Organic Gardening
What is an organic fertilizer?
An organic fertilizer is one that comes from the remains of an organism or the by-product of those remains. Meaning that the source of these products come from a wide range of plant and animal remains, including manure, blood, plant clippings, and even sewage sludge. These are typical so-called organic fertilizers that can be easily acquired at any chain home improvement warehouse.
While many of these are sold as soil conditioners the long term effects of using these products has not been determined. Can you imagine eating a Tomato, or any vegetable for that matter, that was grown in sewer sludge. The name alone is repulsive. And the products actually come from municipal waste water treatment facilities. They come activated and composted. Activated is normally granular with high nutrient concentrations, while composted is more of an additive with low nutrient concentration. Ever wonder how many farms use this to produce your food? The harmful bacteria count in this product is much cause for concern.
Many slaughter houses collect the blood from cattle to be processed into blood meal. While it may be high in nitrogen it lacks the ability to offer stabilized feeding to plants and could cause the plant to burn( death to plant ) if fed in high amounts. Blood meal has other trace elements such as iron that could be beneficial, if the nitrogen content weren’t so high. While this organic fertilizer is much better than sewer sludge, there is still a possibility that it may have come from diseased animals. Some diseases are not fully eradicated during processing and may end up in your vegetables.( i.e. salmonella)
Manure can be a fine fertilizer when composted. Many plants like the energy rich nutrients found in manure. While manure is considered an organic fertilizer, if not composted properly, it may harbor forms of hepatitis and other harmful bacteria that will transfer into the meat of some vegetables such as Tomatoes. Fresh manure has the highest concentration of nutrients but it may cause root burn, which is why it is important to compost. Many flowering plants like roses and gardenia will show their appreciation for this mixture by offering up beautiful flowers and lush green leaves.
Grass clippings and plant cuttings are another excellent source of nutrients as organic fertilizers. Clippings can be composted alone or mixed with manure allowing you to maximize nutrients when the combination has broken down. Composted grass and plant clippings are by far the most useful organic fertilizer possible as nature was designed for this process to occur. You can even throw in leftover vegetables and coffee grounds, but leave out the meats.
One problem with these types of organic fertilizer is they lack balance. Plants need a balanced diet to perform their best. While composted clippings and manure are great natural fertilizers, they don’t necessarily offer the balance that optimizes plant growth. Since many of us have been adding store bought, commercial fertilizers to our lawns and gardens for years, we don’t realize what is happening at the root level, where the roots are fighting to feed a balanced diet to the plants and grass.
There are several organic fertilizers on the market that will add health and beauty to your garden. Of these organic fertilizers we have found only one brand that will actually heal the soil itself, at the root level, to promote superior root growth and a stable habitat that ensures all your vegetation, from house plants to a wheat field, will acquire the organic nutrients vital to high yields with minimum effect on the environment. If you are ready to take the step into a sustainable lifestyle with truly organic products, then visit the LOTG Store.
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