quest for organic nutes destroying the earth?

[flyfishinrock]

Hello everybody,
I couldn't help but notice the overwhelming number of people using store bought organic nutrients these days. My goal in this life is to leave my daughter a better, friendlier earth to live with; with that being said I would like to challenge all of you organic growers to pull out of the cupboard your favorite nutrients, amendments, and additives. Look up where and how these precious items are harvested and post it on here please. My goal is to find out if I can do a good organic crop, while letting my conscience rest. And hopefully open everyone's eyes to the damage we do to the planet. I guess I'll start it off with one of my favorites peat/sphagnum moss

"First, let's review some definitions. Peat is an organic material comprised of dead vegetation (leaves, stems, roots, trunks) that has partially decomposed in a water-saturated, oxygen-poor environment. Peat is acidic, absorbent, and low in nutrients.

Peatlands are wetland ecosystems where peat is formed. Water accumulates or seeps in through rainfall, springs, or surface flow. In cold climates, peat is typically formed from mosses. In tropical climates, peat consists mostly of trees. Other wetland plants, such as sedges, grasses, shrubs, and reeds, contribute to peat formation in both climates. The lack of oxygen and soil microbes in peatlands suspends the normal decomposition that occurs in your garden.

Virgin peatlands contain as much as 95 percent water. They act as huge water filters, removing toxins and metals. They store rainwater and slowly release it throughout the year, which helps maintain flow in streams and rivers during dry times. Conversely, during rainy times their amazing ability to absorb water reduces storm water runoff and downstream flooding.

Peatlands also play a critical role in global warming. They are the largest terrestrial carbon sink, holding more carbon than all forests or grasslands. They cover only 3 percent of the land, but contain 30 percent of the carbon.

Peat is renewable and will regrow if harvested in moderation. But as with many natural resources, peat collection is often done exhaustively. Drainage ditches are cut around the peatlands. Once the water drains, the peat is dug out, leaving pits or empty fields. Some countries fill in the space with agricultural crops, agri-forest, or retention lakes. This irreversibly changes the habitat, reduces the numbers of endemic peatland species, releases carbon into the atmosphere, and alters the hydrology. (Some rivers and streams stopped flowing in Scotland when a peatland was drained for a forestry project, and extensive and expensive restoration efforts are under way.)

95 percent of the sphagnum peat moss available in the United States comes from the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association (CSPMA). This organization emphasizes sustainable harvesting practices and restoration efforts. Canada has 111 million hectares (about the size of Washington, Oregon, and California) of peatlands, but only 17 thousand hectares (comparable to the city of Portland) is actively harvested. Of the 70 million tons of sphagnum peat naturally created every year in Canada, only 1.3 million tons are harvested."

I dont know if thats good enough for me; I'm picturing portland when it was known as stump-town.

[t0mt0k3]

Interesting statistics you pointed out here. Once again, it's all about the Earth.

[flyfishinrock]

Thanks tom, well thought this would be a interesting thread, I guess I was wrong again. lol
Everyone talks a lot about organic growing, apparently its not actually used as much as I suspected it was. Oh well. I plan on researching more and I will add more post if someone wants me to, but I'm not gonna bother otherwise. Was really hoping others would be curious as to what THEY THEMSELVES were using and in what fashion it was raped from the earth.
I guess I really want to find an organic by-product, for example flouride (not that its organic) is a waste material from the manufacturing of aluminum; yet it is used to (supposedly) strengthen our teeth.

When I was dirt farmin I liked using MUSHROOM COMPOST. Its loaded with benefiscial micro-organisms, as well as anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties which relocate into the leaves as well as below the soil.
Compost is chemically sterilized prior to the mushrooms being grown, then after harvest the compost lays fallow for two or more years to leach out the chemicals, making it usable as an amendment.

[FreakNature]

Mushroom compost rocks. I had a source from a certified organic mushroom farm for years, and could get about 3 cubic yards for $6. I had the loveliest yard in the neighborhood. I loved to go to the mushroom farm at 6:30 AM on a Saturday, get the truck loaded up, and then toke a few hits before I drove home to spread the black gold. It would steam as I unloaded it into the wheelbarrow in the early morning sunshine. The smell was rich and pungent, the black compost seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. It made the best mulch and soil amendment I've ever used, except for some home made compost. Life was good.

[GanjaGardener]

I am concerned with the way we(humans) are raping the land and doing what we please to mother earth and her creatures. This said I still think that most of whats going on to harvest and make organic fertilizers cannot be as bad as all the effects of chemical ferts. Now I am not a professional on the subject by any means but just the word chemical used to make me think of cleaners and sterile maybe even toxic conditions.

I also dont know how they go about making a lot of them but I do know it can't be too healthy. Also theres the worsening problem of chem fertilizers ending up in water ways and promoting algea growth which is killing those native fish/animals/plants. Last is the fact that chemicals are unhealthy for the human soul and often body. Mother nature created plenty of ways for us to harbor life we don't need man made dirty chems in our plants which leads to our consumption and ending up back into our water.


GanjaGardener Gardening Ganja since 2004

[flyfishinrock]

^well said brother ^

We have alot of nute run off near our coast, caused by cow urine and fesis. These huge beasts dont graze like wild animals (eating a bite taking a few step then eating another), they are bread to be stationary so we dont have to go find them. Their massive weight compacts the soil causing it to lose its abillity to absorb water, so the grass dies and the the sewage is washed into the streams, the farms flood, fish and habitats die. The Tualatin River is a prime example of the cow issue mixed with farming nutes entering the stream, it only flows about 30 feet an hour with visibility literally only inches.
Major toxic algae blooms from excess nitrogen killed a few dogs last year.
All nutes natural and man-made are bad once they enter the watershed, though I do worry synthetics seem to have a higher rate of salt build-up and may last longer.

[GanjaGardener]

You know it might even be worse then it otherwise wouldve been due to the fact that the hay/feed whatever the animals are eating were also grown using chemicals. Have you ever homegrown your own meat? I have with chickens and cows and the meat is SO much better and I think a big part of that is the fact that I only feed them organics. Chemicals are weakening us physically, mentally, and most definately spiritually. I beleive were consuming them through plants as well as the animals that eat them and they are in no way good for us. That's why I love this big shift towards organics!

GanjaGardener Gardening Ganja since 2004

[flyfishinrock]

I agree 100%.

I feel there is a symbiotic relationship between every organism on earth; except humans. As a species we take. Period. We dont as a whole, appreciate our surroundings; nor the life it contains. In the deserts of oregon are areas of kryptobiotic soil, this is the stuff organic growers only dream of; it is VERY rich in minerals, mychoriza, microscopic fungi eating beetles, and I cant remember what else. lol Its a very thin layer that could be scRAPED from the desert floor and no one would ever know. Its too bad that just one step on it takes more than twenty years to regrow. Anybody here ride 4 wheelers? shame on you.

Thats what made me want to start this thread, I want to go organic but I dont want to use something that takes years to regrow if at all.

[michaelkaer]

Worm castings make wonderful fertilizer and they are totally organic. Set up your own worm bin and add the castings to the soil you are making outside in your compost pile. I have never used a store bought fertilizer. I have bought potting soil, which may or may not have had added fertilizers in it. I never bothered to check. I very rarely buy potting soil any more, I just use the compost pile and the worm castings. My herbs seem to like it. I also grow food in the garden so I have lots of cutting to feed the worms and the extra produce from 2 pear trees. My organic Garlic is small, but potent and wonderful.
Good luck.

[michaelkaer]

One of the things I point out is hemp can be grown on land that is not suitable for farming regular foods. If it is done right, it holds the soil together better, breaks up heavy clay soild better than other plants and they attract birds which will add bird poop to the soil around the plants. Some soils are better after a season of hemp than if it was left fallow.

[flyfishinrock]

^ I was browsing a book last night and was reading something about the roots of mj essentially turning the soil over a few years. Was very interesting. Many plants like corn and cotton are very destructive to soils, stripping all the nutes from large grows; I wonder if alternating with weed would help.
Did you know that one third of the US grown grain, is fed to cattle.
Thanks for the good comments all.

[michaelkaer]

Hemp as food would be a waste to feed to livestock when us humans need the food more. I eat hemp seeds, but they are very expensive and as far as I know sterilized. I would love to be able to have so much hemp that I would be able to eat hemp sprouts. The ways the laws stand now, I would be breaking the law. Marc Emery had the right idea-overgrow the government.

[michaelkaer]

I also wanted to add that I live in a rural area that grows alot of corn. We have lots of wind generators and an ethanol plant and we have tried to grow hemp in the recent past. In some ways we are backward but in others we are moving ahead. Putting forth the idea of hemp being one of the crops going into rotation which builds soil and does not need a lot of inputs (where as corn needs a lot of inputs) could be one of the things that could save our local economy. Thanks for the insight. The reason we don't grow hemp much around here is a bunch of farms spent a lot of money and time and paperwork to grow hemp, they had a buyer for all their crop in the States and the border guards held up the shipment going into the states to the point that the farmers had to break their contract. That cost them a huge bundle of money as well. The United States will stop at nothing to stem the tide for as long as possible. The day is fast coming where the breaking point will be reached.

[flyfishinrock]

was that the huge bird seed bust a few years ago? seems like it was steralized hemp seeds for birds to eat, confiscated a whole semi full.

[mschviney9]

I like that idea of keeping it at a mom and pop level. I would like to see one of those fruit stands with a sign out front selling pot as well as the usual tomatoes and melons and etc.

- M