Chemical Fertilizer and Organic Fertilizer
If Shakespeare was a
gardener, there's no doubt he would have asked: To compost or
not to compost? That is the question.
 There’s
currently much controversy over the use of chemical fertilizers versus organic
fertilizers these days. There are many who claim that
chemical fertilizers do more harm than good, which
is why so many have turned to organic
fertilizers for their plants’ main nutrient-base rather
than chemical fertilizers.
Chemical
fertilizers are “processed” fertilizers. Chemical
fertilizers can provide an accurate supply of nutrients to
plants with the right mix of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and
Potassium — something an organic fertilizer cannot always
do. Organic fertilizers typically contain a large percentage
of one of these three major nutrients and have low content
levels of the other two.
However, because chemical
fertilizers are processed, the highly acidic substances found
in chemical fertilizers contribute to the alkaline content in
soil. Alkaline reduces the presence of the soil
nutrients that are essential for plants to growth
and their overall health. Organic fertilizers, on the
other hand, contain less chemical substances which means
they're less likely to add to the acidic level of soil.
Therefore, the less acid means more
nutrients.
Agricultural studies have shown
time and again that the key to a healthy garden
is soil that is teeming with microscopic life. The
acids in chemical fertilizers, unfortunately, may kill
these essential micro-beings. In contrast, organic fertilizers
support them. In fact, there are no substances present in
an organic fertilizer that can adversely affect or hinder
microscopic life. Thus organic fertilizers prove not only
beneficial to plants but to the microorganisms found in soil
as well.
There are those who argue that
chemical fertilizer is still the best choice. Nutrient
retention in soil is known to be the primary
function of microorganisms but with the concentrated nutrients
of chemical fertilizers, the need for microorganisms in
gardens is not as important. However, this is only
partially true.
Nutrients found in chemical fertilizers
tend to evaporate or leach beyond the root system of plants and into ground water. This tendency of
chemical fertilizers is not only harmful to
humans (chemical fertilizers are the known culprits
in contamination of drinking water), but wasteful as
well. Plants only need so many nutrients during
their growth cycle, so any excess
is wasted or stored in the soil organisms’ food banks to be
later tapped into by plants when food is scarce. Since
organic fertilizers promote microscopic life,
they in effect provide plants with a steady, although slow,
supply of nutrients.
The advantages of organic fertilizers don't end there.
Most people agree that organic fertilizers are a cheaper
alternative to the industry processed chemical fertilizers.
Even though it's true that commercially packaged organic
fertilizers cost more per pound of nutrients compared to
chemical fertilizers, traditional backyard
organic fertilizers like manure and compost are absolutely
free.
So to compost or not to compost? It’s
not even the question to ask.
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