Which is Better for Your Landscape  

Chemical Fertilizer or Organic Fertilizer ? 

To compost or not to compost? That is the question.

Home growers are recognizing the need for supplying the nutrients in a timely fashion in order to promote vigorous plant growth in landscapes and gardens. Application of nutrients may be done using either inorganic fertilizer type or organic fertilizer type.

Many people argue that chemical fertilizers do more harm than good. This is why most have turned to organic fertilizers for their plants’ main nutrient-base as opposed to chemical fertilizers. 

However, a common misconception in using organic fertilizer types is that they are safer for plants. Inappropriate or improper application of any fertilizer can be harmful to plants. Organic fertilizer types, if not properly applied, may contribute to ground water pollution, cause nutrient deficiency and toxicity, or induce salt burn.

Chemical fertilizers are “processed” fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers can provide a correct supply of nutrients to plants with a preapproved mix of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, something an organic fertilizer cannot always do. Organic fertilizers naturally contain a large percentage of one of these three major nutrients and have low content levels of the other two.

But because chemical fertilizers are highly processed, their strongly acidic substances contribute to the alkaline content in soil. Alkalinity reduces the presence of soil nutrients which are essential for the plants’ growth and overall health. Organic fertilizers, on the other hand, contain less chemical substances. Thus, organic fertilizers are less likely to add to the acidic level of soil. Less acid means more nutrients.

Agricultural studies show time and time again that the key to a healthy garden is soil teeming with microscopic life. The acids in chemical fertilizers can kill these essential micro-beings. In contrast, organic fertilizers support them. There are no substances present in an organic fertilizer that can adversely affect or hinder microscopic life. Thus organic fertilizers prove not only beneficial to plants but to the microorganisms found in soil as well.

Some people argue that chemical fertilizer is still the way to go. Nutrient retention in soil are known to be the primary function of microorganisms but with the concentrated nutrients of chemical fertilizers, the need for microorganisms in gardens is not that pressing. This is only partially true.

Nutrients found in chemical fertilizers tend to evaporate or leach beyond the root system of plants and into ground water. This tendency of chemical fertilizers is not only harmful to humans (chemical fertilizers are the known culprits in contamination of drinking water), but wasteful as well. Plants only require so many nutrients during their growth cycle. Any excess is wasted or stored in the soil organisms’ food banks to be later tapped into by plants when food is scarce. Now since organic fertilizers promote microscopic life, they in effect provide plants with a steady, albeit slow, supply of nutrients.

The merits of organic fertilizers do not end there. Most people agree that organic fertilizers are a cheaper alternative to the industry processed chemical fertilizers. True that commercially packaged organic fertilizers cost more per pound of nutrients compared to chemical fertilizers. But traditional backyard organic fertilizers like manure and compost are absolutely free.

So to compost or not to compost? It’s not even the question to ask.