On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 12:03:32 -0700, Janice
wrote:

On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 18:23:01 GMT, (The Watcher)
wrote:

On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 12:50:20 GMT, Frogleg wrote:

I don't understand why 'artificial' fertilizers have such vociferous
opponents. AFAIK, plants don't care whether their nitrogen and
phosphorous comes from cowpats or granules.

That's still being investigated. It's been claimed that our bodies don't absorb
nutrients from pills the same way they absorb nutrients from food. I've seen
many organic advocates make the same claim about plants.

Another thing about chemical fertilizers is they only provide what is
put in the bag, what "science" has decided what plants need. Just like
when we buy vitamins, there are only certain vitamins and minerals
added, only those that "science" has decided we need.

I'm a skeptic. As to people not absorbing vitamins in pills, I am
*extremely* dubious that the entire world medical community has been
hoodwinked for a century. Similarly *I've seen organic
advocates...claim" butters no parsnips for me.

I would be very interested in a *respectable* -- i.e., non advocacy --
reference to the chemical composition/nutrients in an average load of
cow manure. Yes, manure is good. But is it guaranteed to be the ideal,
totally balanced fertilizer? In fact, since someone was unwise enough
to mention selenium as an essential mineral, I scurried around and
found that it's exclusively drawn from the soil, and if there's a
selenium deficiency in dirt (and fodder), animals don't manufacture
it.

As for science not having discovered all the vitamins and minerals
essential to life, this is possible. However, I'm pretty happy with
the ones they *have* discovered and analyzed, as well as having
recognized the diseases/conditions caused by well-known deficiencies.
"Science" discovered the connection between iodine and various thyroid
conditions. You can use as much cow poo as you choose to nourish veg,
but if you and your cows live in an iodine-deficient area, it's not
going to help that goiter, which used to be quite common before
"science" added iodine to salt.