How To Use Organic Fertilizers Correctly. Part 1

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

To always be with the harvest

There are many gardeners and vegetable growers who do not know how to use organic fertilizers. Some apply only organic fertilizers on their site, underestimating the role of mineral fertilizers; others neglect both, and still others do not know when and how to apply organic fertilizers. Accidental use does not give the desired effect, or even can be dangerous.

The proverb says: "Decay is the mother of vegetation." She is good at noticing the meaning of soil fertilization. The Indians of the American continent a thousand years ago fertilized the soil with fish, the peasants of the countries of Asia and Europe, at the dawn of agricultural production, improved their fertility with various household waste. Organic fertilizers are designed to increase decay in soils, change the microbiological composition and fertility, enrich the soil with nutrients and air with carbon dioxide and thereby contribute to an increase in the yield and quality of agricultural products.

They are also called local fertilizers. Because they are not imported from afar, but accumulated (manure, slurry, feces, bird droppings) or mined (peat, silt), or prepared (compost, TMAU), or grown (green fertilizer) on the spot. The main one is manure.

Manure and other organic fertilizers have a multifaceted effect on the most important agronomic properties of the soil and, if used correctly, sharply increase the yield and quality of agricultural crops.

All organic fertilizers rich in fiber (straw manure, green fertilizers, composts, etc.) are the material from which microorganisms get energy for themselves, since they themselves cannot use the energy of the sun. And such organic fertilizers as manure, poultry droppings, composts and feces, in addition, are very rich in microflora (1 ton of 15 kg of microorganisms). Together with them, we replenish the soil with beneficial microorganisms. In this regard, organic fertilizers enhance the vital activity of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, ammonifiers, nitrifiers, converting nitrogen compounds in the soil.

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Most of the microorganisms are in fresh organic fertilizers, therefore it is better to introduce them during spring digging of the soil in order to more effectively replenish the living phase of the soil and accelerate microbiological processes. Only after 1-2 months from the moment they are introduced into the soil, as they decompose, these fertilizers begin to serve as a source of nutrients for plants. During this period, organic fertilizers not only cannot supply plants with food, but also take away all nutrients previously available to plants from the soil.

Rapidly multiplying microorganisms, which have received a lot of energy material for themselves with organic fertilizers, "eat" everything that is in the fertilizer and in the soil. Therefore, the plants, despite the application of fertilizers in the spring, are very hungry from lack of food. This fact is the basis for the methods of joint application of organic fertilizers with mineral fertilizers, especially with a small dose of nitrogen, 15-20 g of ammonium nitrate for every 10 kg of organic fertilizer. This nitrogen dose is sufficient both for the nutrition of microorganisms and for the development of plants in the first phases of growth.

Manure and other organic fertilizers are not only a source of mineral nutrients for plants, but also carbon dioxide. Under the influence of microorganisms, these fertilizers, decomposing in the soil, emit a lot of carbon dioxide, which saturates the soil air and the aboveground layer of the atmosphere, as a result of which the air nutrition of plants is improved. From this point of view, organic fertilizers cannot be stored on the garden plot and must be applied in the spring when digging the soil so that carbon dioxide is not wasted in vain from the manure storages. The higher the dose of manure, peat or compost introduced into the soil, the more carbon dioxide is formed during their decomposition, and the more favorable the conditions for air nutrition of plants.

During the period of maximum vegetative growth of plants (in June-July), an increase in the content of carbon dioxide in the above-soil air increases 2-3 times - this is an essential factor in obtaining high yields of agricultural crops.

When adding 3-4 tons of manure to the soil, compared to the unfertilized area, the plants additionally receive 10-20 kg every day. This amount is sufficient to obtain a high yield of potatoes, vegetables and fruit crops.

On low-humus soils, organic fertilizers are an important means of improving the agrochemical properties of the soil. With the systematic application of 8-12 kg / m² of organic fertilizers, the soil is enriched with humus, its biological, physical, chemical, physicochemical properties, water and air regimes, and structure are improved. The absorption capacity and the degree of soil saturation with bases (Ca, Mg, K) increase, acidity slightly decreases, the mobility of toxic forms of aluminum, iron, manganese in the soil decreases, and the soil buffering capacity increases, i.e. soils become more capable of retaining all nutrients from leaching and evaporation into the air. Heavy soils become less cohesive, and light soils become more coherent, their moisture capacity increases.

A particularly valuable quality of organic fertilizers is their ability to increase the absorption capacity and absorption capacity of the soil. Other fertilizers cannot do this. This quality allows you to keep all nutrients in the soil in a state accessible to plants and to reduce gaseous losses from leaching.

You can now find various humic fertilizers in stores. However, they cannot, unfortunately, replace organic fertilizers. They can be used alone as an addition to other fertilizers.

In soil fertility, the depth of incorporation of organic fertilizers is essential. A shallow incorporation of fertilizers leads to a loss of nutrients into the air, and a deep one greatly slows down their decomposition due to a lack of oxygen at depth. Optimally, it is applied to a depth of 15-18 cm into the moist soil layer.

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The systematic use of organic fertilizers, especially in combination with mineral fertilizers, creates favorable conditions for growing high and sustainable yields of various crops. If we compare them, then the nutrients of manure and mineral fertilizers applied in an equivalent amount, in most cases, are equivalent to obtain a good harvest of agricultural crops. However, replacing part of the nutrients in manure with mineral fertilizers is usually better than applying one organic or one mineral fertilizer. This has been confirmed by many experiments.

Organic fertilizers must be applied together with lime fertilizers for plants sensitive to increased soil acidity; with the introduction of superphosphate when sowing all cultivated plants, with feeding with nitrogen and potassium fertilizers of row crops during the period of their intensive growth, with the introduction of copper, molybdenum, zinc and cobalt micronutrients before sowing, when sowing or in feeding the corresponding plants. Their joint introduction dramatically improves the quality of vegetable and fruit and berry products.

Of course, low yields of agricultural crops can be grown both with one mineral and one organic fertilizers. However, with their correct combination, the specific disadvantages of both types of fertilizers are eliminated, and thus the conditions for their most rational use are created. It is known that part of the nutrients of organic fertilizers, including manure, becomes available to plants only as they become mineralized. Consequently, by the introduction of organic fertilizers alone, it is difficult to meet the needs of plants for nutrients, especially phosphorus in the first growing season (during seed germination), in microelements, which are very small in manure. In addition, mineralization of organic fertilizers in the soil can go in such a direction and with such intensity,that plant nutrition will not be satisfied even during the period of maximum nutrient intake. This happens in cool and rainy summers, when organic fertilizer decomposes very slowly and plants starve from a lack of nitrogen, phosphorus and trace elements.

Unlike organic fertilizers, many mineral fertilizers are fast-acting. The nutrients contained in them can be used by plants quickly, immediately from the moment they are introduced into the soil. With the help of mineral fertilizers, it is easier to meet the changing nutritional needs of plants throughout the growing season. For example, the pre-sowing application of mineral fertilizers (primarily granular superphosphate) provides plant nutrition at the very beginning of growth and cannot be replaced by any other fertilizers, and fertilizing with mineral fertilizers in addition to pre-sowing organic and mineral fertilizers more fully satisfies the plant in nutrients during the period of their maximum growth. Manure alone cannot do this.

When using some organic fertilizers, the ratio of nutrients in them can be completely different than the ratio required for normal growth and development of plants. In the case of applying optimal doses of mineral fertilizers or combining them with organic fertilizers, it is easier to create any ratio of nutrients required for plants. However, when using some mineral fertilizers, some soil properties often deteriorate.

So, under the influence of the systematic use of physiologically acidic fertilizers in sod-podzolic soils, acidity increases, the content of mobile aluminum increases, and the chemical fixation of phosphates increases. At the same time, when applied together with organic fertilizers, this does not happen.

It must be borne in mind that when meeting the needs of agricultural plants for nutrition with mineral fertilizers alone, the danger of creating a concentration of soil solution harmful to plants is much greater than when combining mineral fertilizers with organic fertilizers. This danger is especially great on low-buffer soils when high doses of mineral fertilizers are applied.

Some crops, such as cucumbers and maize, are very sensitive to increased soil concentration, especially during the first growing season. For them, the combined use of organic and mineral fertilizers has a clear advantage over the introduction of some mineral or organic fertilizers.

Due to the use of organic fertilizers, the doses of mineral fertilizers can be significantly reduced, and thus the appearance of excessive concentration of salts in the soil solution is prevented. In addition, the concentration of the soil solution created by mineral fertilizers also decreases due to the biological absorption of nutrients by microorganisms that decompose organic fertilizers. Experiments prove that with the combined application of mineral fertilizers and manure, their effect is not simply added up, but significantly increases.

The correct combination of organic and mineral fertilizers does not mean that they must be simultaneously applied to the soil or by preparing mixtures. In the crop rotation, organic fertilizers are embedded under cultivated crops (potatoes, etc.), and for subsequent crops, one mineral fertilizer is applied for 2-3 years. This is also a joint contribution. Consequently, the concept of "combination of mineral and organic fertilizers" is very broad, it cannot be reduced only to application at one time. The main thing here is to ensure the mandatory use of both at each site.