What fertilizers are safe to use in your garden?

This is the talk I gave at the Living Soil Summit 2024. I want to today talk about what inputs you use in your garden. There’s a lot that goes into what products you choose and it’s important to be thoughtful about your choices.
Let’s start by looking at some common agricultural fertilizers. The industrial meat industry is awful, there’s no denying that. These animals are fed GMO grains and antibiotics or crops that have been sprayed with glyphosate (Roundup). Therefore, these fertilizers will be contaminated with GMOs and antibiotics and pesticides, and you’re contaminating your crop when you use these inputs. Bone meal, blood meal and feather meal are not truly organic, one could even say they’re “fake organics” because they come from the waste streams of our industrial meat supply chain.
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[@Soilfoodwebwarrior]

I had come to many of the same conclusions that your research uncovered. However my compost is not the same as the "urban" compost mentioned in your presentation. I had realized that the manures I was using in my compost could be problematic some time ago and removed them. Persistent herbicide, heavy metals, and antibiotic residue made manures to concerning to use in my compost and Soils. I make thermophilic compost in the methods taught at the soilfoodweb school adjusting the recipes to contain no manures and then feed that to red wigglers. The results are fantastic, sustainable and clean.

[@kisorganics]

It sounds like you have a sustainable compost that would be very safe and beneficial to use in your garden! Manures can be problematic depending on what the animals were fed or treated with, but compost is still one of the best inputs one can use in their garden!

[@MedicallyFit]

It's so nice of you to show how every industry has issues 👏

[@fuzzybunny4407]

Thank you, Tad. As a vegan I do not support animal agriculture but appreciate the awareness you raise concerning plant and compost inputs.

[@kisorganics]

I can totally respect that! That’s a very legitimate reason to avoid certain inputs. We have formulated mixes or nutrients for folks that are of similar mind.

[@fuzzybunny4407]

@@kisorganics This is one of the many reasons I love working with KiS! Thank you for sharing so much knowledge with us. You have improved my garden substantially.

[@rainerkinzinger555]

Thanks for the great content!!!!

[@wrondabartlett2888]

Hi Tad, I think that when the term compost is used it needs to be referred to, every time, as either commercial or home made. Commercial compost can have ingredients like pet waste, not something that I add to my home compost pile. People are so easily confused!

[@kisorganics]

Good point! Homemade compost is very different than commercial compost. I certainly don't want to demonize compost but just make sure folks are aware of the risks associated with composts based on their inputs and how they are managed.

[@dannyarmata8878]

Thanks to your info I stopped using compost and will concentrate on improving soil through other means you have suggested along with others

[@kisorganics]

Not all compost is bad, just that ones made from conventionally raised animals can have antibiotics or other "stuff" you may not want in your garden. Setting up a worm bin or making your own compost is a great option to have clean and sustainable compost.

[@jimd1617]

Thanks Tad :)

[@greenmedgenetics]

Jdam Korean natural farming

[@pangea9654]

An example of how random inputs can have random issues would be the case of, Red Lake Earth, a natural diatomaceous earth and calcium bentonite product. Found to contain dioxins, big hoopla in the feed industry.

[@kisorganics]

Interesting, I'm not familiar with that company. I used to own a feed store so that side of the industry is particularly interesting to me.

[@SaveTheAyeAye]

I think it's time for me to start a micro livestock farm for insects. Now to find the clean feed stocks...

[@Mrjboomseedco]

Rabbit poop is my favorite or water from my indoor pond

[@timbaker266]

We have afish tank and drain it every so often hadn't thought about using it so thanks 😊

[@heathemerson8536]

What are your thoughts on organic alfalfa meal?

[@littlenugs9942]

I was a fisherman for over 30 yrs. And as far as farming fish - I don't agree with their process. So yes shut it down, or manage it properly. However, as far as the USA, and Canada goes all of our fisheries have been government regulated for about 20 yrs. Our mesh sizes in our nets, as well as our ring sizes in our dredging gear has increased by over an inch in the scalloping industry, and doubled in the flat fish industry. American commercial fishing boats are aloud less than 1/3 of the yr at sea - with closed areas at all times. These are😊spots boats aren't aloud to fish. If anything the government is mismanagement the fishing industry, because scallops are growing over top of one another, and fish are swimming away into international waters where we are not alloud to fish. Oh and on pollution we are not aloud to dump the bilge at sea. The oil and everything in the bilge has to be vacuumed out. The coast guard takes samples of each boats bilge while it's in port. This way they know where a spill, or discharge comes from. I think you could of made your point without making the fisherman sound bad. We've come along way in just the 30 yrs I've been fishing. I'll keep listening to you Chad because you are full of knowledge when it comes to the garden, but I would appreciate it if you take another look at the fishing industry. The major part of the issue is with the weekend sport fisherman... There the ones taking buy-catch, and under sized fish.

[@timbaker266]

Allowed

[@littlenugs9942]

@@timbaker266 ty

[@timbaker266]

You were still quite eloquent

[@robbiebanks9182]

Don.t see how sport fishermen are to blame for by catch. Surely a fish on a hook can b returned alive . A commercial net caught by catch can not b returned alive .

[@kisorganics]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I wasn't trying to attack fishermen or fisheries at all so apologies if it came across that way. And I'm so glad to hear many of these practices are improving. I do think we need to acknowledge the fossil fuel costs associated with fishing as well as the fact that the ocean is not "clean" compared to other inputs. My goal was not to say fish based fertilizers are bad, but just that every inputs we use in our garden has an ecological impact and we need to wade through the marketing messages and look at the what the data shows us to be safe and clean to use on our plants.

[@TerpyTen]

Another important thing people should know is that heavy metals accumulate in the green parts of the plant... So the better you trim your plant less likely you'll have these contaminations in your flower. Trim tight my friends! Really good info. I always try to avoid animal products in my living soils. I stick to plant and rock based nutrients.