Is chemical fertilizer bad?

[veggiechicken]

I have a pack of Growmore in the shed, unopened. It must have been there at least 20 years, when I heard that you sjmply HAD to use Growmore if you had a garden/allotment.
I seem to have managed well enough without opening it..
Thinking about it, I use very little "fertiliser". Chicken manure and horse manure when I can get it. Chicken pellets in holes when planting out.
Liquid seaweed feed for the toms and comfrey/nettle stinky stuff.

[Baldy]

Open it VC... Open it...

[veggiechicken]

Nooooooooooooo!! It might explode

[Mark_Riga]

Miracle Grow definitely is man made. The compost I am now using this year, sylvagrow. is peat free and it says on the bag sustainable. It doesn't mention what if any chemicals are added. I've just emailed the manufacturer to ask. I'll let you now if I get a reply. https://www.melcourt.co.uk/products/...free-composts/
below is a tray of tomato seedlings in it.

[Selymbria]

I prefered organic fertilizer but as VC correctly remembers I got chicken bedding from someone. I did some research on this and honestly I now believe animal manure is more risky than chemical fertilizer. There is massive use of medicines to keep animals healthy and all that will be passed to manure. With chemical fertilizer, I know it is pure. Much better is green manure so that is the best option I believe (the N fixing bacteria) and if that is not an option, chemical fertilizer.
I only have a 65m2 allotment, land where I live is extremely expensive so limited option for green manure.

[Baldy]

Nooooooooooooo!! It might explode

Open it VC Open it !





(Joking)

[veggiechicken]

[SarrissUK]

Well, after visiting the allotment today, the thing that grows best of all is... nettles! I'll be making lots and lots of feed haha

[nickdub]

Well, after visiting the allotment today, the thing that grows best of all is... nettles! I'll be making lots and lots of feed haha

I believe I am right in saying that the Romans used nettles to beat their bodies after a sauna bath sometimes - so there's another potential market at gyms etc :-)

[MyWifesBrassicas]

Well, after visiting the allotment today, the thing that grows best of all is... nettles! I'll be making lots and lots of feed haha

I have a designated hugelkultur bed specifically filled with nettles/comfrey which i chop about 4 times a year, I've crammed it with the pair or them.

[Mr Bones]

I agree with Snadge, each to their own. If it comes down to cost, a batch of homemade actively aerated compost tea sufficient to cover our 500 sq m lotty can be made for less than twenty pence, and it doesn't smell

[MyWifesBrassicas]

I prefered organic fertilizer but as VC correctly remembers I got chicken bedding from someone. I did some research on this and honestly I now believe animal manure is more risky than chemical fertilizer. There is massive use of medicines to keep animals healthy and all that will be passed to manure. With chemical fertilizer, I know it is pure. Much better is green manure so that is the best option I believe (the N fixing bacteria) and if that is not an option, chemical fertilizer.
I only have a 65m2 allotment, land where I live is extremely expensive so limited option for green manure.

I personal think selymbria is right on this one.
In a past life, I was a student of microbiology and i utilised bacteria as a marker for safety.
Chemical fertiliser only ever became an issue in high doses, which stressed/killed the bacteria.
Afterall, Nitrogen is Nitrogen wherever you find it, whether it's in nettles or a bottle of industrial fertiliser.
I personally think its safe to use (in the correct concentration) as a fertiliser, it doesn't contain difficult to "breakdown" chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and antiparasitic molecules that last an age in the ground.
I think the question in an ethical one, whether it's right to use, energy and environmental expediture and producing the stuff. Transportation of the raw materials, grinding rocks etc.
For me, as I'm often described as "tighter than a submarine door" regarding money, i prefer to grow it for free

[veggiechicken]

I believe I am right in saying that the Romans used nettles to beat their bodies after a sauna bath sometimes - so there's another potential market at gyms etc :-)

They also used sponges on sticks in the communal lavatorium which they shared with whoever needed the next wipe..................and I don't mean sponge cakes.

Nettles are very versatile - for eating. string, paper, fertiliser and feeding butterflies etc etc

They're also indicator plants for archaeologists to show where there has been soil disturbance in connection with human habitation...........

(Of course, I could be making this up)

[Snoop Puss]

^Interesting comment about nettles. Last year, we had some spring up. I've never seen them anywhere locally and it was definitely the first time we've had them on our land. I couldn't think of a reason why they should have sprung up. But they appeared in a patch that our chickens had recently taken to scratching around in next to some brambles. I didn't chop the nettles down in the hope we'd get more this year (not what many people would hope for, I guess).

[1Bee]

Interesting thread. I used BFB and chicken manure pellets for quick fixes, make my own comfrey and weed mix tea thingy, use comfrey as a mulch and get manure when I can.

At home, I will use whichever tom feed is cheapest - transporting comfrey feed would be risky (to my car!) and stinky.

Everything is context, really. I always get twitchy with the "a chemical is a chemical, wherever it came from," argument, and the "it's a natural substance," is even better. After all, man-made substances don't have the monopoly on toxicity and harm.