Synthetic versus natural fertilisers

[KG Emma]

We would like some comments from readers to add to a future 'Over the Garden Fence' feature in Kitchen Garden magazine.
The topic to be debated is synthetic (man-made) fertilisers versus natural fertilisers such as comfrey liquid.
Do you have a preference and what is your fertiliser of choice?

[Colin Miles]

No preference.
Whatever the plants need.

[Primrose]

My own preference would be for a natural fertiliser as I prefer to know what is going into the vegetables I grow to eat, i.e. manure, or a liquid from composted greenery. However, as the recent contaminated manure issues have shown, sometimes it's difficult even to trust what ought to be a completely organic & natural source of fertiliser.

For the small (back garden) vegetable grower, I suspect that time issues and space make it impractical to rely on such supplements and most people will be happy to use a bottle of Tomorite or other liquid fertiliser to keep their half a dozen tomato plants or whatever going.

I use bagged composted manure (because it's difficult to get the real stuff), & chicken manure pellets as well as our home-made compost. And yes, a bottle of Tomorite or something similar is always to be found in my nutrition armoury.

A lot probably also depends on the type of soil you have. Our soil is very light, so opting for something such as well rotted manure which would also help retain moisture in dry periods would be my ideal choice. Chicken manure pellets or comfrey do nothing in this respect so a dual purpose bulky fertiliser would be my ideal preference. In reality, I opt for both.

[Geoff]

I, like the plants, don't have any real preference. They want their ration of NPK and don't care where it comes from and there is no scientific evidence that it makes any difference to the flavour or nutritional value of edible plants.
This means that the majority of my vegetable garden fertiliser is Growmore, as it is the cheapest source of the required NPK, with some Superphosphate and Potash to change the balance for some crops. I also use large quantities of compost and manure and have no qualms about using synthetic fertilisers with them to produce healthy fertile soil.
I use Fish, Blood and Bone (FBB) with additional Potash on the greenhouse borders so the feed lasts all season, I give the Tomatoes in there very little extra as liquid feed. I use FBB and Bone Meal in the ornamental garden, again to give season long slow release.

[Clive.]

Granular Growmore has been the general fertiliser in the vegetable garden here for as long as I can remember. This year though fish, blood & bone has been used on Potatoes in lieu of Growmore by way of a change.

More specific fertilisers are used on 2 crops; Strawberries get a little sulphate of potash and Spring Cabbage gets a little nitrate of soda.

Our quite light soil, with green sandstone underneath, is kept in good heart, deeply Winter dug to maintain a good depth of top soil and is regularly treated to applications of own made compost.
The compost heap being topped up with locally sourced free Horse manure as available.

Greenhouse Tomatoes are in large pots of a mix of half John Innes No.3 and half multipurpose...additional liquid feeding alternates between Miracle Grow and Phostrogen.

Clive.

[alan refail]

I mostly use only home-produced compost consisting of 50% or more chicken and duck droppings and wood shavings, the rest being plant refuse and kitchen waste. This is all I use on beds outdoors and in the polytunnel. Potatoes, brassicas and tomatoes get a sprinkle of chicken manure pellets at planting time then nothing else through the growing season - the only exception being an occasional feed of comfrey liquid or seaweed tomato fertiliser for tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers in the tunnel. I never have hungry plants and this method saves the technical (and sometimes mistaken) calculations of specific needs for specific crops.

[pdblak]

I tend to make my own from comfrey, nettles, rhubarb leaves for sprays and liquid feeds. Chicken muck and compost for digging in.

I only tend to buy a small box of Blood, fish and bone now and then. It keeps costs down and I know what's going into what I eat.

[Nature's Babe]

I garden on what was intractable hard clay, I have three large compost bays and make as much as I can to mulch my soil, which now has vastly improved soil water holding capacity and nutrition, I keep chickens and ducks and their waste is incorporated into the compost, also comfry leaves to activate the heaps. I do use some liquid seaweed nettle tea and comfrey tea, all natural. I find now everything grows beautifully and productively without any interference from me. Also I don't dig except to plant, and I have encouraged natural fungi which add to most plants root capacity and help nutrition and capacity to withstand drought, as they attacth to roots and there is a mutually benefiacial exchange. Nature does it far better than I could, so I study her well. Also I have trees and vines that shed leaves in autumn to nourish the soil. Weeds are beneficial, as long as they are not seeding they are dried on the paths and added as a mulch, which helps keep the soil moist. A plant only takes a small amount of nutrition from the soil, the rest it gets from the sun, so returning that 80% to the soil makes sense, when my peas and beans are finnished I will lay them over the soil as a mulch, top it up with dried weeds lawn clippings etc, the worms gradually incorporate that, while it helps suppress weeds, I just plant the next crop through the mulch. Basically I concentrate on nourishing the soil and it is then capoable of looking after all the plants without me worrying about them.