What Is the Best Fertilizer for Palay in the Philippines?
There is no single best fertilizer for palay. The best one is the right grade, at the right growth stage, in the amount your soil needs. In the usual plans, that means complete 14 14 14 or 16 20 0 at basal, urea for top dressing and muriate of potash with the last dose. On anee.io, a farm app built for Filipino farmers, each dose gets a date on your lots, and the NPK Plus calculator checks the nutrients first.
Every agri supply sells bags in many colors and names. The names change from store to store, but the three numbers on each bag do not. That grade tells you what your palay really gets.
Good fertilizer use comes down to Make EAT right: the right Element, Amount and Timing. So the best fertilizer for palay is a plan, not a brand.
- Read the grade, not the brand. Bags with the same grade carry the same nutrients.
- Match the stage. Complete or 16 20 0 at basal, urea for top dressing, potash with the last dose.
- Size it to your field with a soil test, MOET or the Rice Crop Manager.
- Compare the price per kilo of nutrient, not per bag.
What are the best types of fertilizer for palay?
Five inorganic fertilizer types cover most palay plans here. Their prices are checked every week, so they are easy to compare.
| Fertilizer | Grade (N P K) | Nutrients in a 50 kg bag | Main job in palay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urea | 46 0 0 | 23 kg N | Top dressing for tillers and panicles |
| Complete | 14 14 14 | 7 kg each of N, P2O5 and K2O | Basal dose at 0 to 14 DAT |
| Ammophos | 16 20 0 | 8 kg N and 10 kg P2O5 | Basal dose, in place of complete |
| Ammonium sulfate (ammosul) | 21 0 0 | 10.5 kg N plus sulfur | Nitrogen where the soil also lacks sulfur |
| Muriate of potash | 0 0 60 | 30 kg K2O | With the last nitrogen dose, for fuller grain |
Complete 14 14 14 and 16 20 0 put phosphorus in early, when it helps roots and tillers grow. Urea then feeds the tillers and panicles. Potash goes in with the last nitrogen, because it supports grain size and filled grains. Each grade has its own guide: urea, 14 14 14, 16 20 0, ammonium sulfate and potash.
What fertilizer plan works for palay?
The Abonong Swak plans of 2022 turn these rules into bags per hectare. Here is the plan for 5 to 6 tons with a 100 to 110 day variety. DAT means days after transplanting, and longer varieties move each top dressing a few days later.
Basal, 0 to 14 DAT
Apply 2 bags of 14 14 14 or 16 20 0 per hectare and mix them into the mud. Direct seeded rice gets it at 10 to 14 days after sowing (DAS).
First top dressing, 18 to 22 DAT
Apply 1 bag of urea per hectare, or at 24 to 28 DAS in direct seeded rice.
Second top dressing, 28 to 32 DAT
Apply 1 more bag of urea with half a bag of 0 0 60, or at 38 to 42 DAS.
Organic matter
Work 5 to 6 tons of rice straw back in, then add 10 bags of decomposed chicken manure, commercial organic fertilizer or vermicompost at 14 DAT.
For 3 to 4 tons, the plan drops to 1 bag of complete, then 1 bag of urea with half a bag of 0 0 60. For 7 to 8 tons, each urea dose doubles to 2 bags. Treat these as starting points only. Set the amount from MOET, the leaf color chart or the Rice Crop Manager Advisory Service, as our fertilizer for rice guide explains.
Fertilizer application for rice: habits that keep nutrients in your field
- Mix granular fertilizer into the soil, so fewer nutrients leach away or escape as gas.
- Give only 30 percent of the total nitrogen at the first application.
- Top dress into shallow water, 2 to 5 cm deep, in the cooler hours after 3 PM.
- Work last season's rice straw into the soil instead of burning it. More in fertilizer application methods.
Own a leaf color chart? Read it every 7 days from 14 DAT until early flowering. Apply nitrogen only when 6 or more of 10 leaves read below 4, or below 3 in direct seeded rice.
Which fertilizer brands are best for palay?
We do not rank or review fertilizer brands, and a ranking would not help your crop. Any registered 50 kg bag of 46 0 0 should hold 23 kg of nitrogen, whoever made it.
The FPA list of registered fertilizer products shows each product's company, grade, target crops, registration number and expiry date. A trusted brand is on that list and sold sealed by a licensed dealer. See where to buy fertilizer near you for what to check in the store.
What about reviews and top selling fertilizers?
We know of no official sales ranking or rating for palay fertilizer in the Philippines. Online stars cannot tell you if your soil lacks potash. What raises yield is the nutrient your field is short of, given on time.
How do I compare prices across fertilizer brands?
Divide the bag price by the kilos of nutrient inside. Kilos of nutrient equal the bag weight times the grade number, divided by 100. Here is that arithmetic at the national average prices for October 5 to 9, 2026.
| Grade | Average price per 50 kg bag | Nutrient in the bag | Price per kg of nutrient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urea 46 0 0, prilled | PHP 2,241.41 | 23 kg N | PHP 97.45 per kg N |
| Ammosul 21 0 0 | PHP 1,238.95 | 10.5 kg N | PHP 118.00 per kg N |
| Complete 14 14 14 | PHP 1,897.00 | 21 kg of N, P2O5 and K2O | PHP 90.33 per kg, all three together |
| Muriate of potash 0 0 60 | PHP 1,673.88 | 30 kg K2O | PHP 55.80 per kg K2O |
Now two brands of the same grade, at example prices only. Brand A 14 14 14 costs PHP 1,850 and brand B costs PHP 1,950. Each bag holds 21 kg of nutrient, so brand A costs PHP 88.10 per kilo and brand B PHP 92.86. If both are on the FPA list, brand A is the better buy.
Compare like with like, though: nitrogen in urea against nitrogen in ammosul. This week's numbers are in our guide to the fertilizer price in the Philippines.
Buy only sealed bags that show the grade and the FPA registration number. The FPA asks buyers to avoid, and to report, sellers of unregistered or smuggled products. Our guide to the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority shows how to check a product in a few minutes.
How does anee.io help me use the right fertilizer for palay?
Start with the NPK Plus calculator. Tap the fertilizers you plan to use, and it adds up the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, then says if that is short, right or too much for your crop. Next, write the doses into the Protocol Builder. The cropping calendar then dates each one from every lot's own day zero.
Not sure which grade fits a yellowing lot? Send a photo to Anee, the smart farm technician, in Tagalog or English. She reads the lot's stage, weather and past doses before she answers, and her answers use credits.
Sign up free, add your lots and let anee.io put a date on each fertilizer dose. The NPK Plus calculator comes with Libre plus Anee.
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