In article ,
jellylegline wrote:

Thank you for your reply Billy, I’ve only just started out gardening due
to the financial difficulties of feeding my young family. I must say I
found your post very patronizing, I was only asking a question; I was
told that FloraBloom could be used in soil not just for Hydroponic
systems. I do use chicken pellets. If you did not mean to try and
belittle me then please accept my apologies, if you did then that may
not make me a better gardener than you but it certainly makes me a
better person. Thanking You Martin.

How kind of you Martin for thanking me for pointing out that there was
no nitrogen in your fertilizer, so all the mls in the world, wouldn't
make for a healthy plant. And you are welcome for the URL that I sent to
you with the N-P-K of various manures
http://www.plantea.com/manuer.htm. I was just trying to be helpful, so
that you wouldn't be wasting your time. I'm glad that I got your
attention.

It was the scope and depth of your ignorance that took my breath away.
Each plant has it's own special set of needs. Potatoes like low pH soil
(soil, not dirt). Cucumbers have more need for phosphorus and potassium
than nitrogen. Corn needs lots of N - P - K, and lots of water. Swiss
chard is not very picky and will produce as long as it gets water.

If you buy a HUNDRED POUND BAG of 10 - 10 - 10 chemical fertilizer, it
will contain 10 lbs of nitrogen (ammonia or nitrate), 10 lbs of
phosphorous, and 10 lbs of potassium. A similar bag of 1-1-1, would
yield a pound of each/bag.

Thing is Martin, chemical fertilizers (chemferts) are salts. Salts kill
soil by killing the micro-organisms that make up the ecology of the
soil, which in turn are responsible for the soils fertility. Chemferts
are easily washed away (you will need to buy more) and they contaminate
local water supplies (nitrates are bad for fetuses, and young children),
and are responsible for HUGE "dead zones" in the oceans at the mouths of
rivers. The book, "Teaming with Microbes" explains most of what you need
to know about soils.

Almost without exception, the human cost of using herbicides or
insecticides, is borne by the very young. The environmental cost is to
diversity of plants for pollinators to live on until you need them and
to the pollinators and beneficial insects as well.

So Martin, I've already written over 300 words. How many more do I owe
you?

I've given you my advice. I'm sorry, if I have offended you. I wish I
could make it simpler, but I can't. Now it is up to you to learn and
practice what you learn, and above all, learn from the copious mistakes
you are about to make (we all do).

Keep asking questions, but be ready for the response.
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En2TzBE0lp4

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050688.html