In article ,
Karsten Kruse wrote:

RichD schrieb:

Is it really
superior to petrochemical fertilizer, or is it
guilty conscience liberal feelgoodism?

No, the petrochemical producs are better. They sell better and the market
doesn't lie.

Karsten

And don't forget to use lots of pesticides too. They are made from
petroleum as well. I mean, if we are willing to go to war and cause
incredible suffering, then it must be a good thing ;o), so eats lots
of it. The really good unintended consequence is, of course, it cures
conservative's cranial-rectal inversion, which makes this liberal
feel good ;O).

Chem ferts are great at sterilizing the ground. They are salts and
over use kills just about everything that supports a plant in
"natural", microbiologically infested soil. When used, as intended,
they encourage the nitrogen consuming bacteria (not all bacteria)
to consume as much organic material in the soil as they can,
thereby depleting the soil of its' water holding capacity. This
causes the chem fert to drain away and pollute someone's drinking
water or, flow down the Mississippi where it creates a huge dead
zone in the Gulf of Mexico. There is also an over all loss of bacteria
which impacts the soil because the bacteria produce a mucous to
bind soil together which slows down their predators. This mucous
also helps prevent soil erosion. And if you like insects, you'll
be happy to hear that plants store the nitrates from chem ferts in their
soft, fast growing, nutrient laden leaves, which in turn, attracts
hungry insects.

So, you end up with dead soil, water pollution, soil erosion and, a
plague of insects. Wow, what a deal ;O) I mean, talk about getting
your money's worth. And speaking of money the less fertile your soil
becomes the more chem ferts you need to buy to get the same amount of
crop. I mean, is this a (Gingrich) conservative's wet dream or what?

Now compost may, or may not, be a fertilizer in the N P K sense of
the word. It is dependent on what is composted, be it vegetation
or doo-doo. Compost is simply stacking up and the natural breaking down
of organic material. If you want to get rid of any viable seeds or other
pathogens in the compost, make a bigger stack and it will generate
enough heat during its' decomposition to denature them. You can
occasionally spray some water on the pile or **** on it. I'm afraid
there are no commercial products needed to make compost.

The purpose of the compost is to feed the soil. Feed the soil and,
the soil will take care of your plants. Feed the bacteria and fungi
(the decomposers) in your soil and, they will feed the nematodes and
amoeba, who in turn fed the worms and insects, who feed burrowing
mammals. What you end up with is soil gifted with a dynamic,
balanced community of organism whose birth and death cycles enrich
the soil (NPK and much more) and, a soil that is well ventilated,
drained and, able to retain moisture. It doesn't make any profit
for Monsanto though unless you buy their seeds.

Truth be told, I don't compost very much. I just haven't developed
the habit. What I do, is grow what is called a "green manure" (plants
that either fix nitrogen or generate a lot of bio-mass in the soil)
early in the year. These get cut down two weeks before planting to
decompose where they are. Then I lay three to four inches of alfalfa
"mulch" on the soil. This mulch, as it breaks down, is my replacement
for compost. Then I lay my drip lines on the mulch and for my plants
that require heat, I lay clear plastic over it all and, cut holes
next to the drip emitters for planting.

Petroleum fertilizers and pesticides allow for huge monoculture
plantings but mixed crop organic farming can produce more total
food on the same acrage. The organic approach also grows healthy
soil.

GMO seeds don't produce more crop. Mostly they let you buy more
petroleum based Round-up to spray on your crop. They also produce
proteins that your immune system may or may not react to, in some
cases they kill butterflys, and there is always the concern of
genetic drift, where traits (like resistance to Round up) can be
passed to weeds.

So if anybody should have a guilty conscience, it is the "Gingrich"
conservatives (they aren't really conservatives) who promote snake
oil products that they don't understand or do understand but just
want to encourage snake oil sales.

Viva Castro
--

Billy
Bush and Pelosi Behind Bars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVTf...ef=patrick.net
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0aEo...eature=related