June 30, 2014

Chemical Fertilizer is Bad for Your Soil

Chemical fertilizer is not the best path to a nutrient dense, self sustaining garden. The route to minimal maintenance and maximum productivity lies in the diverse collection of bacteria, fungi, protozoa and other microscopic soil life. Chemical fertilizer supplies macro-nutrients that plants like but the salt in chemical fertilizer actually kills soil life, actually kills soil.

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Using concentrated soil life and food for that life is not like applying chemical fertilizer; rather it is the beginning of a process. Most of the benefit is achieved through the activity of the microscopic soil life that thrives in treated soil. Large scale colonization in the soil occurs, which dramatically increases the soil’s ability to nurture plant growth.

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In healthy soil there is constant communication going on between plants via their root zones. Plants actually “talk” to each other through volatile gases they emit and through special fungal networks in the soil. This is a recent and major insight that improves our understanding of the importance of beneficial soil life and its role in pest and disease free gardens.