A Better Way to Fertilize Your Garden-Homemade Organic Fert

[DoubleDogFarm]

Mother Earth News

A Better Way to Fertilize Your Garden - Homemade Organic Fertilizer
by Steve Solomon

This is a good read, if you are interested in mixing your own organic fertilizer.

He also gives you information on how much to use, for each demand group. Low - Medium and High demand vegetable plants.

https://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2006-06-01/A-Better-Way-to-Fertilize-Your-Garden.aspx#BOFI

[scot29]

That's a great read, tks for that. A lot of my focus lately has been on different combos of meal-based fertilizers.
When I read the recipe, I thought, "wow, that's a lot of lime!" But he went on to say that it ends up being about 50 lbs per 1,000 sq ft, so that's actually not very much. Does anyone know if Lime-Rite pelletized dolmite lime is what he calls a chemically active "hot" lime?
Also - I didn't know that pH in relation to gardening was "controversial". It makes sense though that if we nurture our soil, the pH will take care of itself.

[reneeleann]

Thank you for the link. I am going to be incorporating this to see how it helps my garden.

[rainbowgardener]

I agree that if we give the soil plenty of organic materials pH is likely to take care of itself. Also I don't understand the article's heavy emphasis on lime without any mention of soil tests etc. Most veggies like soil a little on the acid side of neutral. My soil left to its own devices is alkaline. Last thing I want to add is lime.

[DoubleDogFarm]

I've never had, or tested my soils PH. I've always assumed it would be acidic do to the rain and conifers. Our Islands were mined for limestone for Portland cement. So a soil test would be a good thing.

[Ozark Lady]

Interesting read.
I would say that I have heavy clay soil. But, after seeing the previous load of dirt that I hauled home, my soil is only moderate clay.
That truck load would do great to clean it, and throw it on a potters wheel! So it is languishing in the compost ben, waiting for ma nature to make it into something usable!

I got a new load at a different place, much, much better.

I did test my soil, because I have alot of limestone rocks, and the water always tests out alkaline, but with so many oak trees, and the leaves, I expected acid soil. I was surprised to barely test neutral with a hint of acid. So, I won't lime. Every time I water I am in fact liming!

My phosphate levels are also very high due to annual applications of animal manures.

I just don't feel confident that his formula would be the end all for every garden.

I was interested in the trace elements in the kelp meal, so I will add that to my fish meal, bone meal, wood ashes, and cottonseed meal that I usually use to boost my manure applications. But, I simply will not lime, when I am barely holding at slightly acidic soil! Maybe for certain crops I would use wood ashes to bring the ph up for the alkaline lovers, but not across the board.

What works best for me, may not work best for you, so how can this guy generalize so much?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Click on this link if you want a little more backgound on Steve S.

https://www.soilandhealth.org/05steve'sfolder/05aboutmeindex.html

[zone9garden.com]

I live in Central Florida where our water is liquid rock. It comes from a limestone aquafer and has a ph of around 8.2 out of the tap. The soil here is pretty much limestone sand.

I don't use any lime in my garden at all. I will probably never. I fight to keep my ph bellow neutral. All the organics I add to the soil barley keep up with the water and native soil.

So while I agree with him on a few points, I strongly disagree on a few as well.

[DoubleDogFarm]

So while I agree with him on a few points, I strongly disagree on a few as well.

This is true on Helpful Gardenener, gardening forum. We are here to exchange ideas, you then choose to implement them or not.

[rkunsaw]

I add lime because I'm started a garden on low ground that was clay and shale.I added gypsum to help break up the clay and added lime because I've put in a few pickup loads of manure and several loads of leaves and grass clippings.The lime helps the organic material decompose faster.I also add a little to my compost pile.CAUTION...Do not add lime where you are going to plant potatoes.

[DoubleDogFarm]

I've also read that you should not lime and fertilize at the same time. It's recommended to lime in the fall and fertilize in the spring.

[scot29]

I've also read that you should not lime and fertilize at the same time. It's recommended to lime in the fall and fertilize in the spring.

I assumed the reasoning behind this was that generally lime is added to raise pH, but because it takes a while to work, doing it in the fall gives it enough time to take effect. We fertilize in the spring b/c if we did it in the fall, the nutrients that don't linger in the soil would basically be gone by spring.
Lime is also a good source of calcium & magnesium. I agree w/ what was said about being careful w/ lime (and nutrients in general) w/o first getting a soil test. Using slow release organic fertilizers, we probably won't give a toxic dose, but imbalances can affect the plants ability to absorb the nutrients properly.
I had a professional soil test done recently, & maybe I'll update a previous post about home test kits. Anyway, in my case, calcitic lime might be a good choice to add to my fertilizer mix. My test showed good amounts of magnesium, but my calcium was low. I could get calcium from bone meal, but I already have plenty of phosphorus in my soil. Also, my pH was at 6.1 So, in my case, calcitic lime is probably a good fit. I can raise my calcium level w/o adding too much magnesium, keep my pH above 6, and avoid excess phosphorus.
But, as has been said, this recipe would not be for everyone. A soil test from a lab is the only way to really know the makeup of your soil.

[DoubleDogFarm]

scot29,

I can't seem to find where I read the caution. This is what I have found so far.

If urea is applied at the same time as lime, nitrogen will be lost due to the increased pH around the fertilizer granules.

I'll keep looking.