So I'm new to the yard! Thanks for having me.
Me and my wife have been strolling ourselves into a plant nursery business. Long story short, we have a smallholding just over two acres - it's been a re-vamp since we took over six years ago,now we are looking into making our farm pay.....or rather make some income from what we got.
Problem is, what we have started (through propagation, growing from seed) needs food as we plan on growing in smaller containers (up to 2ltrs) before selling online or in person. Every garden center, nursery uses osmocote, or another slow release fertiliser to maintain those containers without having to feed more often and I don't want, if I can help it, get caught into relying on Monsanto and Co.
We gathered up 750lrs of seaweed tea and grass clipping/nettle nitrogen tea is easy for us here in Ireland, but what would you guys recommend for organic ferts that are slow release, giving the right things at the right time to keep our little beginner nursery increasing and not just dumping a lot of quick release nitrogen etc into our pots and wiping out a years worth of work?
Sure I could do the slow release stuff, but down the line it might help a small -scale mom/pop business to say we did something.....not the norm.
Thanks up front. Great to actually find an active forum that I can post on. Look forward to brawling in the community xD
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Black Sheep
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
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You can get slow release organic fertilizers commercially, e.g. https://www.gardeners.com/buy/all-purpos ... 11835.html
For doing yourself, compost is slow release fertilizer. It is a complete nutrient source, but not very concentrated and the nutrients are released as the compost breaks down more. You could just add good homemade compost from diverse sources into the pots with a couple of earthworms per pot. Otherwise, you are looking at mineral sources, like rock phosphate and greensand.
For doing yourself, compost is slow release fertilizer. It is a complete nutrient source, but not very concentrated and the nutrients are released as the compost breaks down more. You could just add good homemade compost from diverse sources into the pots with a couple of earthworms per pot. Otherwise, you are looking at mineral sources, like rock phosphate and greensand.
You can actually keep your nursery stock in the ground which have a larger community of microbes to convert the organic matter into nutrients until you are ready to pot them up for sale.
US NOP standards have been reviewed by the NOSB and they recommend only seedlings grown organically and intended to be planted in the ground and some herbs can be called organic. No plant in a pot that is grown to maturity like a tomato, or herb that is cut from a pot for sale can be called "organic" mainly because the purpose of the organic movement was to feed the soil, and potted plants don't do that. Organic fertilizer needs to be converted by soil microbes to become available to plants. Most potted plants grown organically, require constant fertilization because the the plant has to be fed instead of feeding the soil, because the soil cannot support the plant. Organic goal is to feed the soil and in turn the soil should feed the plant. Most pots are too small and do not contain enough microbes to do that.
If you want to sell certified organic, you will need to find out the organic standards for your country.
These are the NOP standard for the US. There are other standards for Europe.
https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/organic-certification
https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/eu-policy_en
"Production in pots Only seedlings, ornamental plants and
herbs can be produced in substrates
authorised by the organic regulation and
sold in pots.
Fertilization The main principle of fertilisation in organic
greenhouse production for all systems,
excluding production in pots is that
nourishing of plants works primarily
through the soil ecosystem
In practice this means that in greenhouse
production:
* A maximum of 50% of nutrients are
provided after planting.
* A maximum of 25 % of fertilisation is
allowed in liquid form.
This is already a basic principle for agriculture in Article 5a of
EU Regulation (EC) No 834/2007. It is elaborated now for
greenhouse production."
excerpt from Position Paper on Organic Greenhouse production Updated 2013
https://www.ifoam-eu.org/sites/default/f ... 201302.pdf
If you want to grow organic and don't need certification, then you need to know how to word it when you market since some terms like "organic" or "certified organic" in the US is a marketing term that has rules for how it can be used.
Even if you use organic fertilizer in a pot, you will probably still have to supplement with liquid fertilizer like fish emulsion, compost or manure teas in pots since the microbe population in a small pot may not be large enough to sustain a plant and organic fertilizers need to be converted by the microbes to become available in a form that the plants can use. If you are selling your plants as organic, you will need to find out the rules of your country about what can be called organic or organically grown.
US NOP standards have been reviewed by the NOSB and they recommend only seedlings grown organically and intended to be planted in the ground and some herbs can be called organic. No plant in a pot that is grown to maturity like a tomato, or herb that is cut from a pot for sale can be called "organic" mainly because the purpose of the organic movement was to feed the soil, and potted plants don't do that. Organic fertilizer needs to be converted by soil microbes to become available to plants. Most potted plants grown organically, require constant fertilization because the the plant has to be fed instead of feeding the soil, because the soil cannot support the plant. Organic goal is to feed the soil and in turn the soil should feed the plant. Most pots are too small and do not contain enough microbes to do that.
If you want to sell certified organic, you will need to find out the organic standards for your country.
These are the NOP standard for the US. There are other standards for Europe.
https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/organic-certification
https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/eu-policy_en
"Production in pots Only seedlings, ornamental plants and
herbs can be produced in substrates
authorised by the organic regulation and
sold in pots.
Fertilization The main principle of fertilisation in organic
greenhouse production for all systems,
excluding production in pots is that
nourishing of plants works primarily
through the soil ecosystem
In practice this means that in greenhouse
production:
* A maximum of 50% of nutrients are
provided after planting.
* A maximum of 25 % of fertilisation is
allowed in liquid form.
This is already a basic principle for agriculture in Article 5a of
EU Regulation (EC) No 834/2007. It is elaborated now for
greenhouse production."
excerpt from Position Paper on Organic Greenhouse production Updated 2013
https://www.ifoam-eu.org/sites/default/f ... 201302.pdf
If you want to grow organic and don't need certification, then you need to know how to word it when you market since some terms like "organic" or "certified organic" in the US is a marketing term that has rules for how it can be used.
Even if you use organic fertilizer in a pot, you will probably still have to supplement with liquid fertilizer like fish emulsion, compost or manure teas in pots since the microbe population in a small pot may not be large enough to sustain a plant and organic fertilizers need to be converted by the microbes to become available in a form that the plants can use. If you are selling your plants as organic, you will need to find out the rules of your country about what can be called organic or organically grown.