-----Original Message-----

Date: Mon Feb 23 20:54:42 EST 2004
From: "Jim Lewis"

Some time ago, I was told by one of the junior extension people
down in S. Fla. who dabbles in bonsai that "organic"
fertilizers -- seaweed/fish emulsion, etc. -- will ADsorb to
inorganic soil particles (AKA turface, etc.), and will stay
available to roots for some time,

That is going to depend on what the "organic" fertilizer actually is: In many cases, like fish emulsion, they consist of substances that have not completely broken down: they need the action of microbes to turn them into "inorganic" ions. So if you apply
them and there's something to stick to (pure sand won't be any good), they'll hang around and degrade.

Rapseed cakes are an extreme example: the organic material there isn't close to broken down, so it will take months of microbial activity to release the nutrients. The up-side of that is that the nutrients are released gradually, and therefore last a long
time.

Nina, the expert on manure!

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Ken Rutledge++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++