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Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 26th, 2014, 10:13 am
by fredman
I am a fan of both. Not many info around about using both as it either the one or the other.
Both have their respective advantages (and disadvantages for that matter).
Is it good, bad or both to use both? At certain times of the year we need different NPK ratios to get the maximum growth from our plants.
What I also have been wondering about is..... Does Chemical ferts hinder/damage an Organic 'eco' system? What i'm trying to say is will it 'burn' the bacteria and fungi and disrupt the whole process...???

Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 26th, 2014, 2:25 pm
by Brian
I always alternate both fertilisers weekly.
Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 26th, 2014, 4:29 pm
by Phoenix238
I imagine it has more to do with the strengths of the fertiliser and how quickly it releases, but I can't say I have any practical experience to offer you. Hopefully someone more in the know can help
Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 26th, 2014, 6:31 pm
by shibui
Does Chemical ferts hinder/damage an Organic 'eco' system? What i'm trying to say is will it 'burn' the bacteria and fungi and disrupt the whole process...?
Depends on who you listen to. Organic advocates will be adamant that anything from a factory will cause untold damage.

plants cannot tell where the nutrients come from. They are just interested in collecting the compounds they need and cannot distinguish between nitrates (etc) sourced from a factory and those from a worm farm.
I use nutrients from a range of sources and have never noticed any adverse reactions to alternating between organic and chemical fert.
Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 26th, 2014, 7:06 pm
by Inspired
To throw in more confusion in the mix

many pellet forms of fertilizer can do more harm than good when the temp sores above 35. Hmm this may go for any fertilizer for that matter if not careful
One of my Junis will not tolerate dynamic lifter but likes chook poo

Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 26th, 2014, 7:48 pm
by Graeme
Inspired wrote:
One of my Junis will not tolerate dynamic lifter but likes chook poo

You know, I have heard this before and I will be damned if I can find anyone to explain why. The potting medium we used in my Nursery had an amount of Chook poo (composted) in it and everything we grew did well in the mix. Add a bit of the pellatised stuff and with some plants we had setbacks. Like I said, damned if I know why that was.

Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 26th, 2014, 7:59 pm
by Phoenix238
Voodoo Plant Magic
Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 27th, 2014, 6:45 am
by Biofusion
It has to do with soil microbiology.
As you feed the soil microbes with organics, they they remineralise other nutrient making it more available to the plants.
The microbes (bacteria and fungi) then also provide other beneficial results for the plant including resistance to disease.
Chemical ferts can contain salts that damage this microbiology.
That, and they are usually at very high concentrations, most of which doesn't get used.
Organics being predominantly solids based are more slow release and get caught up in the soil aggregate.
The chook manure- I dare say that the pelletised version just wasn't as composted , and therefore burnt the plant from ammonia toxicity.
This happens with chemical ferts used in high concentrations that contain ammonia or urea as a niteogen source, another reason why overuse of chemical ferts can sometimes harm plants
Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 27th, 2014, 7:08 am
by Brad75
Hi all,
How do you collect chook poo?
Just askin.
Cheers,
Brad75.
Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 27th, 2014, 11:46 am
by Elmar
Brad75 wrote:Hi all,
How do you collect chook poo?
Just askin.
Cheers,
Brad75.
Nappies on chicks, of corse!
Cheers
EZ
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 27th, 2014, 12:17 pm
by Inspired

very funi i can picture it
Brad just go to the big green shed and grab yourself a bag of Rooster Booster..
Careful with that stuff.. it's like roids
One of my evergreen leaf trees in ramification stage had only 3 needle pots injected and the leaves have gone nuts
It now looks like a garden tree in a bonsai pot

Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 27th, 2014, 12:36 pm
by Brad75
Hi all,
Thanks for the replies. I hadn't heard of Rooster Booster before, I'll look for it.
Cheers,
Brad75.
Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 27th, 2014, 1:31 pm
by Josh
CoGRedeMptioN wrote:Brad75 wrote:Hi all,
How do you collect chook poo?
Just askin.
Cheers,
Brad75.
Nappies on chicks, of corse!
Cheers
EZ
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Not that hard really
chicken.png
Josh
Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 27th, 2014, 1:31 pm
by Elmar
Where we live (in the hills I Perth - semi rural) you can take your trailer to a chuck farm and shovel it in to your trailer to your hearts content! Out a tea towel over your mouth and nose - trust me! Haha... Sorry but I never considered that you don't experience that in suburbia...
Cheers
EZ
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Re: Alternating Organic and Chemical fertilizers.
Posted: October 27th, 2014, 1:32 pm
by Elmar
Josh wrote:CoGRedeMptioN wrote:Brad75 wrote:Hi all,
How do you collect chook poo?
Just askin.
Cheers,
Brad75.
Nappies on chicks, of corse!
Cheers
EZ
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Not that hard really
chicken.png
Josh
Haha too quick! Well done!
Cheers
EZ
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk