Market Farming

[road's end farm <organic101 AT linkny.com>]

> I was told  we could use the triple things like 10-10-10, etc on 
> organic
> plants. Then was told this AM that you can not add nitrogen to corn,
> Which is it?
> Thanks, Nancy  Zone 5. organic but not certified

Who told you that you could use "the triple things like 10-10-10" on 
organic plants? Anything with that rating is almost certainly 
synthetic; but in any case that description covers a huge category. All 
the ingredients of an organically permissible soil amendment/fertilizer 
need to be permissible materials. You can't go by the numbers on the 
bag, you have to check that all the ingredients are OK -- or, better 
yet in the case of a mixed product, that the total formulation is; as 
ingredients listed on the bag may not include "inert" ingredients. 
("Inert" in this sense doesn't mean what it does in standard English, 
it just means it doesn't do anything towards the specific intended use. 
"Inert" substances may do other things, and may not be organically 
permissible.) Many companies produce some formulations that are 
acceptable and others that aren't, so you can't go by the brand name, 
either.

And of course you can put nitrogen on corn -- but only nitrogen in 
forms acceptable to organic agriculture. Many forms are not acceptable. 
Also the amount and timing should be appropriate to the need, so as not 
to cause pollution; and fresh manures can't be applied within 90 or 120 
days of harvest (depending on whether the edible portion of the crop 
contacts the soil or not).

If you're going to call yourself, or consider yourself, organic -- even 
if not certified -- it's a good idea to get an organic standards 
handbook and read it. You can get one from most certifying agencies for 
a minimal fee, or from the USDA. Many of us have arguments with some 
things in the USDA standards; but at least that will give you some idea 
of what the legal standard is. There's a great deal more to organic 
than just not spraying synthetic pesticides.

On Apr 19, 2005, at 3:14 PM, Bill Shoemaker wrote:

>  You must look for other information on the package to
> determine if it's organic. If it doesn't give a clear statement that 
> it is
> listed as an acceptable organic fertilizer, it probably isn't.

And it may not be even if it implies on the label that it is. (Some 
sewage sludge products at least used to carry labels strongly implying 
that they're organic. Sewage sludge is very much prohibited, it's 
generally contaminated with heavy metals.) If it says on the label that 
it's OMRI listed, it should be acceptable; if it says that it's 
acceptable by a reputable organic certifying agency, that's probably OK 
too.