What is the difference between organic fertilizer and compost?
Image by Doug Beckers
Fertiliser I have added to get the potatoes started. Certified as organic by the BFA (Biological Farmers of Australia)
Question by Beach bum: What is the difference between organic fertilizer and compost?
What do you think? Answer below!
4 Responses to What is the difference between organic fertilizer and compost?
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This is just a SWAG.
Compost would be made from unkown food sources, newspaper, grass with who knows what kind of insecticide and fertilizer etc etc.
Organic is from known sources meeting the Organic codes.
Wayne C
March 1, 2012 at 3:01 am
compost is also made from grass clippings,leaves and flower’s,that have been sprayed for bug’s and disease.making it non-organic. organic fertilizer cannot be made from any chemical’s.only natural ingredients that won’t hurt you ,pets and the enviorment
stacy
March 1, 2012 at 3:52 am
Compost is more of a soil ammendment. It provides micronutrients to the soil, but its main use will be to provide aeration good drainage and moisture retention. You still have to feed some of what you grow, in spite of using compost.
Bone meal, blood meal, kelp and fish emulsions, potash, etc., are all organic nutrients. They were not manufactured synthetically, but nature made them. Some machinery got it to pelleted or concentrated form, but human intervention was minimal.
If you add those to your compost while it is “cooking” *then* you may not have to add as much to whatever you grow at home. But whatever you grow won’t thrive to good size on compost alone.
Me
March 1, 2012 at 3:55 am
Compost is what you get when various waste substances are combined so that helpful bacteria digest them and turn them into a fluffy soil-like substance. Compost is often made with household vegetable wastes mixed with grass cuttings or leaves. It can also include animal or human solid waste. It can be made in backyards or industrially. Compost can often suppy nutrients for plants, and adds to the structural quality of the soil.
Fertilizer is any substance used to supply the nutritional needs of plants. Organic fertilizer is fertilizer that meets organic requirements. Philosophically, organic fertilizer should come from renewable sources and not include man-made or harmful chemicals.
Since compost comes from renewable sources, compost may be one element in an organic fertilizer program. However, not all compost qualifies as organic, since industrially made compost, especially if it includes sewage sludge, can contain harmful chemicals. Not all organic fertilizers are compost. Some organic fertilizers are made from seaweed, for instance.
Erika M
March 1, 2012 at 4:08 am