Sythetic fertilizer or what I call plant Crack

Have you ever brought a beautiful flowering plant home from the nursery only to have it look 1/2 dead a few weeks later? Most of it's blossoms have fallen off  the leaves look lifeless. It could be you haven't put it in the right location or you are over or under watering it- or it could be going threw withdrawals.

(this is a dramatization)

See, while it was at the nursery it may have been getting liquid fertilizer on a regular basis maybe even in small doses each day. Now it came home with neglectful you who have not kept up with it's habit. No you don't have to send it to rehab, most of the time it will recover and get use to it's new life.

 During WWII ammonium nitrate was widely  produced for ammunition. After the war companies realized that demand would drop greatly so they marketed it as fertilizer. In the 1960's and 70's most farms would dump commercial fertilizer on their crops while bulldozing manure from their farms into streams to get rid of it.

Why is synthetic fertilizer bad you might ask. Well lets start with this sweet seedling- we will call him Todd.

Todd is the one in the middle

Todd is a happy seedling just starting life growing on the storage left in the seed. Then the grower applies synthetic fertilizer.

Todd grows fast, faster then he would naturally. He gets big and bulky but because of how fast he is growing his new leaves and stems are more easily attacked by bugs.

To combat the bugs the grower sprays Todd with some insecticide and keeps giving Todd more fertilizer so he will grow fast. After a while Todd starts to look leggy and sad- like the  little plant crack addict he is.

If Todd had been given just a little compost he would have grown slower but been healthier and stronger, he would have been a happier plant. OK- that is a very simplistic example but let me add that organic fertilizers differ from chemicals in that they feed your plants while building the soil's structure. Soils with lots of organic material remain loose and airy, they are better able to hold moisture and nutrients, they foster growth of soil organisms including earthworms and promote healthier root development. Synthetic fertilizers can also led to building up salt in the soil which not only impact the plants but can kill all the good microbes in your soil.

In the 11 years I have lived in my house I have never added anything to my grass except for compost- never. It looks like this. I top dress my lawn every four years or so with finely screened compost in the spring and leave the grass clippings when I mow.

Blue and Grace enjoying frozen yogurt treat

I have also never used any fertilizer besides compost  in my gardens, they look like this.

This isn't meant to make anyone feel bad about fertilizing their lawn or garden but, unlike what those Scott lawn care commercials tell you- you don't have to. I will have more posts on composting later- stay tuned!