Soil pH determines how much of which nutrients are made available to plants. If soil is too acidic, pesticides will be held in the soil instead of absorbed, then released into the environment through runoff from the garden or fields.
Try: The Soil Science Education Home Page discusses how soil pH affects plant growth, fertilizer use and pesticide efficacy.