Organic Fertilizers - Interesting Read

[seedcorn]

This year, farmers that knifed in manure are having much more insect problems (mainly white grubs) than commercial fertilizer. Most ground insects will gravitate towards manure based fertilizers as they want the fibers that you are laying down. Insects aren't after the fertilizer but the mulch/fibers in the ground. I love manure for a fertilizer but insects are more of a problem, not less.

Manure is water soluble so if not knifed in or worked in, will run with any water and the fiber will bunch up and form little islands all over fields that kill all vegetation--including what you planted. Then if you don't break the little pockets up, here come the insects. They don't care whether it's organic or not, they just want fiber. Plus the fibers will tie up the nitrogen in the manure or soil causing nitrogen deprivation to the plant.

Commercial fertilizer applied to heavily will burn/kill plants. We're seeing the same problem in fields when manure is applied to replace commercial fertilizer. IF we had the time to compost the manure (we don't) we wouldn't burn the plants but would have to apply more nitrogen than needed to help digest the fibers we've added.

After typing this, it has nothing to do w/organic vs. non-organic. There are no magic cures to my knowledge out there. It's feed them, let them drink, give them sun to make energy, you will be successful.

 

[hoodat]

I read studies like this with caution; they often (If not usually) have a bias in one direction or another going in. If my experience tells me one thing and the study something else I will go with my experience.
There is one big advantage of organic fertilizer that is seldom mentioned. IT'S FREE!! Almost anyone can find a free source of it if they look around. Riding stables are found all over the country, even in the largest cities. Often the horse manure is free if you muck out the stalls. Failing all else there are the trimmings from the vegetables sold in grocery stores. Talking to the manager will often result in you being able to use them in your compost. Remember that even vegetables grown on chemical fertilizers become organic compost when broken down by the organisms in the compost pile.

 

[digitS']

I've been poking around trying to get a better handle on how best to provide nutrients for my plants . . .

I use just about anything organic as a compost ingredient. There is never, ever enuf and I'm not going to dedicate days and days (weeks ) to supplying all the nutrients needed in large gardens.

The use of manure out of the bed of the pickup really wound down to a compost ingredient OR, I used it for a number of years in the corn patch. These days, the choice is an organic fertilizer.

I just find it lots easier and feel that I need to trust the analysis which usually has much higher percentages than anything that could come out of my compost pile. That compost - I think of as improving tilth. Yes, I know it has plant nutrients but it goes where it would do the most good and that doesn't mean spreading it 1/2" deep around a few 1,000 square feet where it would really, amount to nothing. Just me . . . and, my aching back . . .

Steve

 

[baymule]

So, even if some of the information is misleading, or even false, that does not make all of it false. Can we examine some of the statements to determine if they are false or true?
For instance, has anybody found that non-organic fertilizer attracts pests to plants? Or is it just that organically fertilized plants repel pests? I am using only organics this year and have very few pests so far.(knock wood) How is your garden doing with organic fertilizers?

solucky, I am 100% organic, use no commercial fertlizers and no chemical pesticides. Most crops do well, sometimes there is a loser in the bunch. I have chickens and horses and I compost the manure and then dig it in the garden. I still get weeds and bugs. Organic is not a bullet proof shield. I mix a bug spray I call Voo-Doo Juice.

1 package chewing tobacco
1 pod garlic, crushed (not just a clove, but the whole pod)
1/4 cup liquid dishwashing soap
1/4 tobasco hot sauce

Boil 1 gallon water, add tobacco and crushed garlic.
Let steep until cool. Strain.
Add soap and tobasco.
Pour into a 2 gallon sprayer and top with water.
Spray after 7 pm, close to dusk so as not to zap any bees.

I had some real nasty worms that were eating foliage, tomatoes and everything. They didn't give a hoot that they were wiping out my organic garden. The Voo-Doo Juice wiped them out and I always fight squash borers, so I soaked down the stems and root base of all my squash plants, some that were already infected with borers. Voo-Doo Juice wiped them out too!

Click on my name, go to my profile and look up topics posted. You will see pictures of my garden; judge for yourself if organic works or not.

 

[The Mama Chicken]

My grandpa swears by a tobacco juice spray for his tomatoes. I've heard it can spread tobacco mosaic virus to the tomatoes, but he's done it for more than 70 years now, and his mother did it before him. He also suggested that I sprinkle snuff (powdered tobacco) to get rid of my squash bugs. I wonder if your "juice" would work on them baymule?

 

[plainolebill]

We make our own fertilizer - it isn't 'organic' but it is organic(ish).

This is from Steve Solomon's "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades"

4 parts seed meal - we use linnseed meal
1/2 part dolomite lime
1/2 part rock phosphate
1/2 part kelp meal

All of the components break down fairly slowly so there is no danger of burning your plants. We do use organic liquid fertilizers for boosters during the growing season as well.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Wasn't there a guy in the '70s and '80s that had a TV show all about organic gardening and how to make your own mixtures for all sorts of garden problems? I seem to think his first name was Jerry but I don't know why. He sold how-to books and videos. Chewing tobacco was one of his favorite ingredients. I'll see if I can find him on the web.

 

[seedcorn]

I remember him as he was on PBS. I still use some of his principles in my garden and job. He used liquid detergent for an insecticide as my folks used dirty dish water and from the washing machine for the same purpose especially the vine borers.

I don't remember him being so much organic but use common household ingredients to make your own insecticides, foliar feeds, etc.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

I don't remember him being so much organic but use common household ingredients to make your own insecticides, foliar feeds, etc.

Yeah, I think you're right.

 

[digitS']

I'm going to suggest some caution.

Jerry Baker is self-proclaimed "America's Master Gardener." Yes, he had a lot of formulas but some of them are really not things you might expect. Like, birth control pills & scotch whiskey. I was left wondering if he was talking about yard care of a college frat party . . .

The manufacturers of commercial nicotine based insecticides are withdrawing from the market - or, already have withdrawn. These products are just very toxic.

Here is the caution from Montana State University, "Nicotine also has high mammalian toxicity (humans, dogs, cats, horses, cattle, etc.). According to oral toxicity trials, nicotine is more toxic than many commonly used synthetic pesticides including resmethrin, Banvel (dicamba), malathion, and 2,4-D towards mammals. Doses extracted from cigarettes for use in pest control are often much higher than doses one would receive from one cigarette or pinch of snuff." (Cecil Tharp, Pesticide Education Specialist, Montana State University click)

Steve