Appreciate your thoughtful comment & much agreed as well! I’ve heard that same train of thought before about soil, my opinion is that it’s actually both. When you look at the 17 critical macro and micro nutrients plants need, some are organically derived and some are broken down from mineral sources. (i.e. copper is a mineral base, but nitrogen is wholly derived from organics.) In my opinion, the logic of “where things come from” points towards both.

Our northern focused “environmental argument” is simply that all these systems work at exceptionally slow levels. It’s not that they don’t work, in fact we use them, it’s just that we can’t rely upon them in the same way as more southern growers.

I agree with you that the “main concern” is what else could be in chemical ferts. We know that plants feed on inorganic chemicals (like nitrate, phosphate and potassium ions) and that any carbon in organics are essentially cleaved prior to plant uptake. There’s also no doubt plants can take up foreign things, so if they’re there, it’s definitely of concern. But, that’s where I look at things like MSDS for transport reasons. Everything must be declared at the risk of serious and heavy state or federal fines. I have to think that when it states “base chemicals” with nothing weird, there’s nothing nefarious going on – at least with reputable suppliers. We definitely aren’t arguing for putting some off brand, questionably manufactured and probably compromised stuff on our plants. Frankly, my concerns lie in things like PFOS and PFAS, which is entirely disconnected from the organic/inorganic discussion.

So, the frequency of application will heavily depend on the specific fertilizer. Some are designed for long term release over several months (typically granular), some are designed for very regular applications every 7-10 days (typically water soluble). We heavily use water soluble fertilizers, with near weekly applications throughout most of the growing season. We’ve found that to be rather symbiotic with our increased growth rates from more photosynthesis and haven’t felt a need to increase application frequency beyond the manufacturer’s recommendation of every 7-10 days.

But, we also have some gardens where we use granular fertilizers almost exclusively. In those, we’ve generally followed manufacturer guidance for rate and quantity of applications, but it’s often not quite enough. I think the problem is less so the increased photosynthesis, rather the slower speed of the organic process that happens at northern latitudes. The organic process is required to break down granular fertilizers into simpler chemical chains that plants can actually use. We often supplement our granular fertilizers with water soluble fertilizers, typically once or twice a month, once our plants mature. (Typically starting 1 month after transplant.) This ensures they have what they need now and later. If you want a better deep dive into water soluble vs. granular, and further insight into our practices, we discuss it further in this video. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the comment, Deborah! Worm castings are definitely great! Glad you found the perspective helpful.

Great comment! Thanks! As for unnatural traces, I would at least hope that fert manufacturers take care not to have them to begin with. (The MSDS for Jacks basically says “dispose of as a fertilizer in a field.”) I do agree that over concentration of certain chemicals is a bad thing. That’s just as prevalent with non-organic approaches, too. If I had the means, I’d test my soil and treat it specifically for particular insufficiencies, but that’s hard to do at the home garden scale. (Many larger scale farmers do this, actually.)

As for your second comment, I do think in the “long run” that additions like compost and other organics benefit the soil. We actually practice this, as well as non-organic approaches as both are important. But, they do almost serve different purposes – long term soil health vs. instant satisfaction.

Right now there is a huge movement for “Soil Regeneration”. It has become inert for more reasons than just pesticides. What role does non-organic fertilizer play? These are genuine questions.

Thanks for the feedback, Renée! We like the blended approach too, best of both worlds.

Previously, we always thought there was some sort of difference. But, that’s completely illogical when you think about it! It’s really just the derived source, but it’s all the same when it gets to the plant! Thanks for following our blog, Jeffrey.