Some types of Miracle-Gro fertilizer are a blue color due to the addition of copper sulfate. But copper sulfate is toxic to microbes and fungi. Several online sites and videos are now claiming that it makes the fertilizer toxic and should never be used because it kills soil microbes. Are they right?
Discussions about fertilizing tomatoes is mostly about selecting the right NPK and rarely discusses the amount to use. When quantity does come up, most comments suggest following the instructions on the box. But are the instructions on the box correct? Are the instructions complete enough so that you can apply the correct amount?
This post will compare some commercial products to see what they suggest and then I’ll compare that to reliable agricultural recommendations to see how much fertilizer gardeners should be using to grow great tomatoes.
The hottest new trend is to fertilize plants with a magical “superfood” fertilizer made from yeast. Is this a good idea? Is it a good fertilizer? Does it grow better plants? Let’s look at the facts.
Hydroponics has become more popular especially with the invention of the aerogarden systems, like AeroGarden. DIY home hydroponic grow systems are also popular, as are Kratky methods. All of these systems require hydroponic fertilizer which is quite a bit more expensive than regular soluble fertilizer. It begs the question, can you use regular fertilizer in place of hydroponic fertilizer? What makes hydroponic fertilizer special and what should you be looking for when you buy them?
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Is the lawn good or bad for the environment? You can look at this problem from different points of view and today I would like to examine the specific question; do lawns reduce CO2 levels.
A study done by Scotts Miracle Gro concluded that “The lawn is a good and valued resource for sequestering carbon, even under various typical lawn management practices”. Is this really true??? The answer is more complicated than you might think.
Some people won’t use synthetic fertilizer because it contains “salts”. For years I was told not to use mushroom compost because it contains “too many salts”. Salt is also recommended to kill weeds and just today I saw a post which suggested pink Himalayan salt makes plants grow better. You can buy commercial sea salt to fertilize your plants. This doesn’t make sense. Salt is a weed killer and it’s a good fertilizer?
As a gardener it is crucial that you understand which salt is being discussed so you don’t use the wrong one and harm your plants. This blog will help you through the maze of salt crystals.
A while ago I wrote about Milk As Fertilizer and concluded that although milk would add organic matter to a garden, it was no ‘magic bullet’. Since that report I have spent more time looking at the subject of milk fertilizer and tracked down how this myth was born. It a thriller full of deception and lies. Today I will dig deep into this myth and uncover some surprising facts. Then I will review the latest research on the subject.
Rock dust is a very popular soil additive especially with organic and permaculture groups. It is full of nutrients and it is claimed that adding it to soil will replenish all of the nutrients that agriculture has taken out of our soil. This process of adding nutrients back to soil is known as mineralization.
This seems to make a lot of sense. We remove food from the land, and the food contains lots of minerals. At some point we need to put them back into the soil or else we will have soil that won’t grow anything. This seems logical but is it really true? Is our soil losing fertility? If it is deficient, can rock dust be used to solve the problem? How effective is rock dust and which type of rock works the best? Time to crush some myths about rock dust.
Should you use bat guano? Is it a good fertilizer? Does harvesting it from caves harm bats? How does it compare to seabird guano? Learn more about this valuable resource and understand organic products better.
I am sure you have heard the saying, plants need nitrogen for growing leaves, phosphorus for growing roots and flowers, and potassium for overall plant health. Well, it is not only wrong, but very misleading because it causes gardeners to use the wrong fertilizer.
In this post I will have a close look at this and show you why it is wrong. Along the way you will learn a lot about plant growth and how to get more flowers.
People love to go organic, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, the information about organic fertilizers is not always correct or complete. Here are some real important things you need to know about organic fertilizer.
