Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Strategies for Choosing All-Natural Nutrients
When it comes to choosing your nutrients, I would normally say read the labels thoroughly and carefully,
and while this is always a great idea, it often still won't tell you what you really need to know. Marketing
geniusesareverygoodattheirjobs,andinthenutrientindustrythisisespeciallytrue;makingsyntheticfer-
tilizers appear to be organic is child's play when most people don't understand what true organics means.
Call the manufacturers directly if you have doubts, and be direct with them. Ask them if they have any
synthetic chelating elements in their fertilizer. Chelating is pronounced like
key-layting,
just so you sound
serious. Always avoid products that use the term “Organic Based” because in my experience this almost
alwaysmeansthattheproductcontainsSyntheticChelatingSalts,whichareverybad.Ifyouseethephrase
“Madewithorganicornaturalnutrients” beverywarytoo.Thebottleshouldstatethattheproductismade
with 100% or all-natural or organic nutrients/elements. It also needs to have the OMRI tag on it clearly
visible. I trust any nutrients with this tag on them for use with TLO gardening.
With TLO growing you really never need a lot of liquid nutrients, and I have about 4 on hand at all
times. I'll list them below for you, with some info relating to why and when I use them.
Fox Farm's Big Bloom
I love this nutrient as it is essentially an organic tea made with bat guano and earthworm castings, along
with many other good things. Take note of the NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium respectively)
numbers, because they are very low in comparison to many liquid organic nutrients; this is a good thing. If
need be, you could use this at a ratio of ½ cup per gallon of water, but I use it in teas at a ratio more like ⅓
cup per gallon.
Organic Gem Fish Fertilizer
This product is all natural with great NPK numbers for an all-purpose liquid TLO nutrient. The N-P-K
numbersonthisonearegreat,at3-3-0.3—andsometimes IliketousethisonewhenIhaveveggingplants
inthesamecontainerfortoolongbetweentransplants.Normallyformeit'sateaadditiveonly,andagreat
one at that. In teas I use it at either 2 teaspoons per gallon, or if used as a flowering stage tea, something
more like 1 tablespoon per gallon. For an all-purpose plant booster dosage, I would say use it about every
3rd watering, at about 2 teaspoons per gallon.
