"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Franz Heymann wrote:
"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Oxymel of Squill" wrote ...
[...]
On the garden I do use some lime as I throw some Growmore about
and
understand that includes lime.

Lime is not declared on the packaging.
I have never heard of Growmore containing lime.
I have spent a substantial time using Google to find if Growmore
contains lime, and drew a complete blank.

Glad you did that: I raised an eyebrow when I read the original
message. Growmore is a standard NPK fertiliser, and certainly
shouldn't contain lime: it would throw one's calculations out. (Not
that I calculate!)

As a footnote: I have found a statement to the effect that the pH of
a sample of Growmore has been measured to be 7.1. That is about as
neutral as one can get.


As an aside, I found stuff called "Organic Growmore" which appears
to
have similar application rates as Ordinary Growmore. I wonder
which
organic processes can yield such concentrated chemicals.

I suppose they make and then evaporate aqueous solutions, which
seems
an expensive procedure. I imagine guano is involved. I think
naturally-occurring nitrates would be allowed under organic rules,
so
Chile nitre could be used too.

Would your argument hold for phosphates as well as for nitrates?
My brother was manager of an opencast Calcium Superphosphate mine in
South Africa. The mineral was certainly as "naturally occurring" as
Chile Nitre. Does that make Superphosphate an organic fertiliser?
{:-))

I would have thought that by the time one has treated and mixed enough
of a variety of organic manures to make the equivalent of a well
balanced 7-7-7 Growmore, with comparable concentrations, the stuff
would be unmarketably expensive. I think it is much more likely that
someone is profiting by a bit of ripping off.

Franz