When choosing which organic garden fertilizer to use, sometimes you'll be choosing organic fertilizers to improve the soil, while sometimes you'll be feeding plants directly.
When feeding plants, I especially use liquid fertilizers such as my 3 favorites - kelp, fish and sea minerals - for the broad array of nutrients and other important substances they provide.
This article is about feeding plants, and more specifically, it's about something interesting I've learned from various research that's been done over the years. It turns out that it's more important for plants to have consistent access to even just a small amount of fertilizer than to apply that fertilizer all at once.
I use almost all organic garden fertilizer - which means it's either derived from something that was once alive or from naturally-mined rocks, and that it doesn't contain GMOs or toxic additives - but this "nutrient access" rule applies to non-organic fertilizers, too.
What This Means For You
Studies have shown that if you can give your plant doses of nutrients more often, even at much more diluted ratios (i.e. less fertilizer/more water), your plants will probably be happier than if you gave them a full dose less often.
In fact, in one study by Ana Primavesi, plants given 1/50th the regular dose every 2 days grew better than plants given the regular dose every 4 days. They didn't do as well when given the regular dose every 2 days, nor when given more than the regular dose.
I don't recall if they were using organic fertilizer or chemical fertilizer in that particular test, but the results are useful to us organic gardeners nonetheless. It doesn't mean you have to fertilize every 2 days, but if you can do it every 2 weeks or even every month, using the lowest dilution rate on the label or even less, that's going to be better than applying a higher dose every spring and fall.
My favorite liquid organic fertilizer is called Sea-Crop.
Example
For example, my favorite liquid organic garden fertilizer is sea minerals. It's just concentrated ocean water, full of over 80 minerals and other bioactive substances. The label says to apply 170-340 ml per 1000 square feet at least 3 times a year. I go with the low end of the scale at 170 ml, diluted in at least 100 times as much water as per the instructions.
In the past, I've tried to do it monthly, but this year, I'm going to divide that 170 ml by 4 (43 ml) and apply that weekly. That will give my plants more consistent access to the nutrients in the fertilizer.
Other Ways To Improve Nutrient Access
Another way you can ensure your plants have more consistent access to nutrients is to improve the organic matter content of your soil with compost and mulches that will be slowly broken down by microbes.
Organic matter holds onto nutrients and is composed of nutrients, and through the process of breakdown, these nutrients slowly and consistently become available to plants. It's the ultimate organic garden fertilizer.
Yet another way to ensure consistent access to your organic fertilizer is to improve the health and diversity of your soil food web. Microbes make nutrients more available to plants, so they're needed for nutrient cycling to work. Compost improves the soil food web, and so do the microbial inoculants I talk about in the academy.
What's your favorite organic garden fertilizer? How often do you apply it? Let me know below.
And you may want to check out my How To Test Soil And How To Fertilize online gardening course.
