Four types of controlled release fertilizers, CRF2, CRF3, CRF4 and CRF5, were prepared out of a common compound fertilizer (N-P₂ O₅ -K₂ O: 15-15-15) by coating it with superfine phosphate rock powder (SPRP), which accounted for 0%, 40%, 50% and 60% of the total coating in mass, separately. Electronic microscope scanning, static water releasing, soil incubation and a field experiment were conduced to explore characteristics of their nutrient release and their effects on physiologic traits of Chinese cabbage. Results show that the use of superfine phosphate rock powder in coating markedly improved evenness and density of the surface of the coating and hence its capability of controlling nutrient release, and the effect increased with the proportion of the powder in coating. The four kinds of homemade SPRP-coated fertilizers had a nutrient releasing period, 58～68 days longer than the common compound fertilizer had but still shorter than 88 days the resin coated fertilizers (CRF1) had. However, their apparent nitrogen release rates were approximate to that of CRF1. Besides, the four SPRP-coated fertilizers increased the chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate, and transpiration rate in the leaves of the plant during its middle and late growth stages, the activities of SOD, CAT and POD during its balling period, the biomass per head by 0.17~0.77kg, the yield by 6.66%~35.5%, and sugar/acid ratio, soluble sugar content, and V_c content of the head of the plant at the harvest stage. Comparison with CRF1 shows that they made no big differences in physiological traits of the plant. In terms of nutrient release and effects on physiological traits of the plant the four homemade fertilizers follow the order of CRF4≈CRF5>CRF3>CRF2.