Organic Fertilizers–Part 6–Other Sources

Other Good Organic Fertilizers 

We have looked at the sources of organic fertilizers from Plants, Animals, and Sea Sources.  The alfalfa, corn, cotton and soybean plants offer good safe nutrients to the soil.  The food chain is not impacted by these products since the debris of the stems, stalks, and hulls is used for this organic material.

Manures, blood meal, and bone meal create excellent sources of nutrients. Here again, the materials used here are either remnants of the slaughtering process, or the waste from the animals themselves.
 
The ocean offers kelp, and fish to add to this list of organic fertilizers. Kelp is harvested in such a way that it regrows with a few weeks making this a highly sustainable resource of organic fertilizer.  And the fish industry removes the food portion of the fish, and the scraps are ground and processed into the fish fertilizer we use. 

A few other sources I’d like to bring attention to are great in nutrient values and I'd like to mention them here. 

Comfrey blossoms

Comfrey – Is a  fast growing plant with large leaves and deep roots.  These roots are able to collect nutrients from the soil and make this plant a good source of nutrients.  Livestock feed on comfrey, and the leaves can be used to make liquid fertilizer.  By soaking these leaves for 4-5 weeks, a nutritious and smelly ‘tea’  is created.  This liquid fertilizer can be used around the garden once it is diluted 15:1.
The comfrey leaves can also be used as a compost activator. They quickly breaking down to a thick black liquid. The comfrey roots are high in potassium, and the leaves are high in nitrogen.

Bonfire Ash

Bonfire Ash – is the remains of wood.  It is alkaline (pH higher than 7) and has lots of minerals like potassium and calcium.  Fireplace ash can be spread around the garden, and tilled into the soil. 

Nettles

 Nettles – are Prickly. Using gloves to harvest these leaves is essential.  Once the fresh, young stems are gathered, crush them and soak in a covered container for 3-4 weeks.  Nettle ‘tea’ should be diluted one part tea to 10 parts water.  Use a a foliar spray or douse soil around the garden.  The nettles are a good source of nitrogen.  Since this is a weed, it can be cut twice a season for an endless source of nutrient.  Studies have show that even manure of cattle who have a diet of nettles is more nutritious.

Buckwheat as cover crop - OSU

Cover crops, or Green Manures – This practice of covering the garden with a crop works if you have a nice sized vegetable garden.  The sowing of rye grass or clover in the fall is going to add nutrients to the soil when, in spring, this material is tilled into the garden to decompose.Some plants in the legume family increase nitrogen in the soil as well.  Cover crops can reduce weeds by shading the weed seed from germinating. The nutrients this ‘crop’ returns to the soil when tilled in is benefitting the micro-organisms as organic matter that is decomposing.


This return of nutrients to the soil from these sources is often overlooked, but hopefully, we can try some of these in our own space.


Have you used nettles or comfrey?  Wood ashes?  Do you plant a cover crop?  What plant have you found to be beneficial?  Let us know.  Thanks.

Organic Fertilizers–Part 3–Plants Sources

Plant Parts are High In Nutrients

   Alfalfa plant

Plants, specifically plants grown for grain, are used in the organic cycle.  Grains that are grown for livestock and human consumption, or grown for seed, are plants that are used for organic fertilizer.  Little or no food is sacrificed in the fertilizer process.  The grains are harvested, and the remaining parts of the plant – the stalks, stems, and leaves – are ground into the organic fertilizer product.

Palm tree waste
  Coir planting mix

Palm trees are a source for organic fertilizers.  They also provide coir, a fiber made from the coconut shell. Coir can be used in place of  peat moss as a more sustainable product. Peat moss bogs have taken 100+ years to  create. These bogs are not sustainable at the rates they are harvested.  Coconuts are highly sustainable year after year.    In soil, coir is slightly acidic, holds moisture, and loosens soil as peat moss does. Although the N-P-K of coir is .5-.08-1.9, ( good Potassium source) it helps in holding nutrients in soil for plants to use.

   2 year old palm
  palm oil nuts

Another palm product is palm oil waste powder. The life span of the oil palm is about 200 years. As the oil is harvested, the hulls are processed.  The product is humic acid which is not a fertilizer, but enhances the nutrients by supplying organic matter. Palm oil waste powder can be used on cereal and bean crops, and on turf.  This product encourages deep roots, and increases yields of crops.  

Rice husks are also used in the fertilizer industry.  The husks have little value in feed for livestock or human consumption.  N-P-K for rice husks is minimal at .2-.4-.2, but, here again, the organic matter added to soil is valuable.  Zinc is a trace mineral found in rice husks.  Rice hulls



Alfalfa has a long tap root that penetrates deeply in the ground and draws nutrients into the plant. A good amount of trace elements are found in this fertilizer.  A natural fatty-acid called trianconatol, is an element in alfalfa.  The trianconatol is a growth stimulant that helps plants grow larger, and provide higher yields.  N-P-K for alfalfa meal is 2-1-2.  Because of the long tap root, alfalfa prevents soil erosion.
Alfalfa is a member of the pea family and is a Nitrogen fixer in the soil. 



Plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, are many and include the alfalfa, various beans, and peanuts (legumes)  They fix nitrogen into the soil from the atmosphere.  A colonizing bacteria attached to the roots draws in nitrogen from the air and converts it for food for the bacteria.  Any remaining  nitrogen is used by the plant for growth.  The nitrogen doesn't come to the plant from  fertilizer, but from the bacterial activity.
 

Canola Plant and Seed Pod

Canola is processed for two different consumer markets, the oil for food and for livestock feed. The by-product of the livestock feed is a canola meal that is used for fertilizer. The oil food by-products are used for bio-fuels.  There is no waste of any part of this versatile plant.

Flax is very similar to canola meal.  Flax seed meals are the by-products of fiber production and livestock feed production.  N-P-K is about 6-3-2 for both oil seed fertilizers.

Soybean meal is also primarily used for feed for livestock.  It’s 7-2-1 nutritional values indicate high nitrogen.  Soybean meal is a by-product of the food industry, and cosmetics manufacturing.

 

Cottonseed meal is another high nitrogen product.  N-P-K is 6 – 0 .4 - 1.5. Because cotton attracts pests that can ruin or reduce the crop, cottonseed meal may contain pesticides.  Pesticide free cottonseed meal is available, but you may need to check labels.
 



Molasses is a sugar cane or sugar beet by-product and can be dehydrated to become an organic fertilizer.  The high carbs in the molasses are ‘good food’ for microbes in the soil. Dried molasses is easy to apply because it is bonded to dry grain to stay ‘grainy’ for applicators.  The grain adds another layer of nutrition and organic material.  Molasses also comes in a liquid from some suppliers.  This product is a Dutch organic beet extract – molasses.

The last organic fertilizer that comes from plants in this article is Corn Gluten.  This 9-0-0 product is the by-product of the corn industry for livestock feed, and food processing.  High in nitrogen, this product also acts as a pre-emergent for seeds.  Applied in the spring, it can keep crabgrass seeds from germinating.  Applied in late summer, it may keep summer weeds from getting established before fall.  This product is not recommended on newly seeded lawns but will green up an existing lawn well.

 
Plants are a great resource for organic fertilizers.  The processing is minimal.  Use of a ‘waste’ product is cost effective. 

We will talk about Animal sources of organic fertilizer next time.  Thanks for your interest.  Please leave a comment.  I love to hear from you.