Organic fertilizers: types and their characteristics. Organic Fertilizer Application

How much agriculture is developing on Earth, as many people use organic fertilizers to get good yields. Species and their characteristics must be taken into account when using, as each of them has its own characteristics. Some need to be applied to the soil in the fall, others at the time of planting, and others throughout the growing season. The value of organics lies in its beneficial effect on the condition of plants, in improving the soil, in increasing yields and in cheapness, because every farmer can cook it in his personal subsidiary plots.

Organic fertilizer: what is it

Many will immediately say, they say, this is manure and compost. The answer is correct, but incomplete, because organic fertilizers are human and animal wastes, as well as household and even industrial wastes that contain substances necessary for the development of plants in the form of organic compounds. This may include:

- manure;

- bird droppings;

- feces;

- silt;

- waste from wood processing factories (sawdust, tree bark, etc.);

- peat;

- siderat plants;

- compost;

- ash;

- bone meal;

- humus;

- complex organics.

Chemical composition

As can be seen from the above list, there are a variety of organic fertilizers. Species and their characteristics mainly depend on the source of production, and in addition, on the technological process of fertilizer production. Any of them contains:

- nitrogen;

- potassium;

- phosphorus;

- calcium;

- A special organic substance (a very valuable element that improves the structure of the soil).

In small quantities, organic fertilizers include:

- water;

- magnesium;

- sulphurous acid;

- silicic acid;

- oxides of certain metals and other chemical elements.

We will analyze in more detail what and how much is contained in each type of organic fertilizer.

Manure

This very valuable fertilizer is nothing but the feces of domestic animals, with the exception of cats and dogs. Depending on the type of animal, different in composition organic fertilizers are obtained. Types and their characteristics also depend on the stage of the cooking process, which are as follows:

- fresh manure (they make only in the fall, the soil after that immediately plow);

- half-ripened (straw in it becomes dark, easily divided into pieces);

- rotted (homogeneous dark mass);

- humus.

The higher the stage of preparation of manure, the more it loses its mass, and the better the organic matter decomposes in it and the quality improves.

It is equally important on which litter this fertilizer is prepared.

As can be seen from the table, there is very little calcium in pig manure, so lime is added to it.

A good fertilizer is manure from rabbits. But from nutria you can use only rotted manure or add it to compost.

Storage methods

Manure from various animals is, among other things, diverse organic fertilizers. Species and their characteristics directly depend on how they are stored. The methods may be as follows:

1. Loose styling. Piles up to 3 m wide and up to 2 m high are made from fresh manure, they are not covered with anything. With this method, in stacks (t = +70 ° C), the preparation process takes about 4-5 months, during which up to a third of the initial mass is lost.

2. Tight styling. The same stacks are made from fresh manure as during loose laying, but the manure is densely packed and covered with an airtight film. In such stacks, the temperature does not rise above +35 ° C even in summer. The decomposition with this method lasts about 7 months, and the initial mass is lost to 1/10 part. Tight packing is the most appropriate storage method.

3. Loose laying with sealing. From fresh manure make a low loose pile up to 3 m wide. On the fifth day it is rammed, and a new loose layer is laid on top. This is repeated until the stack reaches two meters in height, after which it is covered with a film. In this case, completely rotted manure is formed in 5 months.

How to apply

The use of organic fertilizers, in particular manure, has its own little tricks. So, horse manure is ideal for warm beds, because there is little water in it. It is buried in special trenches torn around the perimeter of the bed, and after the need for it disappears, they are scattered around the field. On light soils, it is better to use manure from cows, and on heavy soils, from sheep, goats and horses. Under springtime, fresh or half-ripened soil is smelled into the soil, and humus is introduced in the spring. If there is little fertilizer, it is advisable to apply it not to the entire site, but only to the wells. When planting trees, it is very useful to make up to 10 kg of humus in each hole.

Important! Fresh crops cannot be brought under any crops. It emits ammonia, which is detrimental to plants. There are no general norms for fertilizing, as they are different for each crop and directly depend on the quality of the soil.

In stores you can find manure extract. It is also an excellent fertilizer, but only for plants. To improve the condition of the soil, it is useless.

Liquid organic fertilizers, their types and characteristics

There are a variety of fertilizers that you can do yourself without spending any money. Those who have the opportunity, they use manure. It can be used in solid form, or liquid organic fertilizers can be made from it - slurry and mullein. The latter is prepared by filling the stool of cows with water. Use it for top dressing absolutely any plants, even flowers. In this case, take 1 liter of mullein on a bucket of water. Slurry slurry is not necessary. It is the liquid part of manure. Liquid fertilizers include infusions of herbs and even human urine, but more on that below.

As can be seen from the table, there is almost no phosphorus in this fertilizer, therefore superphosphate is added to the slurry (about 15 g per liter).

Litter

It is believed that the best organic fertilizers are obtained from the droppings of pigeons and chickens. Waste from the life of geese and ducks is somewhat worse in quality.

Bird droppings should be stored in closed containers or composted with peat, straw, sawdust, as it very quickly loses its nitrogen component. Bird is used to feed vegetables, fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs, flowers. In its pure form, they do not make it, but fill it with water (1 part of the ogranica per bucket of water) and insist for up to 3 days. After that, it is again diluted with water, taking 1 measured part of the infusion and 10 - water.

Human feces

Some gardeners do not even suspect what exotic types of organic fertilizers are. One of them is our feces. Previously, absolutely everything was fertilized with these waste products, they even went for sale. Now this type of fertilizer is not popular, although it is almost the best. It should be noted that not only feces are called feces, but also urine, which is also suitable as a fertilizer. The only caveat is that nitrogen evaporates from it almost instantly, so the biomaterial must be covered with soil immediately after application.

As can be seen from the table, feces are ideal for improving soil quality.

Of course, many farmers even disdain to use human stool as fertilizer. Those who are more loyal to this, it is important to know what methods exist for the preparation of such organics. To remove an unpleasant odor, the "raw materials" need to be shifted with peat or, in extreme cases, leafy soil. You can also arrange compost heaps from foliage and plant debris, stacking feces in layers. They should be rotted for at least 3 years.

Urine is used immediately as a fertilizer. For trees, you can not dilute it. For other crops, it is advisable to dilute with water in a ratio of at least 1: 4. It is also helpful to urinate compost heaps.

Peat

To the question: “What fertilizers are organic?” many will answer: "Peat". It is widely advertised, all flower shops actively sell it, many gardeners and gardeners strive to use it. However, there are not many substances useful for plants in peat to fertilize everything indiscriminately. In addition, it must be taken into account that there are different types of peat that differ significantly in quality.

As can be seen from the table, peat, especially lowland, it is advisable to use on acidic soils. All types of peat should be used only to improve the quality of soils, regulate their moisture, as well as to create high-quality compost and to mulch any crops, but not for fertilizer.

Sapropel

Some types of organic fertilizers are familiar to us from balneological procedures in sanatoriums. Such is the silt of lakes, ponds, any reservoirs with stagnant water, called sapropel. Especially a lot of it is used in the Rostov region due to the huge reserves in Lake Nero. Sapropel, which is a plant and animal remains, has been accumulating in reservoirs for decades. During this period, it gradually decomposes, turning into a valuable organic fertilizer, in which there is a lot of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and nitrogen is 4 times more than in manure. You can use sapropel unchanged or by adding to compost. Before entering the soil, it must be ventilated, shovel and freeze, so that all substances unnecessary to the plants leave it.

Sawdust, bark, bone meal

Organic fertilizers are cheap and very useful for improving the quality of soils. Their types and characteristics are as follows:

1. Sawdust. They perfectly loosen the soil, improve its moisture capacity and breathability, but absorb nitrogen from it. The acidity of the sawdust is quite high (pH about 3-4), therefore, before they are introduced, they should be mixed with hydrated lime and complex mineral or only nitrogen fertilizers. You can also wet them with animal urine or liquid mineral fertilizers. It is better to use rotten sawdust or add them to compost heaps.

2. Woody bark. This waste from the wood industry is used in composting. For this, fresh bark is crushed, stacked in a pit, complex mineral fertilizers are added , and moisturized. The fertilizer will be ready in about six months, during which the pit with the bark needs to be moistened periodically and its contents shoveled.

3. Bone meal. It well reduces soil acidity and is ideal for wetlands. In bone meal there are all the elements necessary for the growth and fruiting of plants. The only caveat - you need to use it only non-fat (evaporated and dry).

Siderata

The use of organic fertilizers can differ significantly from the methods mentioned above. We are talking about green manure - plants sown on the field before planting the main crops or after harvesting. These include: sunflower, mustard, lupine, clover, legumes, oats, vetch, raspberry radish and other precocious crops, giving a lot of green mass. The use of green manure is most effective on sandy and humus-poor soils, but can be practiced on any soil. By the content of useful elements, green fertilizers are almost identical to manure. For example, lupine per 1 m ² gives a green mass of about 4 kg. They contain an average of 18 g of nitrogen, 4.8 g of phosphorus, 6.8 g of potassium, 19 g of calcium, 4.8 g of magnesium. The technology for fertilizing the site with green manure is as follows: after harvesting the main crop, the seeds of the selected plant are sown on the field (some can be simply scattered across the field, others need to be planted in grooves), watered if necessary, and mowed after the buds appear. The green mass can be plowed into the ground, put in compost pits, feed livestock. Some siderates (mustard, oil radish), in addition to fertilizing the soil, help to destroy bacteria in it, such as root rot, nematodes, late blight, and others.

Nettle

If you need to fertilize a small bed, you can make an excellent nettle fertilizer. It is cut off, put in a container and filled with water. Nettle fertilizer is prepared for 3-5 days, during which the contents of the container must be mixed. To eliminate the unpleasant odor, you can add valerian rhizome, and to speed up the process, add bread, yeast, yeast. Ready fertilizer needs to be filtered and used, adding 1 measured part to 10 measured parts of water.

Complex organic fertilizers

This is one of the best, most balanced type of fertilizer, suitable for both plant nutrition and soil quality improvement. For their production in industry, the biofermentation method is used, which consists in the oxidation of organic elements by atomic oxygen. At the same time, this type of chemical energy is released, which is extremely useful for microorganisms needed by plants. They produce complex organic fertilizers from litter, sawdust, manure, peat and the like natural products. The preparations “ZHTSKKU”, “Piska”, “KOUD”, “GUMI-OMI”, “Biohumus” are very popular. Basically, they are all concentrated and very easy to use.