Organic Fertilizers

Organic fertilizers are naturally produced sources of nutrition used to generate both a healthy crop and a nourished soil.  Basically, the organic kind of fertilizer is acquired from animal and vegetable byproducts.  This kind of fertilizer is composed of natural matters that have undergone just a small, if not none at all, amount of processing.

Types of Organic Fertilizers

Organic fertilizers vary in forms. This class of fertilizer may come in either liquid, granular or powder form.  But aside from its classification based on forms, this kind of fertilizer can be further categorized based on its primary source or basic element.  In this type of classification, the choices can be broken down into four categories namely animal, plant, mineral and compost. 

Dried or less processed waste materials from meat processing and dairy farming can be classified under the animal processing byproducts, another type of organic fertilizer.  Organic fertilizers such as fish emulsion and blood and bone meals fall under this category as well.

Plant substance fertilizers, coming from the term itself, are byproducts of plants.  This type of organic fertilizer is considered to be high in nitrogen, one of the three most important nutrients that plants need for a healthy growth.  Examples of this type of organic fertilizer are corn gluten meal, alfalfa meal and cottonseed meal.

Minerals such as the Chilean nitrate, green sand, magnesia, and rock phosphate are also considered organic fertilizers under the classification of mineral-based.  Basically, these fertilizers are classified organic because these minerals, which help give nutrients to soil and plants, have naturally developed under very minimal processing.

The last, but definitely not the least, type of organic fertilizer is the compost. Compost consists of a mixture of different raw bio-degradable materials, like animal faeces or garden wastes. This division of organic fertilizer is abundant in nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, the three primary plant nutrition needs.

Application of Organic Fertilizers

Ideally, organic fertilizer is applied to plants' soil beds around early spring up to late fall.  This will serve not only as a mere fertilizer but also as a soil enhancer, which can greatly help in creating a better root support for the plants.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Using Organic Fertilizers

One of organic fertilizers strengths is its abundance. Generally, this kind of fertilizer has basic natural elements that are abundant in the environment. It can also be easily made even at the comfort of one's home. Aside from that, use of organic materials as fertilizers also promotes recycling by finding a new use for supposed wastes. This makes biodegradable scrap a possible nutrition supplement for plants and garden soil.  Since organic fertilizers are abundant every where and that their primary components are considered to be mere garbage, they can easily be found and used for free. As such, they are the exact opposite of chemical fertilizers, which have to be bought from stores.  In addition, organic matter, which is mostly the main component of most organic fertilizers, aid in sustaining air and water in the soil for plants' additional source of nutrients.
 
On the other hand, this classification of fertilizer also has its downs. One of them is its slow release of nitrogen to supply the plants. Compared to a synthetic form fertilizer, an organic fertilizer releases nitrogen slower.  Though this slow release is a weakness, it can also be converted to strength. It is in terms of transportation where organic fertilizer poses the most obvious problem, but due to the gradual release of organic fertilizer, there is less possibility for it to be washed away from the soil or to burn the roots of the plants and harm their growth.  The shipment of organic fertilizer from one place to another is harder compared to chemical fertilizers offered commercially because it is bulkier.

Yet despite that, the cost-effectiveness and environment-friendly qualities of organic fertilizers more than make up for their tolerable flaws. Their strengths definitely outweigh their little imperfections, making them the better choice.