Gardening without animal fertilisers

[Penellype]

I thought compost was just green/brown stuff unless it specified that it contained a fertilizer of some sort.
Not something I've thought about. - just assumed.

Most composts come with added feed, hence claims on the bag such as "Feeds for 6 weeks".

[Penellype]

This post has surprised me a little, and it may absolutely be my ignorance and for that I apologise... I always felt that animal fertilisers are about as sustainable as it gets. I grew up on a farm where we had dairy cows. Cows poop, it feeds the land, the grass grows, the cows eat and so on.
Personally the use of animal manure, whether from cows, sheep, chickens, horses or pigs, it feels so much more of a natural fertiliser than chemical fertilisers that you buy in a bottle.

One of the reasons why many people are currently going vegan is the amount of greenhouse gases produced by animal farming, especially cows. Cows naturally produce methane during their digestion and this is an even more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. In this sense farming cows is not sustainable in that it is helping to cause climate change.

The whole subject of what is the best policy from an environmental point of view is fraught with difficulty as it is impossible to calculate the effects of what you do as the relevant data is not available. You can just end up swapping one problem for another, and you can also end up feeling guilty for not doing more, as I do because I feel I couldn't live without cheese, coffee and chocolate, all of which have a price from an environmental point of view.

[veggiechicken]

Most composts come with added feed, hence claims on the bag such as "Feeds for 6 weeks".

But if it doesn't specify what that "feed" is, could it not be the natural goodness contained within the composted material which may be exhausted after 6 weeks and, at that point the gardener needs to add "feed" themselves?

[Penellype]

But if it doesn't specify what that "feed" is, could it not be the natural goodness contained within the composted material which may be exhausted after 6 weeks and, at that point the gardener needs to add "feed" themselves?

It might be, but in my experience there are usually granules of added feed, often coloured blue or green, mixed in with the compost.

[lottie dolly]

I always thought that the general bags of compost were for starting off,and potting on,seeds and plants,so would expect that,by the time they hit the ground they will be up and running,then feed with whatever is your choice,whats left can be added to the general compost heap,and so it goes round,i have also potted on tomato plants with seived home made compost,all was good,also what you can get hold off and afford,comfry is good stuff,if you have space to grow it,i only have a small amout at home now,also other weed roots in the same barrel,this year am going to try tea made with last years chicken poop,in the past i have used pelets,i sometimes wonder if we are tricked into thinking,we need what is not really needed,after all,you drop a seed,or wind scatterers them,and nature takes hold and nurtures them,and not just weeds in cracks,so it does make you think,

[Squingy]

After reading everything here I feel ignorant. I don't buy fertilizer for the same reason, I don't know what ground up animal bones, blood etc are in it. I did not know that animal fertilizers were put in compost too.

I see you haven't found a solution Mark. The description on the suggested compost is gimmicky and flim flummery. "all veg" could be just a name, not that it contains only veg. And there is no description for "BIO3 formulation - No Green Waste" so who knows what they mean?

If you find a something suitable please come back here and let us know. Good luck.

[veggiechicken]

It might be, but in my experience there are usually granules of added feed, often coloured blue or green, mixed in with the compost.

Miracle-Gro makes a big thing about added feed :-

Miracle-Gro All Purpose Compost is a low-peat premium potting compost. It is ideal to use for all of your planting needs and is enriched with a 3 month long Miracle-Gro plant food to grow plants twice as big as unfed plants, providing better blooms and healthier plants.

0% Green waste.
Enriched with Miracle-Gro Plant Food which feeds for 3 months.
Contains 40% more nutrients than ordinary multi-purpose compost.

You don't find that sort of hype on ordinary compost which is why I think - if its there, they'd say so.

[toomanytommytoes]

It might be, but in my experience there are usually granules of added feed, often coloured blue or green, mixed in with the compost.

Haven't seen these in New Horizon Peat Free Multi-Purpose (https://www.gardenhealth.com/product...urpose-compost). New Horizon All Veg is probably the same stuff under a slightly different name. Both say they 'feed for 6 weeks'.

There are blue granules in Gro-Sure Peat Free All Purpose (https://www.gardenhealth.com/product...t-free-compost) which says it has '4 months feed'.

New Horizon Peat Free Multi-Purpose says on the bag 'blend of composted bark, coir, worm compost and wood fibre'. All three are made by Westland, so the other two are probably identical. They must have changed the formula last year since the quality was much improved: no twigs or bits of uncomposted wood, much better texture and no funky smell. Don't think they're using green waste compost any more.

[Logunner]

Struggling to understand if the OP means manure or BFB etc.

I could understand BFB being an issue to vegans, but how is manure a problem?

[veggiechicken]

In case you're confused, I've merged Mark's first thread about Vegan gardening with this one as there's so much overlap.
Hope you don't mind, Mark.

[Kirk]

Doubt that you could not have animal fertilisers. Worm casts etc come primarily to mind, then there is simply dead bugs that decompose and form nutrients aka fertiliser.

Passing pigeons can deposit guano and anything else that flies.

The one option I can see is hydroponics.

But I doubt that a "vegan" plant in soil is a possibility. Not sure that the idea of a vegan plant makes sense.

[Mark_Riga]

Well I use mainly plant based compost and a bit of miracle grow. I have a very weedy garden that provides a heap every year. I have a 2 heap system. So am just finishing off weeds from 2018 and in next few weeks will be using the 2017 accumulated pile on about 1/3 of the garden (3 year rotation sort of). This year I've been making a determined effort to get rid of couch grass so a large portion of the latest heap is that - which I hope will have passed away by 2020. I'll then start on the 2021 heap. I also use a comfrey feed made by stuffing as much leaves into a 200L water butt, topping up with water and leaving to brew for a few weeks. The comfrey and miracle grow are generally only used on greenhouse crops with nothing further on outside crops. Been doing this now for a fair few years.
My thinking is that plant based compost should be better than animal manure because none of the goodness has been taken out by the animal concerned and it doesn't smell - the comfrey water does though, I once gave my son some plants and thought watering them with comfrey would help if he didn't plant them out too soon but he complained that his car stank for a few weeks afterwards.

[toastiesmurf]

It's Up To You!

Veganism is not a religion.

I think an individual person makes choices based on factors such as:

a) What are you comfortable using/buying/supporting the production of?
b) What do you think about the ethics of using animal products?
c) What do you want to reduce or use more/less of in order to feel better and do your bit

Nature isn't vegan, humans invented the term because they became aware that they were causing imbalance on the earth, and part of that imbalance was an overuse or disregard for animals.

It's mad though isn't it, I find it really hard to kill the slugs. Last year I didn't have to kill that many because it was dry, but if I don't kill them they will eat all my veg. Then I'll have to buy my veg from Morrisons, and I'm pretty sure they kill more slugs than me on a per pepper basis.

Right, I'm off for a nap...

[mcdood]

As others have said it's not cut and dried exactly where the limits are. My children who are vegan tell me that it's anything that comes from animals where they have been exploited so wormcasts, dead bugs decomposing in the soil, poo from passing pigeons etc would not be an issue, manure from exploited animals would be.

[Thelma Sanders]

Veganism is not a religion.

It's pretty close to being one, nowadays, I think. It used to be cool for 'celebst' o be Vegetarian, and now it's cool to be Vegan
Meat eating was the thing to avoid, to save humankind, now we have to avoid dairy and eggs as well, to save the planet.
I don't necessarily agree that this makes for a healthier/more sustainable diet for humans, but each to their own eh?