Pelleted Organic Fertilizers

March 6, 2009 by Organic Farmer  
Filed under Safe Organic Fertilizers

Going organic is the way to go if you want to get the most out of your backyard garden. But selecting the right organic fertilizer can be a chore, especially for people who have just gotten into gardening as a hobby. This article will help you decide what kind of organic fertilizer best suits your needs.

There are many different kinds of organic fertilizers on the market, such as fish emulsions, cornmeal, bone meal, seaweed extracts, kelp extract, etc. They are available in liquid or powder or in Granular or pelleted form.

The liquid organic fertilizer is applied to plants with a spray while the powder form can be applied directly to the soil. These forms have advantages and disadvantages, and many gardeners argue over the benefits of one or the other.

The other kind of organic fertilizer is the granular or pelleted. Late to arrive on the scene (the pelleted fertilizer is quite new), the pelleted organic fertilizer is quickly becoming the preferred form of organ fertilizer. This is primarily based on price: pelleted fertilizers are a bit cheaper than liquid or powdered organic fertilizers. The pelleted fertilizer also has a slow-release capability.

This slow-release property allows pelleted fertilizers to gradually release nutrients, which gives plants time to absorb and use them through the growing season. In this way, the pelleted fertilizer also helps stop leaching and soil erosion, which are side-effects of the liquid form.

Since they are organic, pelleted fertilizers have only a small amount of chemicals; no organic fertilizer is one hundred percent natural. The pelleted fertilizer’s low chemical content makes it a great source of nutrients not only for plants, but also for microorganisms in the soil.

Pelleted fertilizers may be derived from many kinds of organic materials. Most are produced from by-products of the sea.

For example, fish emulsions are sough after for their rich trace elements. Pelleted fertilizers produced from seaweed are also a prized by plant growers because of its high trace element content and nitrogen.

Another pelleted fertilizer that is made from the by-products of the sea is the crab shell fertilizer. Chock full of vitamins and minerals, this fertilizer is also popular because it is pest-controller.

Pelleted fertilizers can also be produced from manure, chicken litter, or bat guano. Chicken and other farms have begun converting their waste into pelleted fertilizers for plant use. Another pelleted fertilizer is made from bat guano. Commonly comprised of high amounts of nitrogen and phosphoric acid, the bat guano fertilizer has high-protein, slow-release, and is a soluble type of fertilizer.