29-07-2003, 12:02 AM
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Best way to increase Nitrogen quickly.
In article ,
(Beecrofter) wrote:
Without having to resort to chemical fertilizers, what would be a good
way to increase N so the remaining growth cycle of the vegetables will
benefit? Reading up on it I find info that says to add 28 - 30 oz of N
fertilizer per 100 sq. feet. But what I'm not sure about is if the granular
stuff in the box at the garden center is most beneficial.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff
San Jose, Calif.
z 8.
fish emulshion
Stinky, stinky, stinky fishy lawns & gardens, & me without a clothespin
for my nose! Would the kelp alternative also do it in a vegetarian manner?
I fertilize much less than most folks but I also remove less (not growing
much in the way of harvested veggies, don't discard lawn clippings or
leaves). Some heavy bloomers I spot-fertilize about half as often as often
recommended, & many shrubs & trees get an annual slow-release fertilizing
in their vicnity, maybe not even always that. Everything does fine even
so. Now & then something blooms less than it might've if I'd slathered it
in fertilizer, though one rarely knows proof-positive why something blooms
a lot one year & less another year.
In some cases a nitrogen-starved soil is not all that much improved by
adding a lot of nitrogen per se, some of which literally evaporates, much
else rinses through, before doing a darned thing. And poor nitrogen levels
can be the result of other factors than amount of nitrogen added. The
health of a garden's nitrogen-fixing anaerobic & cyano bacteria is the #1
reason organic gardeners need to fertilize less than gardeners who use
chemicals. Kill the healthful bacteria, you'll never add enough nitrogen
to make up for the loss.
Other balances are also required. An expensive chemical nitrogen
fertilizer might be WAY more intense than say, oh, free spent coffee
grounds from Starbuck's "gifts to gardeners" program, but the
carbon/nitrogen ratio of the grounds is so correct, & the slow release, &
the healthful nitrogen-fixing bacterial action as the spent grounds decay,
& its moisture-holding capacity, so that in fact a soil enriched with
those coffeegrounds could end up being more quickly a better soil. So too
a corn gluten fertilizer, slow release good nitrogen balance, less
nitrogen lost to the atmosphere or wash-through (with proper bacterial
health in the soil). It's not only the nitrogen percentage in the natural
fertilizer that nitrogenizes the soil, but the protein content (of corn
gluten or coffee grounds or alfalfa) that converts to nitrogen only as fed
upon by healthful bacteria which fixes still more nitrogen from out of the
very atmosphere.
Or, an area heavily seeded with red clover for a couple seasons, then
plowed & planted, will have better nitrogen-fix than if it were done by
chemical fertilizer methods.
I think a lot of the methods that consider the health of the bacteria,
rather than the amount of nitrogen in a fertilizer liquid or powder or
granual, might not be as reliable where crops are harvested or grass
clippings carted away, which also remove nutrients galore so that
bacterial action can't keep up. But for a flower garden with very little
harvested out of it; where one uses a mulching lawn mower, & permits
fallen leaves to decay as a natural surface mulch rather than swept away;
& with a healthy worm population churning the ground naturally -- then
healthy bacterial action is going to keep a pretty good nitrogen balance
going even with much artificial feeding, or a feeding of corn gluten or
other natural but slower-release fertilizer (even just sawdust!) the
nitrogen strength of which is weak except when enhanced by bacteria.
There are natural nitrogen cycles, & without any fertilizing at all,
nitrogen levels will lower & rise on their own in a balanced garden. It's
doubtlessly easier to maintain that balance when the goal isn't to harvest
food, but many a produce grower also manages with entirely organic
methods.
-paghat the ratgirl
--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/
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