Steve Solomon COF, anyone use it?

[Patman75]

Has anyone used or is using Steve Solomon's Complete Organic Fertilizer (COF)?

What were your results? Good, bad?

I going to try using it this year to help with my garden that is part of a old farm field that has been farmed for decades. My garden soil is very nutrient deficent. My first year nothing grew, last year with chicken manure/bedding added to the compost pile everything improved.

I hoping for a very good garden year.

Thanks!

 

[mare]

Did you do a soil test to find out what your soil is missing? You're better off finding out what is missing and adding that than spending $ on something you may not need or have too much.

 

[Patman75]

Did you do a soil test to find out what your soil is missing? You're better off finding out what is missing and adding that than spending $ on something you may not need or have too much.

Yes, it is very low everything. When you grow corn and soybeans on the same patch over and over again for decades the soil becomes very depleted. My first year my zucs only grew 1 foot tall and I got only a couple. My onions where the size of my thumb.

 

[Patman75]

I planted some peas, spinach and lettuce today.

I top dressed the beds with COF and compost from kitchen scraps & chicken bedding/manure. Time will tell if makes a difference.

 

[Theo]

I use Solomon's organic fertilizer recipe. I also follow his advice on how much to apply per square foot, from "Gardening West of the Cascades". I have good results, but not spectacular--it's not like the non-organic formulations like Scott's or Miracle Grow. It's slow releasing, and I suspect I'll see some improvement in those beds next year as well.

My new garden this year is in an old worn out pasture. I added 6 yards of composted horse manure last year, tilled it up this spring and made raised beds. I brought in some extra composted loam to make some of the beds, because the soil in the pasture is packed clay. So it's not ideal, yet I am getting some pretty nice cabbages, potatoes and tomatoes out of it. I plan to keep adding composted horse manure every year, and practice a rotation with a long fallow under grass every 4 years.

I also have chickens, but not enough to make manure for a giant garden--that's why I am bringing in horse manure. Solomon has some tart remarks to make about horse manure, because it's typically mixed with a lot of carbon in the form of sawdust or fir bark. It takes a long time to break down all that carbon. So my method is flawed. I mostly want the horse manure to improve the tilth of the soil, which is sticky clay.

 

[Patman75]

Overall my garden went very well. My beets are huge and still taste great, peppers did better than any other year. Overall everything did better than previous years. I changed up his formula a little because It has hard to find cottonseed meal. I used Alfalpha meal instead with an extra ratio of blood meal for extra nitrogen since the alfalpha is only 2-1-1.

 

[Veggie PAK]

When you had your soil analysis, did they tell you how many pounds of each fertilizer you needed to add to bring it up into the neutral Ph range or did they just give you a readout?

Now that you have had a successful year, I would do a soil test again to fine tune it, and anything that you thought wasn't quite right I would ask the lab for suggestions to remedy the situation. I'm going to do that with mine in the fall so it will have time to work into the soil. If you can get any compost, I would really put it on. The beneficial microbes will do wonders for the health of your plants.

I'm glad you did pretty well with it. Congrats!

 

[Patman75]

When you had your soil analysis, did they tell you how many pounds of each fertilizer you needed to add to bring it up into the neutral Ph range or did they just give you a readout?

Now that you have had a successful year, I would do a soil test again to fine tune it, and anything that you thought wasn't quite right I would ask the lab for suggestions to remedy the situation. I'm going to do that with mine in the fall so it will have time to work into the soil. If you can get any compost, I would really put it on. The beneficial microbes will do wonders for the health of your plants.

I'm glad you did pretty well with it. Congrats!

I did just did one of the home tests, I remember that nitrogen was non existant and the other were very low. . I have a large compost pile going for next spring's use. Every fall I throw in bags of leaves and let the chickens in the garden. They do a good job of tearing the leaves and adding extra nitrogen behind. I kick them out about 1.5 months before I start planting in the spring. And any night crawlers that hang around on the driveway after a good rain gets relocated to the garden and compost pile.

If I remember correctly The COF also helps with increasing the benefical microbes and you really can't over do it. It is slow release and natural/organic.