Who here uses Fertilizers?

[stella1751]

Anyhow, I also bought a box, maybe two, of Whitney Farms organic fertilizer. It was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and two years later, I was kicking myself for not having bought more. I can't find it online, and we definitely don't have any out here.

Pissst.pissst...Hey lady over here. Want to buy some fertilizer.

I just Googled Whitney Farm, a Scotts Company product, and came up with tons of hits. Here is one.
https://www.amazon.com/Scotts-Co-109103-Vegetable-Fertilizer/dp/B0049PLD9O

Azomite, https://www.azomite.com/

Eric

OMG. Scott makes this?!! I had no idea. Well, it's good stuff, and if I lived on the West Coast, I would definitely keep some on hand. When I tried googling this, way back in 2008, I suppose, I couldn't find it to save my soul. Thanks, Eric! Now I'm in an ethical pickle: Do I buy it, knowing the loathsome Scott is responsible for it, adding this fertilizer to the one bag of Miracle Gro I already purchase each year for seedlings and flowers; or do I forego it, refusing to further increase this earth-pillager's revenue? I wonder whether Scott recently purchased Whitney Farms.

Oh well. I have eight months to decide

[Kisal]

I've used Whitney Farms Cactus mix for many years. It's an excellent product, too. Unless Scott's bought them out well before 2008, I'll certainly make it a point to examine the ingredients and the tilth of the mix before I buy any more of it.

I don't consider it impossible that Scott's is capable of making a good product, but I just don't trust that they will be able to resist filling it full of the wrong ingredients.

[stella1751]

I've used Whitney Farms Cactus mix for many years. It's an excellent product, too. Unless Scott's bought them out well before 2008, I'll certainly make it a point to examine the ingredients and the tilth of the mix before I buy any more of it.

I don't consider it impossible that Scott's is capable of making a good product, but I just don't trust that they will be able to resist filling it full of the wrong ingredients.

I was curious, so I dug my empty kelp meal bag out of the trash bin. It wasn't Scott's when I bought it. The label reads, "Rod McLellan Company, P.O. Box 70, Independence, OR 97351, www.whitneyfarms.com, copyright 2004 Rod McLellan Co." Scotts must have bought Whitney Farms sometime after this bag was packaged.

[garden5]

Gary, wow, I looks like peat really does the trick for you! I'll have to try something like that in the future. I've used peat-based potting soil and noticed that peat is good at retaining moisture, so perhaps that has something to do with it.

I noticed that someone said that azomite has lead in it . Is this something that I should be concerned about?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Does AZOMITE® contain heavy metals?
Yes, but in lesser amounts than exist in a typical soil. AZOMITE® is Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

Is the lead in AZOMITE® harmful?
The FDA and American Association of Feed Control Officials establish strict guidelines for the amount of various natural contaminates that show up in all types of feed ingredients. At 6.2ppm, AZOMITE® is well below the guidelines for allowed lead in natural feedstuffs.

https://azomite.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60&Itemid=41#does azomite contain heavy metals

Eric

[soil]

high chances there is more lead in your garden hose than in the azomite. you can also source other rock powders such as glacial rock dust, crushed river rock, crushed granite, crushed basalt. azomite is just the easiest to get of all of them for the average gardener.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Just to be clear, my earlier post is in favor of Azomite. I use it all the time.

Eric

[soil]

I know, don't worry I'm just saying it for everyone because thats what usually turns people off of rock powders. ive been using azomite and local rock powders for years and eating the food it produces.

and peppers love them so much. in fact I think ill go give mine some more today.

[jal_ut]

Hmmm, peat has nothing much in the way of nutrients left in it. It will however increase the acidity of your soil and peppers like soil a bit on the acid side. That may certainly help my soil for the peppers.

Use fertilizers? Yes! I do not give a hang what the "purists" say either.

It is well and good to build your soil with manure, compost, worm castings and other organic matter, however if you don't have any, or enough, it is no sin to use some fertilizer in a bag. The goal is to give the plants what they need to make a good crop for you. Yes, even if it has 8-16-8 written on the bag.

My soil has good mineral content and nitrogen seems to be the thing most often lacking. I use Urea, which is 42% nitrogen. It doesn't take much to give the plants a boost. It is really important on the corn.

[lakngulf]

Well, I may change my mind after I read this thread again thoroughly but I am a straight 13-13-13 guy. Just throw a little around a growing plant and then a little more after the plants begin to produce fruit.

Also, I used miracle gro on my little starter plants but have not tried it with producing plants.

[lorax]

Oh, I should also mention that I use reasonably fresh volcanic ash; I forgot entirely about it because its use is not all that voluntary for me. The volcano just deposits it on my garden for me every 6 months or so. If we go into a true dormant period, though, I'll be down in the lahar fields with a sack and a shovel - ash is my Azomite.

[soil]

does the ash layer ever get pretty thick? does it affect the plants when it rains and the sun comes back out.

[lorax]

Where I live we rarely get more than about 1/16" at a time; when the clouds go away I just rinse the plants off with the hose and it's all good. Closer in to the volcano it can smother plants; we lost the spring corn in this province that way.

[soil]

ok cool, I figured that.

[lorax]

On the upside, though, the ash is so wicked sharp that I never have nematode problems..... Hereabouts, it's about 50% micropulverized volcanic glass and the remainder in various minerals.

Kind of a PITA to deal with it when it actually rains rather than just drifting down out of the air - a true ash-filled rain is like being dropped on from high heights by large droplets of sticky black mud. Blech.

[garden5]

OK, so the lead and heavy metals that are in azomite are already present in my soil anyways and probably in higher levels than in the azomite?

Thanks for putting it into perspective, guys.

[dirtyfingers]

Haven't read every posts but I mulch with leaves and stems from other plants, left over veggies from the dinner table and some Miracle grow garden soil.

My egg plants were just barely surviving on the mulched dirt but after filling it in with Miracle grow garden soil around the roots, it just took off and now have so many egg plants!