14 Organic Fertilizers and How to Use Them

[@GardeningInCanada]

As a soil scientist I am watching this in love. Everyone needs to care about their soil ❤️

[@bobrobertsNotUrBob]

as they say, a farmer farms plants, an organic farmer farms the soil. words to live by.

[@angelikaszabo1962]

Hey Ashley! Funny meeting you here! Lol!

[@Greenskies321]

I have a few Aquaponics setups and I use their waste in a compost tea and add to soil after. Best fertilizer method I’ve ever done so far

[@GardeningInCanada]

@@angelikaszabo1962 HAHAAH oh heyyyy

[@GardeningInCanada]

@@Greenskies321 I use my fish tank water for my house plant religiously

[@MrFarva85]

Kevin it makes me so happy you and Mark are KZbin garden friends. I appreciate the knowledge and content you share.

[@scroogemcduck1462]

Mark is such a great guy

[@nolanlynch2430]

Yup, Kevin and Marc are awesome!

[@johnliberty3647]

@@scroogemcduck1462 The Steve Irwin of Plants?

[@saltycat662]

I love Mark and his dad jokes lol.

[@rachaelescober2736]

These are the ratios and some of the suggestions, if you just want to scroll. Alfalfa meal: 2-0-2 Spring suggestion Cottonseed: 6-2-1 Suggested for the fall, weed suppression Bat Guano: 10-3-1 Fast acting fertilizer, compost tea spray Kelp Meal: Many Trace minerals Rock phosphate: 0-3-0 Green Sand: Iron potassium silicate, helps bind sandy soil and loosen clay soil, and increase soil water hold Garden Gypsum: Need soil clay/salt heavy to be helpful Garden Lime: Raises ph in soil Blood Meal: 12-0-0 Fast acting and acidic Bone Meal: 4-12-0 Suggested for raised containers at the end of grow year Cow Manure: 2-1-3 Trusted source- moderate speed Chicken manure: 3-1-2 Hot, and can cause nutrient burn, compost a little bit. Earth worm casting: .5-.7-.1 Fish emulsion or bury a full fish: 2-4-0 Huzzaaahhh

[@staceymoniz]

I love that you and Mark are cross promoting each other's channels now. Living in Hawai'i I can relate to both of you!

[@sarahdee374]

I'm always suspicious of the motivations when folks review sponsored products. BUT I love all Espoma products, and appreciate Kevin's guidance on use.

[@epicgardening]

This was more of a using their entire product line to educate type of approach I feel!

[@addie899]

I have bunnies and use bunny poop as a fertilizer. Works amazing! Doesn't need to be composted. I just toss in into the garden or bury it under an inch or so of dirt. My plants are super happy & have grown massive!

[@lisamelton8087]

I'll have to try that. I've heard that before. I have a free range rescued house rabbit that's litter box trained (and poops a LOT), so I'll use the "dry" poop to sprinkle on my new garden to grow his veggies. Completing the circle of life ☺🐇.

[@maureengaka12]

Thank you so much Kevin for constantly sharing endless amounts of information to help gardeners worldwide, keeps a lot of us motivated to grow our own food despite the challenges faced along the way!

[@Epiphalactic]

To anyone wondering,. Fish meal, blood meal, bone meal, alfalfa meal, kelp meal and most all organic products can be made yourself for a fraction of the cost of you're willing to put in a little effort. Things like oyster shell flour is usually sold in 5 lb boxes for 20 bucks. But you can buy a whole bag of oyster shell for chickens for about 15, and grind it yourself with an old blender or food processor. Alfalfa is sold in 50 lb bricks at feed shops and that same blender will work it to a meal quickly. Dehydrated and blended fish makes fish meal. Blood can be slowly simmered until it is a paste, spread on parchment paper and baked at a low temp till dry, then blended. Bones can be steamed in a pressure cooker then slow baked and ground for bone meal. Kelp can be harvested, dried, and powdered. Crab meal can be made by drying and blending crab shells. Chicken manure can be collected, dried and powdered for a quick acting nitrogen (let sit out for a month or so before collecting) about the only thing I wouldn't recommend making yourself is bat guano, as many bags carry heavy disease (as we found out) and can cause issues, so best leaving that stuff to those that know what to get. But if you live near a beach and have lots of seagulls and such that poop in a certian spot, it can be dried and powdered for seabird guano with relative ease. Lots of these things are fractions of the cost of amendments sold for gardening and are THE EXACT SAME THING. Happy gardening!

[@ceecee8757]

Ain’t nobody got time fo'dat!! 😂😂😂

[@rivkahlafille1031]

Fascinating! I use fish emulsion on everything in my garden, and I've rarely had any plants that didn't respond incredibly well to it, but unlike the rest of these fertilizers, you usually mix it with water then spray it on the leaves themselves. It's stinky but holy cow do I see tired plants start perking up in less than a day! I love love LOVE it!

[@grannygct]

Thank you, Kevin, for your video on the various organic fertilizers. Every time I go to a nursery, I stand in front of the fertilizers shelf and not knowing which one to buy. Thanks to your video, I can now have some ideas on which one to buy. You just made me a more knowledgeable gardener in this department!!! Love and look forward to all of your videos. Happy Spring!

[@kimfleming8097]

I'm completely new to gardening, but I am growing vegetables in pots inside my apartment. I am learning so much from your videos. Always a confidence booster! Thanks

[@CactusCaffeine]

This is so helpful! I go to a garden center and get overwhelmed with the variety of fertilizers that is available. This is a great start. 👍🏼😃

[@KatarinaClaire]

Love this breakdown, Kevin! Super useful to have this quick analysis of the various garden amendments, their pros, cons and applications. This is going to become one of my go-to reference videos!

[@epicgardening]

Glad to hear this!

[@rhondadavis1483]

Mine too! Of course, I save most of Kevin’s (and Mark’s) videos! Thanks so much for all the explanations for the different uses. All of your videos are down to earth and easy to apply.

[@WhitepepperFarmshomestead]

It is mind blowing how much good information is in this one relatively short video. Awesome work!

[@melissagoodwin2602]

Can you do a video on testing for ph and making adjustments in the soil

[@mwoods4608]

You can do like baking soda and vinegar or something I saw another video on KZbin

[@icouldjustscream]

I like sheep poop outside and worm poop inside. I just realized how weird that sounds, but you all are my garden-family so you get it. ♥

[@wsad1337]

Same. If my sheep were pooping inside I would be very unhappy.

[@mdmust4u]

@@wsad1337 i dont think he meant it that way

[@wsad1337]

@@mdmust4u I'll give you a hint. I don't have any sheep.

[@camerongeorge4246]

I thought that said warm poop inside 😂

[@SomewhatLazy]

I love Self Sufficient Me. I really enjoy it every time one of you mentions the other. Gardener Scott, Next Level Gardening and Gardenerd are also great.

[@nataliakurz543]

Kevin, this was so timely !!! I just applied a little bone meal and garden tone (I saw on your channel!) before I planted corn. Now I know maybe it wasn’t the smartest with the bone meal.... it’s my first yet gardening, and you have helped and inspired so much! Thank you!

[@netyote]

Thank you so much for this video! When I walk into a garden center, it can be overwhelming seeing all the different products on the shelves. There are so many options, and the numbers can get all mixed up in my head. Thank you for talking a little bit about each of these, and offering concrete examples of when or how you might want to use them.

[@musaid9835]

I really needed a video like this, only know what two of them were for. Thanks!

[@daved5023]

potassium, take wood ash, then strain it with water, take water to allow to dry in the pan. there you have raw potassium. POT ASH is derived from wood ash. or was, now it comes from rock. potassium carbonate.#epicgardening great video kevin

[@dodopson3211]

Is it in a form plants can instantly use or will it need bacterial help? Also cant you just skip the "allow to dry" step and use it to just water your plants?

[@giseleg929]

Just purchased the worm castings from your website. Looking forward to putting it to use in my little balcony garden!

[@epicgardening]

Awesome! You're gonna love it!

[@rhondadavis1483]

I started my own worm bed bc of all of your instructions. So excited, and my grandkids love them as well😂

[@patriciacole8773]

I’m loving alfalfa pellets meant for horses as a side dressing fertilizer for all my plants. They thrive. And inexpensive.

[@downtoearthdad7741]

As a chronic over-fertilizer I found the use cases very helpful. Thanks!

[@sparkasaurusdonna]

YAY! This is exactly the video I needed because I'm getting my garden beds ready to plant this next week (we're going to be close to 35 degrees the next two nights)

[@christimezzic8468]

This is my favorite video you’ve made. So informative and takes the guess work out of choosing fertilizers! Absolutely love your knowledge and that you share it!

[@freakygardener8033]

I love ALL your videos! I also watch a guy that goes by "home grown veg" over in the UK. He collects sea weed each fall, chops it with his mower, and mulchs it over the winter. He said as long as you are NOT collecting for commercial use, just home use, you can take all you want!

[@rai55]

Here on Long Island, natives (ex: Matinecock) used bunker fish as fertilizer, among other things. I’m so excited (& honored) to try this native method, along with local sea leaves, for the first time this year 🐟🌱🙏🏾

[@brentledford7306]

You can get alfalfa and chicken feed crumble from Tractor Supply for really cheap. Just make sure it doesnt have any medications added.

[@zhrob1]

What is good things are in checken feed?

[@PeterSedesse]

such a great video. You missed the opportunity to mention one thing. If you are concerned about chicken or cow manure being too hot, just run it through your worm bins. Your worm population in the bin will explode, but you also greatly cut down on the time to be able to use chicken manure. I do this as a weekly thing to keep a very fast supply of worm castings coming ( actually they are double manures).

[@2lemonades]

Got blood meal for my snake plants, robellini and bird of paradise. These are potted plants in my apartment. I repotted two snake plants with cactus soil and blood meal and may have been heavy-handed, then mixed some soil and blood meal and used as top soil for the other two, again heavy-handed. I removed as much top soil as I could because bird of paradise and the robellini palm are my favorites and I personally don't want to hurt them.

[@chriswhitley3283]

I didn’t know that Epsom had expanded their line to all this. Very interesting. One of the things I like to do is mix all these together in some compost, then spread it over the garden. Then keep some for planting. The good thing about organics are they will adjust themselves to what the plants need as opposed to chemical fertilizers that will burn up your plants if you add to much. And with chemical fertilizer you better get used to reading those numbers and buying separate fertilizer for different plants.

[@sarahk6545]

I’ve been using some locally made fertilizers this year - rotted horse manure, crushed crab shells and seaweed. All seems to be going well so far!

[@hilow8331]

seaweeeeeed! :P dont forget to save your shrimp shells after your dinner feast... high in chitin! happy gardening.

[@mikeemmons1079]

I got one for you dude! A scientist/hobbiest plant nerd in Canada has discovered that hot weather seeds like eggplant and peppers germinate super fast in an "Instant Pot" set to make yogurt. If you have one of those, you have a video.

[@melissasullivan1658]

I’d be curious about this as a video actually, only in a ‘but wouldn’t it basically boil it alive’ curiosity.

[@mikeemmons1079]

@@melissasullivan1658 I know, right? I am gonna see if I can find one in a thrift shop.

[@cielrobinson]

2 days ago planted my potatoes with bone meal:potash at a 6:1 ratio, 1tbsp per potato. i don't know what i'm doing, but i hope it works! cats broke into the bone meal after less than 3 minutes with it on the counter

[@kittiew260]

So happy you posted this!

[@seankraus5246]

Good vid. More on organics plZ. More products and tea and pest control. Thank you keep up the good work.

[@barbaramix1683]

I have recently tried seed from this grower. Seeds germinate reliably and often faster than stated on the package. I planted these seeds and had to thin them a lot. These are great seeds.

[@lenderzconstable]

I had no idea there were so many fertilizers. I just discovered the concept of fertilizer too. I just have some plants like two plumerias and a succulent combo that I want to maintain well. The amount of info out there on gardening is intimidating.

[@olivergarcia2459]

Thanks Kevin for all of the tips and the details. Hope to see more Fruit Tree videos, mostly a Fig Tree video. Hope you are feeling Great and keep on growing

[@KendraKat82]

Thank you for covering so many of the vegan friendly fertilizer options!!

[@NorthlanderMN]

I’m in Minnesota. Fall leaves, some wood ash, some gypsum, and urine. It’s cheap and works great.

[@N3ss3s]

I don't know why I expected to have a video about organic material fertilizer, but I am happy about the info either way :D

[@terryeckmeier7027]

This is the perfect companion video to my Grow Bag Garden book.

[@chachadodds5860]

Great video, as always. Thanks, Kevin.

[@DivaGarden33]

Thank you for information

[@camperspecial9666]

Excellent video especially for those that may be newer to gardening.

[@SilverTopMom]

As a fairly new gardener, I am loving all of this information! Your videos are always so helpful, thank you so much Kevin!!

[@RebeccaMartinez-nh6je]

I use Cotton Burr Compost. The plants love it.

[@Sparkysings2]

Kevin you didn’t bring up horse manure. I just got a big load for free. It is mixed with hay from the stalls. I’ll use it in the bottom of my new raised beds over the logs. Cover with cardboard so I don’t start growing a garden full of hay. Then top with soil, compost with amendments then mulch. I’m planning my own EPIC garden this year!

[@L3fT0H4nD]

I appreciate you explaining each of these in one video for a good reference. Thanks Kevin!

[@FinznFowl82]

Great video, I like to use "Garden tone" which has a bunch of the good stuff combined. I also make my own fish emulsion by chopping up some fish, throwing it in a bucket of water with about a cup of brown sugar. Let it fester for about 2 months stirring occasionally and when the rotten smell starts to turn more earthy it's ready to use. I've got some left over from last year and just threw some fresh fish in a new bucket to have more ready when I run out.

[@MrEzekiel1982]

I once read a book called Bartram’s Travels. I highly recommend it. He documents the indigenous farming practices of the time (late 18th century). One thing that always intrigued me was the practice of digging up oyster shells and spreading them on the surface of the soil

[@shibat5344]

Guide To Organic Gardening The Practical Way...

[@meriphiusfelamorr779]

This is my favorite channel. The information here is helpful and easy to understand. Worms are my favorite method of composting and bringing microbial life to the best quality

[@rachael11]

This was interesting. I hadn't really planned on getting a soil test. I was just going to compost and mulch, but it's good to know there are specific amendments I could use if needed.

[@highlandscommunityclub1160]

Thank you! How about a video on homemade fertilizer?

[@mitochondriac5946]

Another great little video by a bloody legend 🪴

[@jw801]

I'm in South Africa and in the summer I get bakkie/truck loads from the local elephant sanctuary - it's is crazy hot - heat wise as well, if you drop a bunch on dry grass it can start smothering with smoke. We have to wait at least 4 months before applying it into the soil.

[@mariapaula3590]

I use bat guano and my plants love it. You can see the benefits right away

[@mariafolch8067]

Great topic!! And....thanks for the links under the description. It makes it so much easier to find the specific topic on the video. 👍👍🌾🌱

[@karengrice2303]

Thanks for explaining all of this. I am using worm tea and worm castings and I am making my own compost. My plants seem to be pretty healthy so far, but I am just establishing a new yard so we will see how it goes.

[@MatthewFenton-hd6sj]

Thanks for such an informative video. really helps getting ready for summer.

[@PE9A3p4hUfwv]

I like using their "Tone" products rather than the individual amendments. If you look at the labels, they are all basically the same stuff but in slightly different ratios. The Garden-tone seems to be all purpose and it works great in my garden. It doesn't burn with too much available nitrogen.

[@ryanleblanc2925]

Made a couple buckets of Comfrey tea this year. Dumped one full bucket into the compost pile, and add a bit to my watering can for any plant I'm hand-watering.

[@delucastudios3097]

it’s a fertilizer?

[@ryanleblanc2925]

@@delucastudios3097 yes, and free :) cut it all down to the ground and steep in water or just mix the cut leaves into your compost pile.

[@delucastudios3097]

@@ryanleblanc2925 thank you

[@janzebuski3559]

I always lean toward Espoma products. Thanks for going thru all the amendments- I really appreciated the explanations & indications for them! Much needed! Another great & timely video!

[@tinam9844]

This was amazing information, thank you for sharing the knowledge. This will help me with my new raised beds I will be doing this year and years after.

[@jimriley9697]

I agree, kelp is definitely the best single item you could add to a nutrient lineup! Makes a great seed soak. Also if you mix it 5:2 humic acid:kelp they will work 50% better than either one on their own! Keep em coming! Later

[@jimriley9697]

Also good to spray mother plants a day or 2 to before taking cuttings. The kelp will draw the nutrients out into the leaves, giving the cuttings a little better jump start to success!

[@crystalroberts1777]

I took notes. I’m officially a garden nerd 🤣🤭

[@deecooper1567]

GM Kevin☕️☕️. Thank you for breaking all this down for me. I’ve been confused for years about everything that is out there now days... the when & how kinda info is most appropriated. Learn so much from you & Mark . There’s a couple other fav gardeners & I learn many things & techniques from all of you! Have a great day 🥬🍅🧤😻

[@nutritionfacts727]

Thank you so much foe this video!! Love love love explanation

[@ahnaahna7278]

Thks so very much. I have been using organic fertilizer for first time for my Vega/herbs. I used the Holly Tone organic on some shrubs that I had to greatly prune 3 years ago, and they grew back looking vital and great. Thks for affirming the Organics. Ahna Georgia/USA

[@davidmjohnston169]

This video is very helpful thank you! I just bought some of espomas fertilizer and this video really answered what i was supposed to do with it.

[@plants4thewin]

Thank you for mentioning worm castings for those on a budget...great video as usual

[@roseannaradmanovich21]

Love your videos and loved the acknowledgement of Traditional Indigenous Knowledge!

[@krammer6764]

I’m sure you get a lot of thank you Kevin but I would also like to share my thank you as I am new to gardening and feel like I learn something new everyday from your channel, I could even say proudly that I feel like going back to school to study Botany

[@lanifsautia]

Yasss! Finally a good video about fertilizers 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🥰

[@Twinklewithin]

Can you add all fertilizers at once or do you stagger their application. Btw I appreciate how well spoken ur teaching style is

[@Edv1718]

My dad use egg shell and shrimp shells as fertilizer and they are effective.

[@flatsville1]

Good, clear rundown on fertilizers & amendments.

[@gardeningwithzachary2175]

I like gardening I live in the north and I'm growing in containers but you can still use fertilizers and mulch

[@kimjapinga6550]

Thanks so much for this video. I didn’t really appreciate what the differences were for each fertilizer. This will be a great reference video.

[@zaria5785]

We use aged horse manure from a local stable and throw it in my compost bin and in a year it has had time to decompose further. I mix that with old potting soil that I used in my containers and sprinkle in the worm castings and viola it’s prepped.

[@lovelynage]

Well, I just purchased a ton of Alfalfa Hay for my guinea pigs...So, this comes on perfect timing. 😭 Guess I'm good in that department. 🥰

[@brooklync8137]

you can buy the pellets really cheap at horse feed stores 50lb for $10 in some places

[@alphanumeric1529]

@@brooklync8137 Is that alfalfa treated with persistent herbicides?

[@nancywebb6549]

Rabbit pellets contain salt.

[@heavymechanic2]

Back in the 90's I was introduced to fish/kelp fertilizer and have done many experiments with vegetable production. Read many books on soil and the life that happens with rotting materials. The book: Teaming With Microbes was quite interesting and opened my eyes to the secrets of growing food utilized across the pond throughout Europe.. A few years ago I was looking for bags of Oyster Shell chicken scratch (sold out) and Alfalfa livestock feed and could only find the cubes loaded with salt and other additives; just purchased alfalfa pellets with minimal additives from a farm store. I use Espoma tomato formula for the added microbes to go to work on composted manure and homemade compost from grass clippings/leaves/wood chips and people are amazed at the volume of produce coming out of my garden in heavy clay soil.

[@Donnybrook10]

You're a great teacher...happy I found your channel

[@callikohl7603]

This helps me so much. I have access to both cow and chicken. Now I know how to use it. Thank you.

[@kellieandersen5337]

I would love more info about one manure that you didn't include: rabbit manure. Other people on their homesteads raise rabbits and while I keep them as pets instead of for meat purposes, they still produce a lot of manure that is high in nutrients since their diet is almost exclusively timothy hay.

[@downunderfulla6001]

Great descriptions of the amendments🍺🍺

[@WormholeGarden]

This was hugely enlightening as to the nature of organic fertilizer!

[@evelynrobles378]

So I have a small freshwater aquarium at home, I’ve heard it might do good for a garden if you take the used tank water when doing a water change as it contains beneficial bacteria and nutrients. Considering it’s a planted aquarium I am already adding micronutrients and the like to it, along with the fish poop and fish food that increases nitrogen, and the beneficial bacteria that helps convert breakdown nitrogen into nitrite for plants to use.

[@holg3070]

Thank you thank you so much for clarifying this info. Your awesome!

[@janinebean4276]

I’d love a video about the sustainability of different kind of organic soil amendments!

[@annettegreene1548]

I Really enjoy the videos on gardening. I learned some things.. I need a step by step video on how to plant tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, sage, parsley, spring onion all in one garden bed. What soil is good for them . I don't have a green thumb but I would like to learn how to plant vegetable the right way. Thank you 😊

[@hyperqueenhzm]

Could you possibly make a video of different vegetables/fruits/harvestable plants and which fertilizers are best for them?

[@delucastudios3097]

this would be great!

[@jenjoy4353]

What would be best for root vegetables?

[@gabriellescarpato651]

I needed this info so bad!! Fertilizer can be a little overwhelming. Thanks Kevin!!

[@cjgelardo5184]

You should do a video on your vermicompst setup!

[@heathermitchell4294]

I have a beginner question: The previous property owner laid landscaping fabric directly on the grass, and what is dead soil on top. How would I amend the soil to revitalize it? I already have worm castings, but I don't know if anything else is required to bring life back into the soil.

[@rdarrett3635]

This is what I needed to know. 👍🏾

[@cherylchild]

I was waiting for you to mention horse manure. It's the only way I can justify feeding two horses for over 20-years (since I'm a terrible rider)