Most everyone understands that plants like humans and animals need food to survive. However very few of us understand the science of nutrition and fewer still understand how a plant uptakes the food (fertilizer) that we give them on a regular basis. The nice man on TV says use KA-BLOOM for bigger violets. A few days later everyone is calling and asking “do you have KA-BLOOM?” Sound familiar? The same nice man may appear on your favorite cable channel late at night or early Sunday morning trying to sell you the latest “supplement” for your diet. A little understanding and a little rhyme is all you need to know about plant food.
First off plant food and fertilizer are the same thing. The names are interchangeable. There is no legal definition or labeling requirement I am aware of saying what plant food needs to be called.
Secondly plants cannot tell the difference between organic/natural and commercial chemical fertilizers. Plant roots can only uptake nutrients in their simplest form which is chemical. This is not as drastic as it sounds. While bone meal is a natural source of phosphorous plant roots cannot “chew” the bones nor suck up fish emulsion through a straw. It is the microbial activity going on in the soil (composting ) that breaks down organic fertilizers into their simplest chemical forms. This is where organics give an added benefit in the long run. Microbes tend to multiply when they have something to do like break down bone meal.
One organic/natural fertilizer that can pollute water tables just as easily as chemical forms: fresh animal manure. Fresh manure is loaded with ammonia. This ammonia enters the water table, streams and burns plant roots. Ammonia is also the least expensive form of nitrogen added to fertilizers. Ammonia is “quick acting” released immediately upon contact with soil or water. Although this is the form plants use fresh manure and cheap fertilizers release too much ammonia at one time. (Think soaked baby diapers) What the plants don’t use passes right through the soil into streams and water tables.
Chemical forms of nitrogen can be buffered with different coatings or methods that make them act more like natural ones. SCU stands for sulphur coated urea. Urea is the second fastest released form of nitrogen after ammonia. Coating urea with sulphur slows down the release of nitrogen. Slowing down chemical nitrogen does not give the benefit of increasing microbe populations like organics do. Some sulphur coated urea manufacturers go so far as to call the process synthetic organic!
Remember we said a little rhyme in the beginning? Well here it is: shoots, roots and fruits. Shoots refers to nitrogen and the green “shoots” (leaves) it promotes. Roots refers to phosphorous. Fruits refers to potassium which is responsible for brighter flowers and larger fruits (or vegetables). The order of this rhyme is the order the nutrients appear on a fertilizer package such as 10-6-4. The numbers refer to the percentage by weight of each nutrient. 10-6-4 has 10% nitrogen by weight, 6% phosphorous and 4% potassium.
While organic fertilizers are better for the health of the soil they are also a very expensive way to buy nitrogen. A forty pound bag of 10-10-10 which costs nine dollars contains four pounds of nitrogen. The cost four pounds of nitrogen is roughly ninety nine cents. A fifty pound bag of a popular natural fertilizer costs twenty one ninety nine and contains four percent or two pounds of nitrogen. The cost for that two pounds of natural nitrogen: around one dollar.
Simple nitrogen fertilizer costs twenty five cents per pound in the above example while the natural form runs fifty cents a pound or twice the cost of farm grade nitrogen
19 May 2008
05 May 2008
Becoming a Locavore!
In the forest trees get no applications of fertilizer, no sprinkling from a garden hose and no pesticides when the beetles bite. A forest is a perfect eco system in which all “residents” trees and animals take food and give back. Trees get nutrients from their own leaves which compost on the forest floor. Animals eat the nuts and berries from trees and what is not digested comes out the “other end” as fertilizer. Forests fields and streams all work as one unit to provide everything each inhabitant needs in order to survive. In a way it is a closed system in which a forest in New York does not need anything from the prairie in Nebraska in order to survive.
The green movement has hit full stride this year as requests for organic lawn and garden products have increased greatly. Gardeners are generally concerned about the effects of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Concerns include limiting what gets into the water tables, how products affect pets and the long term affects on children.
The high price of oil is no small factor in the switch to “green”. Turmoil in the Middle East limited refining capacity and concerns about dwindling supply have fed the thirst for alternatives fuels in which to run our world. Bio-fuels, ethanol, wind and sun vie for research and development dollars in an effort to find an answer to our energy woes.
Unlike forests and prairies we do not live in a closed environment. Ever since the industrial revolution we have become dependant on other areas of our country ane even other parts of the world to supply our basic food needs. Unlike the forests we live in a capitalist system of supply and demand n which the producers of basic food goods are free to switch field crops to ones which fetch a larger return on investment.
Millions of acres of farmland that once were used to produce wheat and other common grains are now being used fo grow corn for ethanol production. The end result is a perfect example of the law of supply and demand. There are now low supply supplies of wheat and other grains which in turn has forced prices up by amounts unheard of before.
Organic farmers and food producers have been have hit hardest by the gold rush in corn. Organic corn for animal feed was $200 a ton in 2006. Now the price is $500 a ton when and if the producer can find it. The high cost of basic animal feed has caused many producers of organic poultry and other animal products to simply give up and return to regular farming methods. For the first time in many decades talk of food shortages for the upcoming winter are being bantered about. There is even a severe shortage and thus large price increases in hops used to produce beer!
Jeff Gilman, professor of horticulture at the University of Minnesota has this to say about organic pesticides: "Organic insecticides are, in my opinion, the worst thing ever to happen to the concept of organic growing and gardening," Gilman writes. All insecticides, even organic ones, are, by definition, poisons. None is perfectly safe; some "organic" ones are quite toxic. In fact Nicotine Sulphate an organic pesticide once advertised in Organic Garden magazine was so toxic it was labeled with a the skull and cross bone warning saved for only the most toxic products. And the "organic" label encourages gardeners to use them carelessly according to Gilman. Gilman bases his claim on the fact that while there are strict guidelines for organic farming there is little to define organic gardening around the home environment. Gilman says that the false sense of security given by the word organic on the label often leads to over application of organic pesticides. In general however Gilman says there is nothing wrong with organic gardening just that everyone should become more informed on the subject.
At a presentation to a British food industry trade show data was shown that there are not enough cows in the world right now to produce the amount of organic nitrogen needed should laws require the use of organic fertilizer instead of chemical forms. Currently nitrogen is taken out of the atmosphere in the manufacturing process. Organic farmers derive their nitrogen primarily from animal manures and mostly from cows. The report went on to say there would need to be eight billion cows in order to provide enough manure for organic nitrogen. Currently there are only 4 billion cows on the planet.
Feeding all these additional cows according to this report would require destroying 50% of the remaining forested area on the planet in order to grow corn to feed these cows. Deforestation according to environmental groups is a leading cause of climate change.
Meanwhile back in the forest. The trees are growing fine, the cycle of nature continues on in an organic, naturally sustainable way. There is more forest cover in New York State now than in anytime over the last three hundred years. The Adirondacks once almost destroyed by mining and logging in the 1800's now boasts forests that are lush and thriving.
So why are there major problems looming with sustainablity? Perhaps the answer lies in the forests and grasslands. Forests and grasslands survive without relying on outside contributions.
We call it “local”. As local as your surrounding communities by supporting locally grown and made food products. As local as your back yard garden by growing more fresh herbs, vegetables and fruits. As local as your compost pile in order to nourish the garden and return nutrients to the soil like the forests do.
The new term for those living, buying, and selling local: Locavores
As local as the neighborhood butcher, baker, candlestick maker, farmer........and gardener!
The green movement has hit full stride this year as requests for organic lawn and garden products have increased greatly. Gardeners are generally concerned about the effects of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Concerns include limiting what gets into the water tables, how products affect pets and the long term affects on children.
The high price of oil is no small factor in the switch to “green”. Turmoil in the Middle East limited refining capacity and concerns about dwindling supply have fed the thirst for alternatives fuels in which to run our world. Bio-fuels, ethanol, wind and sun vie for research and development dollars in an effort to find an answer to our energy woes.
Unlike forests and prairies we do not live in a closed environment. Ever since the industrial revolution we have become dependant on other areas of our country ane even other parts of the world to supply our basic food needs. Unlike the forests we live in a capitalist system of supply and demand n which the producers of basic food goods are free to switch field crops to ones which fetch a larger return on investment.
Millions of acres of farmland that once were used to produce wheat and other common grains are now being used fo grow corn for ethanol production. The end result is a perfect example of the law of supply and demand. There are now low supply supplies of wheat and other grains which in turn has forced prices up by amounts unheard of before.
Organic farmers and food producers have been have hit hardest by the gold rush in corn. Organic corn for animal feed was $200 a ton in 2006. Now the price is $500 a ton when and if the producer can find it. The high cost of basic animal feed has caused many producers of organic poultry and other animal products to simply give up and return to regular farming methods. For the first time in many decades talk of food shortages for the upcoming winter are being bantered about. There is even a severe shortage and thus large price increases in hops used to produce beer!
Jeff Gilman, professor of horticulture at the University of Minnesota has this to say about organic pesticides: "Organic insecticides are, in my opinion, the worst thing ever to happen to the concept of organic growing and gardening," Gilman writes. All insecticides, even organic ones, are, by definition, poisons. None is perfectly safe; some "organic" ones are quite toxic. In fact Nicotine Sulphate an organic pesticide once advertised in Organic Garden magazine was so toxic it was labeled with a the skull and cross bone warning saved for only the most toxic products. And the "organic" label encourages gardeners to use them carelessly according to Gilman. Gilman bases his claim on the fact that while there are strict guidelines for organic farming there is little to define organic gardening around the home environment. Gilman says that the false sense of security given by the word organic on the label often leads to over application of organic pesticides. In general however Gilman says there is nothing wrong with organic gardening just that everyone should become more informed on the subject.
At a presentation to a British food industry trade show data was shown that there are not enough cows in the world right now to produce the amount of organic nitrogen needed should laws require the use of organic fertilizer instead of chemical forms. Currently nitrogen is taken out of the atmosphere in the manufacturing process. Organic farmers derive their nitrogen primarily from animal manures and mostly from cows. The report went on to say there would need to be eight billion cows in order to provide enough manure for organic nitrogen. Currently there are only 4 billion cows on the planet.
Feeding all these additional cows according to this report would require destroying 50% of the remaining forested area on the planet in order to grow corn to feed these cows. Deforestation according to environmental groups is a leading cause of climate change.
Meanwhile back in the forest. The trees are growing fine, the cycle of nature continues on in an organic, naturally sustainable way. There is more forest cover in New York State now than in anytime over the last three hundred years. The Adirondacks once almost destroyed by mining and logging in the 1800's now boasts forests that are lush and thriving.
So why are there major problems looming with sustainablity? Perhaps the answer lies in the forests and grasslands. Forests and grasslands survive without relying on outside contributions.
We call it “local”. As local as your surrounding communities by supporting locally grown and made food products. As local as your back yard garden by growing more fresh herbs, vegetables and fruits. As local as your compost pile in order to nourish the garden and return nutrients to the soil like the forests do.
The new term for those living, buying, and selling local: Locavores
As local as the neighborhood butcher, baker, candlestick maker, farmer........and gardener!
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