ORGANIC FERTILIZERS - WHAT ARE THE FACTS?
What do we want to achieve with an organic fertilizer that we can’t achieve with an inorganic fertilizer?
To answer this question we need to go back to the first use of inorganic fertilizers in the early 1800’s when Justus von Liebig promoted the use of inorganic minerals in plant nutrition to improve crop production very successfully in those early years. The addition of inorganic fertilizers (increased sources of N, P and K) to good and healthy soils in those early days boosted crop production significantly. This led to the continued and indiscriminant continued use of inorganic fertilizers and multiple cropping that ultimately destroyed the soil structure by depleting the organic content giving rise to poorly aerated and dead (depleted beneficial microbial activity) soils.
When Agronomists realized what was happening in the early 70’s the advent of the organic fertilizer industry started with the objective to turn this situation around but did not really impact the agricultural industry until the mid 80’s when organic farming slowly started to take off. It was only then that research on this topic expanded and the influence of over worked soils on production capacity become known and real efforts to turn this situation around was launched.
In this instance the application of organic fertilizers had as its main objective to improve soil structure which includes improved aeration, improved drainage improved water holding capacity and cation exchange capacity and to improve the beneficial microbial activity of the soil. By deduction one can therefore now argue that a good organic fertilizer will protect and improve these mentioned factors while also providing the important required nutrients.
By what yard stick can we now determine the characteristics that an organic fertilizer must possess to achieve the above objective?
The first quality issue that needs to be very correctly understood is the so called “organic matter or organic content” argument.
In this instance it is not the quantity of the organic matter present on the soil or in the organic fertilizer but the quality of the organic matter that is important. Raw manures (whether dehydrated or not), non or semi decomposed plant material like straw, leaf mulch animal meal wood fibre and others must be completely decomposed before soil micro organisms can release the plant nutrients. If such materials are applied to the soil then the decomposition process will continue where large amounts of microbes will need lots and lots of oxygen as well as nitrogen to digest the raw organic matter. In technical terms this is expressed as BOD or biological oxygen demand and is measurable. In this instance there is now a competition for oxygen between plant roots and micro organisms and the micro organisms.
will always win this battle as the “law of the jungle” is that they, the micro organisms feed first.
The resultant negative effect that non decomposed organic matter will initially have on a soil will depend on the “quality” and buffering capacity of the soil to which this organic matter is applied. A soil with good structure, good porosity ratio and good cation exchange capacity will be able to withstand the continued organic decomposition process much better than a sensitive USGA spec green for instance where porosity ratios are sensitive and have a low inherent cation exchange and buffering capacity.
The important measure in this instance is the Carbon to Nitrogen ratio. (C:N) which for a standard finished compost must test less than 17 :1 in this ratio. The higher this is the higher the continued microbial activity and the oxygen demand on the soil will be. As a matter of interest the specifications for use of organic fertilizers in environmentally sensitive areas is a C:N ratio below 8.
The other important yard sticks are:-
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The measurement of the Microbial diversity as measured by the six categories of beneficial microbes. ( Aerobic Heterotrophic plate count, Anaerobic Bacterial plate count, Yeasts and moulds, Actinomycetes, Pseudomonads and Nitrogen fixing bacteria)
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The humic acid content.
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The nutrient content.
How does Sustane Natural Fertilizers stack up against these parameters?
The organic base for the Sustane natural fertilizers are derived from an aerobically controlled composting process of Turkey litter over a 26 weeks period. The composting process is controlled through the mesophyllic and thermophyllic phase to the ultimate curing and stabilized phase when further organic matter decomposition is not possible and the end result is a pure mixture of Humin, Humic acid Fulvic acid collectively known as Humus, together with the minerals or nutrients. The final C:N ratio is less than 7:1 with a Humic acid content averaging 8 %.
Microbial Diversity of the base material as tested by BBC Labs of Arizona, USA.
Parameter Sustane base Sustane Diversity Example moderate
material Index Diversity index
Aerobic Heterotrophic 5.9 x 109 CFU / gdw 2.0 1.6
Anaerobic bacteria 8.7 x 107 CFU / gdw 0.9 0.8
Yeasts and moulds 2,7 x 105 CFU / gdw 0.4 0.8
Actinomycetes 5.0 x 103 CFU / gdw 0.8 0.9
Pseudomonads 8.5 x 108 CFU / gdw 0.7 0.5
Nitrogen fixing bacteria 1.0 x 103 CFU / gdw -0.3 0.3
Total Specie Richness
Diversity Index (SRDI) 4.5 4.9
The Sustane Quality assurance issue. The product conforms to the American Association of Plant Food Control standards, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection services and the base material is OMRI Certified (Organic Materials Review Institute)
Consistent Uniform Granular production. Produced in SGN 100 and 200. particle sizes.
The Leader in Organic Research. Over the last 31 years more than 400 University research papers have been published on Sustane natural fertilizers.
Environmentally Sensitive area use. Is now recommended and in certain instances prescribed for use in sensitive areas by well known Golf Course Architects world wide as it meets all the specifications for use in Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
Sustane natural fertilizers is also the preferred supplier to the Troon Managed Golf courses world wide.
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