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luvncannin

fertilizers and OM

14 years ago

Do you know of any inexpensive bagged organic fertilizer or should I stick to compost and manure.

Also if the scraps I collect [food and grass] arent organic will that mess up my whole organic way of gardening?

Currently I get veggie scraps from local school for my compost, but it dawned on me they are not organic. Should I use these or pass them up ?

What other sources might be available that I am missing?

thank you

Comments (4)

  • 14 years ago

    Food scraps should be ok. Grass...you need to make sure it hasn't been treated with "Weed and feed" or other insect/herbicide chemicals. I can't say about bagged compost since I'm nowhere the Tx panhandle.

  • 14 years ago

    Yes, the food scraps are fine, and getting veggie scraps from your local school sound like such a great resource!

    The grass is a maybe. Most people with lawns use chemical fertilizers and herbicides. So it really depends on how much of an organic purist you wish to be.

    I use a little bit but not much of grass clippings from chemically-treated lawns in my compost--only ONE lawn worth, and that's from my dad's lawn. All the rest of the grass is from our lawns, which are untreated.

    For bagged organic fertilizers, I mix my own using from blood meal, bone meal, wood ash from our wood stove, and compost. I use the guidelines given by Mel Bartholomew:

    Basic fertilizer mix:
    1 part blood meal, 2 parts bone meal, 3 parts wood ash, 4 parts composted leaf mold

    High-nitrogen mix (for leafy vegetables):
    3 parts blood meal, 2 parts bone meal, 3 parts wood ash, 4 parts leaf mold

  • 14 years ago

    Substituting fertilzers labeled "organic" for synthetic fertilizers is not a good thing to do, unless you have no other choice. Organic gardening/farming is, or should be, more about getting your soil into a good healthy condition and less about throwing some kind of fertilizer at that soil. Some of us have found that simply by getting the humus level of our soil up the soil nutrients take care of themselves and we do not need to spend money on some kind of "fertilizer".

  • 14 years ago

    Thank y'all for the info.
    I just found out about soil sampling so I will do that first before I just waste $ on fertilizers I may not need.

    The soil seems to have a good feel and smell. Its not near as hard as the soil I fixed last year.

    And the grass I was going to get is full of chemicals [from a football field] so thats definately a no go.

    I filled my compost bin already so I will definately need a bigger one.I get on the average 3 gal. bucket every day of veg scraps Is this where I get the humus or is there something Else I should be doing?
    Alot of the books I read are confusing to me concerning fertlizing and composting and mulch. I appreciate y'all takimg the gray area out of it for me.

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