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Between shipping issues, the railroad and postal service restrictions, it is getting much harder to find fertilizer and sulfur for the garden.

I use sulfur and pyrethrins if water does not work. And it is the first thing I use for mites. But between the railroad and the USPS, it is hard to get anything shipped here. Even the local garden shops don't really have it. Pyrethrins will still be sent by Amazon, but most of the sulfur, nitrogen, and potassium fertilizers won't be sent.

What is available at the garden shops are RTU and most of those are botanical oils which are not as effective and have to be applied often.

Potassium, I know Gary said you can get that from wood ashes. I looked it up it is hardwood ash. Besides not really having a ready source of ash since very few people here have fireplaces and they are usually burning keawe (mesquite). I would have to get wood from the box stores that sell firewood to burn it for the potassium.

I still have sulfur, but other people have said they have used up their supply and the only things available are RTU bottles and that gets expensive

Sulfur is my main go to as a preventive fungicide and miticide.

The best botanical oil it supposed to be cotton seed oil, but it is hard to find here even as a cooking oil.
Neem is all over the place. It is probably the most expensive horticultural oil and It gives me a headache. There is all season oil which is mainly mineral oil. There are other products with other oils rosemary, thyme, clove, peppermint.
Do you have any luck controlling mites with horticultural oils and which ones work? How do you use It? The other problem with botanical oils is that it can't be used in summer.

I still have kmag, but I don't know how much longer I will be able to source it. It isn't available at the garden shops. I have enough sulfate of ammonia to last at least 5 years.

I have to avoid fertilizers with phosphorus and that is practically every non elemental fertilizer, including organic.

I know hardwood ash is most often recommended here, but in Japan, ash from softer wood, greenwood and branches as well as dried grass and weeds is also listed by the ministry of agriculture as fertilizer/soil conditioner.


This is an article in Japanese — in case you can get decent auto translation out of it.
“Sou (grass) Moku (wood) Bai (ash) nutrients and usage | Appropriate Rate of Use and Precautions • Merits & Demerits”
草木灰の成分と使い方｜適正使用量と使用上の注意点・メリット＆デメリットを解説
https://inakasensei.com/wood-ash

Here’s the nutrient breakdown listed in the article:

(Nutrient)成分 | (Ratio)比率

K(カリ) |６～７
P(リン酸) |３～４
N(窒素) |０
酸化カルシウム
(木灰/草灰) | 20～30 / 1～2

The last is Calcium Oxide (wood ash/grass ash)

The range depends on amount and type of materials used, and it notes that you get more potassium from lower temperature black ash than higher temperature grey/white ash.

I want to make more ash, especially burning diseased tomato and squash vines and fruitwood branches as source material seems like an efficient way of disposing AND returning to the soil without worrying about the diseases and fungi carrying over. But my main problem is the perpetual drought. I’m afraid of burning anything, even in my little grill, let alone that rocket stove experiment or the copper fire pit….

…

Another source of potassium I rely on is kelp

Just a quick search —I don’t know what this is from, but potassium lands pretty high

Kelp Nutrition Facts
MINERALS
Potassium 71.2 mg
Selenium 0.6 μg
Sodium 186.4 mg
Zinc 1.0 mg


…

A gardening friend from Germany swears by canola/rapeseed oil, baking soda, and liquid soap solution to treat for mites. I’ll go find the recipe if you like.


…can I just say, it seems ironic that you can’t obtain sulfur when you have a volcano nearby…

I purchase elemental sulphur most years and the least expensive source is where I order it. Most years it is through Amazon. My last purchase was about a year ago. Looking at my purchase history the price has doubled each year the past four years but is still available to be shipped to Nebraska. More research will have to be done unless prices drop.

I don't know if this is one of those things you can't get shipped there, but I get potassium bicarbonate, as a spray for a fungal prophylactic, which I always spray with the Surround, but you could use it as a potassium source. They have it in even larger supplies, than the 2½ lb containers I get.

Ah! Good point! I use that one too.

I imagine that you use soil testing, Imafan26, but have been under the impression that volcanic soils have abundant potassium (& sulfur?). It likely leaches readily ...

When Mt St Helens erupted, I was here and we were told that the volcanic ash was of actual benefit for plant nutrients. Working in a commercial greenhouse at the time, we swept, shoveled and washed the ash away. So much for our plant benefits .

People actually buy soil from basalt locations. That, in itself, is a selling point. Do you have access to some of these volcanic materials?

Steve

We do have volcanic soils. It comprised of basalt. Mostly calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, and aluminum. It does not have much potassium. Oxisols like mine are highly weathered red clays with low CEC's. I am in a high rainfall area, it is leached as well. So my soil is naturally lower in potassium and because of weathering, I need the organic matter to improve the CEC. Mine is rich in iron (although the soil test said iron was low, I have red clay, it is red because of iron oxides and I don't have any iron deficiencies). Calcium is in the water and in the soil. The soil test was adequate but I have added more since my pH is low around 6.0. The containers are lower about pH 5.5. I have enough sultur because I use sulfate of ammonia for nitrogen. I should use urea, because of the low pH but it is hard to control. I would have a hard time distributing 1 tablespoon of urea over 100 sf evenly.

Red clay is also high in aluminum, which is a problem because it binds with phosphorus at low pH. Unless pH is optimal, phosphorus plays havoc with potassium, magnesium and zinc. Tropical plants take up a lot of potassium, my levels were normal, but the recommendation was still to add another 2 tablespoons of potassium (0-0-22) every three months. I have kelp meal, langbeinite, and kmag. Sometimes amazon will send it sometimes not. I just ordered 2-5 lb bags. It is on a slow boat so it will get here hopefully at the end of the month. It costs more than the bigger bag, but it is hard to keep moisture out of fertilizer once the bags are open. It is hard to find even kelp meal here and I have never seen green sand.

One of the dedicated garden shops closed recently, so I have one less choice. To be honest, I did not go there much they carried more pet food than anything else. The hardest thing to find are fertilizers with zero phosphorus but have everything else. It is why except for blood meal, all the organic fertilizers like manures and compost really can't be used in quantity. It is why I can only add 3/4 of an inch of compost to my garden to replace organic matter. My total carbon is over 6%. The ideal is 3% and compost, even vermicast is high in phosphorus.

If I did not have to get specialty fertilizers it would be easier. Even the garden had to change to master blend, because the product they were using was no longer available from ag suppliers.