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| Every single time I am trying take care of my land, I am targeting idea to improve my plants or lawn, but I never ever think about middle layer, bacteria-fungi-super cells. Maybe instead of fertilizers good amount of carbohydrates and nitrates will help much better? Ha? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| If I spray alot of molasses around my yard, will I need fertilizers at all? Since my bacteria and fungi population will take care of all I spread? And ants and worms and other creatures? |
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| Your goal should be to make your soil good and healthy so the plants growing in that soil are strong and healthy and that means creating an environment that the bacteria and fungi can live in. That is a soil well endowed with organic matter that is well drained but evenly moist. Spraying molasses around is not a substitute for organic matter in the soil and fertilizers are somewhat like drugs that make things seem okay but actually cause stress in the plants fed that way. Perhaps this link to a Soil Biology Primer might be of some help. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Food Web Primer
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- Posted by strobiculate none (My Page) on Sat, Sep 1, 12 at 8:18
| Not sure this can be answered. Everyone has different goals, based on criteria important to them. My geandmotner wanted to be able to grow dinnerplate dahlias...nothing else was important. The guy who wants to grow extra large potatoes has a different goal...and vastly different requirements...than the guy who wants to grow sugar beets. Fertilizer causes stress? I find that observation to be...many things. Incomplete and misleading would be the least of them. But back to the question...you can do many things. For many reasons. And someone will think you a fool and someone will think you incredibly smart. In general, as with most things in life, moderation is vastly under rated, frequency and amount can radically alter outcomes, and perhaps the best thing you can do is learn from your own experience. You will make a few mistakes, there is no way around that. Accept it. Relish those opportunities...for they are also moments of great clarity and insight. |
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| So, basically you tellIng me, do any magic you can, but use fertilizers as you were doing before? Molasses - are just plant drugs? |
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| Nope. Get your soil into a good, healthy condition, well endowed with organic matter so it will be evenly moist but well drained. That is not magic and it might be hard work, at first, but with adequate levels of organic matter in yoiur soil you may find your soils nutrient levels to optimal so "fertilizers" become unnecessary. What did a good, reliable soil test tell you about your soil pH and nutrient levels? What is the level of of organic matter in your soil? How well does your soil drain? How well does your soil retain moisture? What does your soil smell like? What kind of life is in your soil? What is the workability of your soil? |
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| "Primum non nocere" or "above all do no harm" is useful to keep in mind in caring for gardens and soil as well as humans! I use very little synthetic chemical fertilizers because I believe they can harm earthworms and other soil organisms. Having said that I have occasionally used nitrate fertilizer to make compost quickly with the hope it will not cause much harm after the process is complete. I use dry molasses as it's easier to use than the liquid altho either will feed soil organisms. I also use alfalfa pellets and various feed meals to enrich the soil but IMO compost is most important as is mulch to make healthy soil. It is a process to create and maintain healthy soil and needs constant additions of organic material. What you use to enrich your soil depends partly on what you grow. If I had a market garden I'd have to do things differently than what I do for my predominantly perennial/herb/shrub garden. However IMO adding compost and mulch is a constant to keep most soils healthy. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Tue, Sep 4, 12 at 12:03
| I second the advice that it's important to know what your goal is (where you're going) and what your initial conditions are (where you are). Fertilizers are a tool, to be used as appropriate. I just tested my garden soil this spring after many years of adding compost, and found it was very high in P and K already. So if add anything at all, it will be targeted to other things like pH adjustment (if it's out of the ideal range) or nitrogen (if the plants look like they need it). I'll use blood meal (12-0-0) for example but not 12-12-12 fertilizer. We really have no idea what your present soil conditions are, so it's hard to recommend anything. Except that compost is almost always safe to add, and it does exactly what you say you want: feeds the soil food web. |
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