Does seaweed extract for gardening the best organic fertilizer to use on plants?
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Question by Chris B: Does seaweed extract for gardening the best organic fertilizer to use on plants?
noticed growth on all my plants last spring 07
i think it grows best in warm weather
also noticed flowers and multiple growths on plants
hormones i think is better and safer than nitrogen
i think all fertilizers should be organic in nature
Feel free to answer in the comment section below
2 Responses to Does seaweed extract for gardening the best organic fertilizer to use on plants?
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It all depends on what kind of plants you have, what kind of soil you have and what the pH level is. I like fish emulsion as a general fertilizer because it is mild and it reminds me of Santa Monica.
arctostaphylos
October 29, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Farmers and gardeners have been dealing with “what is the best fertilizer” for, literally, thousands of years. The link below is one list of the plant nutrient content of available fertilizers. The one constant in all of this is that plants need to absorb certain nutrients to grow and only absorb nutrients they need to grow as certain specific ions.
Nitrogen, for example, is a required nutrient for plant growth and is only absorbed as ammonium ion or nitrate ion. Organic fertilizers, including seaweed extract, contain nitrogen which is usually converted by soil organisms to nitrate or ammonium, which can then be used by a plant.
Because the nutrient requirements are known for most plants, you can calculate how much fertilizer is required for your plants and apply that fertilizer accordingly. Too much or too little fertilizer each has negative effects on plants, and possibly the environment, whether the fertilizer is organic or inorganic.
For example, if I fertilize the grass in my cow pasture with seaweed extract at .7% nitrogen, I would apply 8571 pounds of seaweed extract to 1 acre to obtain the necessary 60 lbs per acre of nitrogen. If I used poultry manure at 3% nitrogen I would need to apply 2000 lbs per acre. With those numbers in mind, you can see that there are other considerations you have to take into account.
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0174/ANR-0174.pdf
Mark T
October 29, 2011 at 2:20 pm