~*~ Organic vs Chemical Fertilizers ~*~ What’s the difference? Organic fertilizers are naturally occurring and chemical fertilizers are made by man in a lab/plant. I would say most people know this, but what are the benefits and disadvantages of each? We can start by looking at the Chemical fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers usually only contain a few nutrients – generally nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and some sulfur, either singly or in combination. Unless you have a slow release type, they are typically ready for plant uptake upon application. The positive in that is if you have neglected some plants you can get them the needed nutrient quicker. This comes with some complications and some not-so-good things though. For one, chemical fertilizers often need to be used multiple times throughout the growing season. These type of fertilizers also cause run-off in our rivers and lakes, which cause mass algae blooms that deplete waters of oxygen, affecting fish, and otherwise disrupting the natural ecosystem. It is also easier to apply too much and “burn” your plants. Not only can these Chemical fertilizers damage your plants and create havoc with our local ecosystem but it is also believed they can be damaging to your health: “In the U.S., generally there are three hyphenated numbers (for example: 15-5-10) on the front label of fertilizer bags representing the percentage of each element by weight in the bag. The elements represented are N, P, and K. Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. For example, the expression 15-5-10 means: 15% of the bags weight contains Nitrogen, 5% of the bags weight contains phosphorous, and 10% of the bags weight contains Potassium. Upon further reading on a bag, you will see an analysis of the types of chemical compounds used in order to reach these percentages. In other words, you will see a listing of the chemicals used to reach those percentages of 15-5-10. The synthetic chemicals used to reach these percentages of 15-5-10 can be different in different fertilizers. Some chemicals are more harsh than others, but they all end up being harmful to plants and animals. These components written on the bag are guaranteed to be in the bag by law. You will notice in the above example that 15-5-10 add up to a total of 30% of the weight of the bag. What is in the other 70% of the bag? It is not disclosed. It does not have to be revealed. It can be just about anything...including, and often, industrial waste. Some things this mysterious 70% could contain are clay, sand, sawdust, perlite, rice hulls, calcium carbonate (to dampen the detonation properties of the Nitrogens ammonium nitrate), corn cob grit, vermiculite, limestone, sludge, slag, industrial waste. Most people would be skeptical to believe that toxic residues from industry would be used to fill up the majority of a bag of fertilizer. Believe it. It is actually widespread. You can search the fertilizer codes of some states and see (e.g. Kentucky and its procedures on slag). An independent research group tested fertilizers from only 12 states for 22 toxic heavy metals...and found that these fertilizers contained high levels of these toxic substances. Of the 29 fertilizers tested some were major and popular brands. Lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, barium, chromium, nickel, beryllium, dioxin, etc. can be pretty potent stuff. You can have kids and pets playing on the stuff, people breathing the dust, these toxins getting into the water runoff, agricultural accumulation in soils, plants and vegetables uptake many of these, etc. The metals found in these fertilizers are known or suspected carcinogens (cancer causing), reproductive and developmental, liver, and blood toxicants. In about a five year period, 270,000,000 (270 million) pounds of toxic waste was sent to fertilizer companies and farms according to reports from 44 different states. Regulations are extremely strict if industry wishes to dispose of toxic waste in lined landfills. However, regulations are relatively lax if they transfer the waste or resell it.” Source https://southlandorganics/health-effects-synthetic-fertilizer This source link serves to back up the health dangers of consuming heavy metals in manmade fertilizers. lef.org/protocols/prtcls-txt/t-prtcl-156.htm Let’s talk about Organic Fertilizers now. Organic fertilizers usually contain many plant nutrients in low concentrations. Many of these nutrients have to be converted into inorganic forms by soil bacteria and fungi before plants can use them, so they typically are more slowly released, over time. This is how nature does it and mimicking what works in nature also works in gardening. Though there are many different types of Organic fertilizers, I will name just a few. Blood meal (12.5-1.5-0.6), bat guano (8-5-1.5) , manures (variable nutrient contents), Burned eggshells (0-.5-.3), fish emulsion (5-1-1) and urea (urine) (46-0-0). To boost the nitrogen content of your soils, apply nitrogen rich urea (42-46 percent N), feathers (15 percent N), blood meal (12.5 percent N), bat guano (12.3 percent N) or dried blood (12 percent N). Organic amendments highest in phosphorus include rock phosphate (20-33 percent P), bone meal (15-27 percent P) and colloidal phosphate (17-25 percent P). High in potassium are kelp (4-13 percent K), wood ash (3-7 percent K), granite meal (3-6 percent K) and greensand (5 percent K). One thing to think about before scooping some fresh dog poo off your lawn and putting it in your garden is it does take time to compost manure, otherwise you can spread pathogens and burn your plants. Typically we find using manure too quickly will just slow the growth, but it could damage the plants as well. One of my favorite and most consistent ways to provide my plants with nutrient throughout the growing season is by making a worm or compost tea. I raise worms in a bin throughout the year and all is needed is some of my leftover food scraps and to keep them moist. I then use the castings(poo) of the worms and molasses along with a 5 gallon bucket and a fish tank bubbler to aerate the brew. Follow this link to our favorite article on compost tea written by Taylor of Green Dreams. greendreamsfl/#!Compost-Tea/c1pt1/C33F0CCA-6F53-4EC2-BBD2-4EF8D185E52F I hope this article has helped in learning more about the different types of fertilizers and why staying Chemical free is better for the environment, better for your plants and better for your health. Stay tuned to Nature Coast Real Food Project on Facebook as we continue to educate on the benefits of chemical free food. Get more articles like these and updates on events we host in the local area, like the garden we will create next Sunday. Travis Morehead Nature Coast Real Food Project
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 23:20:01 +0000
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