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  • From: road's end farm <organic101 AT linkny.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Re: organic fertilizers
  • Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 21:18:36 -0400


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.





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