Billy said:

Pat Kiewicz wrote:

That said, your first response to Todd was to recommend a fertilizer
with a lower nitrogen content, and then you said it would be best to
have the soil analyzed. I agree fully, that it would be best to have the
soil analyzed, but I am aware also that many of us don't. I don't even
know if Todd had his soil analyzed, but he was fertilizing it. You
seemed to think that "SoilEssenceEliteN" had too much nitrogen in it (I
never found an NPK for it), so I recommended "something" like N-Lite
fertilizer (2-5-6), or a flower bloom (6-30-30) fertilizer, with it's
lower nitrogen, and higher phosphorus might work better.

I read the description and ingredient list for the fertilizer he
http://www.fullcirclecompost.com/SoilEssenceEliteN.php

And even though they did *not* list the NPK (which I hope you consider
a Very Bad Practice, even for "organic" manufacturers) the ingredient
list (which include fish and feather meal -- oh, and "inorganic nitrogen"),
the usages mentioned (lawns, houseplants) and the name (Elite N+) pretty
much imply it can be relied on as a nitrogen source and when you add in
the OP's results with tomatoes, a reasonable assumption that would it test
out high in N.

Where you got

claiming special powers for the "subtle
energies" provided by "paramagnetic rock dust." And when you throw in
sentences like this:

"The more Calcium a plant absorbs, the greater its ability to attract
nutrients from the atmosphere, especially Nitrogen, Potassium,
Magnesium, and Carbon Dioxide."

is a mystery to me. Some may say that, but not I, and it's not in my
post, so I hope you're not attributing such "hocus pocus" superstitions
to me.

I was quoting from the Soil Essence Elite N+ (tm) boilerplate. Check
out the website. Check out the "benefits" tab. WTF? You want to promote
organic gardening to sensible people, give them usable information and
can the excursions into magic pixie dust territory.

For one thing, it leads to people growing big, fat happy tomato plants with
no fruit.

(Yeah, yeah, I'm a bit cranky. Have a toothache, my dentist saw no cause on
my x-ray, have to go to a specialist today.)


In the mean time, Todds tomatoes seem to exhibit signs of too much
nitrogen, and watering (not setting flowers, and fruit not ripening).
Having his soil analyzed is, of course, a good idea. A person can't have
too much information, when making a decision.

Oh, you can too have too much information: Information Overload and
Analysis Paralysis.

Also, classic BS technique: dump mounds of information to obscure rather
than reveal.

But for gardening, a good soil test (including micronutrients) is step one.
(Too bad that the Extension Service in so many states has suffered from
severe budget cuts.)

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Yes, swooping is bad."

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