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Trying Pro-Mix HP for my container figs...what are suitable fertilizers?

Im was hoping to make use of some organic fertilizers I fell in love with this year, but Im getting a sense it wont work in Pro-Mix very well...and perhaps organic isnt the best way for containers anyway.

So I was think of going back to liquid, chemical fertilizers instead, but Im also considering Osmycote too.

Is one a better choice than the other?  Are there any drawbacks or considerations that need to be made short term and long term with either one?

Considering Pro-Mix is "sterlie" will it eventually develop microbes to allow for the breakdown of organic materials as fertilizers/nutrients?

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  • BLB

We discussed fertilizing on another recent thread and it became apparent that there are nearly as many different opinions as there are growers. Wide open. If you want to grow organic, why not use an organic soil too? If you do use Promix and also want to use organic fertilizer, just put some composted material in with your Promix to innoculate it with soil bacteria. If you don't, soil bacteria will find their way into your pot, just takes longer. Diesler uses Osmocote and has great success, I have used it too, but cost keeps me from continuing to use it. Liquid fertilizers work well too. Then you get into the fertilizer formula, some prefer higher nitrogen some prefer a balanced formula, some mix it up, etc. just what ever you do, don't over do it.

BLB you must have confused me with someone else i do not use the Osmocote.

Thanks Martin

I thought I was loosing me old mind!

I think Bass uses Osmocote.

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  • BLB

Sorry guys, it's apparently me who is losing me old mind. Thought for sure I saw your post about Osmocote Martin. Now I have to find the thread and see who it was.

Would the use of liquid chemical fertilizers prevent/hinder the development of beneficial organisims and microbes from colonizing the Pro-Mix?

Do I have to go either organic or chemical?

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  • BLB

I am not certain how true that is. If you listen to the organic people they would probably say yes, if you listen to conventional people they might argue the point. Personally I have used both organic and chemical and have not noticed any negative effects.

Organic fertilizers actually provide food for beneficial soil microorganisms, while synthetics do not. High or extremely low levels of phosphorus prevent mycorrhizal association with plant roots. Synthetics can produce these conditions more easily than organics because they are soluble and act quicker and do not last as long. That is why organic ferts are considered better for soil life, synthetics are closer to microorganism's waste products and organics are more like tasty food.

Using only synthetic fertilizers is more of a serious problem with big agra, where monocultures and ammonia fertilizer dominate (ammonia is of course anti-microbial). Those fields are very much undergoing depletion and require more and more fertilizer to remain productive because the soil food web dies out eventually. Since P fertilizer is ultimately in limited supply on this earth, and beneficial fungi are specialists in extracting it from the soil it makes sense that we should be building that dynamic for the future of our species. Rather than simply add more fertilizer which now produces more runoff and more red tides and dead zones in our rivers and coastal waters.

Think of the amazon, incredibly lush and supportive of all sorts of life because of masses of rotting organic material and biodiversity producing fertilizer salts for the plants constantly (food web or chain).  Remove the plant life and till it and it is productive for a year without fertilizer, then the remaining soil organic material eventually washes away or is eaten by microorganisms without being replaced by the farmer, or in this case, the cattle corporations that supply McDonalds, and desert eventually forms. The synthetics did not do it, but they did nothing to stop it and if an organic farmer were to use that same land they would use cultural practices to try and make the land sustainable by decreasing erosion and adding back organic material to the soil.

I do not use synthetic fertilizers because of the big picture, I cannot support something so disgusting and dangerous, even if my small usage is basically harmless in comparison. I gave up meat shortly after getting out of the army because it causes so much land destruction. I had just got done with my tour of Baghdad, the birthplace of agriculture and now a barren dustbowl because of many centuries of  Organic-over-farmiing. Or society today can accomplish the same much faster.

Of course I do not hold it against any of you fellow figgers, you never razed hundreds of acres of virgin forest and caused extinctions which could have cost our society cures for diseases so you could win some short term personal gains by growing cheap beef. You are using the fertilizer because you love your trees, and I can respect that.

cjwilson...

Some very good information has been posted here. 

I also urge you to read posting by a gent named Al ( tapla).  He writes extensively about growing mediums for use in containers, and fertilizers...merits, and demerits, and why certain formulations are better than others.  Wrong formulations, especially in containers, can be counter productive, and toxic to plants.  He backs his claims by science.

Hope this helps.

Frank

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