by Carol Jens
These days, everyone from backyard gardeners to big agri-businesses are increasingly using organic fertilizers. This is due in part to an increased consumer demand for organic produce. It’s also partly due to the positive press earned by “going green” and eco friendly.
The average person, however, may wonder if there’s any substance to all these buzz words. Are synthetic fertilizers really that bad for agriculture and dangerous to animals and people? Are organic fertilizer really all that much better and safer? If so, why? And what are “organic fertilizers” anyway? This article will try to answer these questions for you.
WHAT ARE ORGANIC FERTILIZERS?
Non organic fertilizers are made from synthetic or artificial chemicals while the organic fertilizers are made from natural elements and materials. It may seem easy to differentiate the inorganic with the organic, but there are some facts about the organic that can be misleading. One example of issue is the misunderstanding of the composition of the mineral limestone, saltpeter and mine rock phosphate. People know that these are technically inorganic, but they are used for centuries as safe and good organic fertilizers since these are natural minerals.
Organic fertilizers are actually a composition of natural compounds made from natural compost or mineral deposits. Some examples of natural compounds are animal manure and other organic materials that rot and decay over time. As the plants and animal matters decay, the organic materials are slowly broken down to enrich the soil resulting to higher level of soil organic matter.
The most common example of this is compost, which many backyard gardeners make themselves from organic waste, dead leaves, grass clippings, leftover food, etc. Another example is animal manure, which is also very high in nutrient content and has been used in agriculture as a fertilizer for thousands of years. Finally, some plants are used directly as fertilizers, like seaweed and peat moss.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH INORGANIC CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS?
Almost all non-organic fertilizers are synthetic, which means there is a large chemical content in every pack or bottle of that fertilizer. And since the material was not from natural sources, the inorganic chemicals may harm the body of the consumers. Not only that, continuous use of chemically based fertilizers will eventually damage the environment, which will affect every thing as the entire ecosystem is thrown off balance.
Although most of the agricultural farms are far from the central cities and towns, the chemicals from the synthetic fertilizers will still have affect out water tables and in doing so affects fish and other water and wildlife. This happens whenever it rains, as the rainfall washes the chemicals from the plants into rainwater runoff that will flows into ponds, streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, even to the groundwater, which animals and humans alike drink.
The worst thing about the synthetic fertilizers is the extent of chemicals on the crops and produces. When produce is grown with synthetic fertilizers, the produce will contain the chemicals in its flesh and once it is consumed by people, the chemicals can then enter and harm their bodies. Eating synthetically grown produces over a period of time can cause major health issues.
WHAT MAKES ORGANIC FERTILIZER BETTER?
When organic fertilizers are used and introduced by farmers into the local environment the materials are naturally occurring plant and animal matter and they do not have the negative affect on the environment found with inorganic fertilizers.
When it comes to crop growth, organic fertilizers are good in encouraging crop growth. It take more organic fertilizer to do the job of a lesser amount of inorganic, however with organic the soil absorbs the nutrients and essential substances more slowly thereby turning out rich crops that are far better than the crops from farms that use synthetic fertilizers. As the soil continuously becomes enriched from the use of organic fertilizers, the growth cycle of crops yielded increases every harvest season.
Lastly, organic fertilizers were studied over for 32 years in Sweden and based on this study, organic fertilizers have been found to be better than synthetic fertilizers, because they recorded high yields of 65% with organic compared to 50% with synthetic.
We hope that you have found the answers to your questions regarding organic fertilizers within the words of this article. This is just the tip of the iceberg and further reading is advised. If you are planning to use organic fertilizers on your backyard or farms, try doing some more research so you can learn about the right organic fertilizers for your type of garden and its benefits. Organic gardening, organic farming and organic lawn care, like most subject requires serious study to implement the best tools and techniques for best results.
DISCLAIMER
The article is intended for information about organic fertilizers, organic farming and organic gardening only. It should not be regarded as scientific or expert advice in its own right. The information has been taken from secondary sources and is given here in good faith. We recommend you conduct your own research with expert & scientific sources prior to making fertilizer purchases or applying any fertilizer technique mentioned here.
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