Question
QUESTION: Hi,

I have several potted plants and would like to give fertilizer as follow: only organic fertilizer in the soil and chemical fertilizer with very low rate (about 50 ppm each N-P-K) to be sprayed on leaves every morning.  

For organic fertilizer, I would give tea compost (from tea bag), finely chopped banana peel and plumeria flower, since I have them regularly.

Hope this way would not kill the microbes in the soil, take the advantages of the chemical fertilizer, and have the healthiest plants. What do you think ? Any suggestions ? Thank's.

Rgds,

Ari

ANSWER: Fascinating.  I wish you lived next door to me, Ari.  You sound like a fun guy.

The problem here is that you are growing POTTED plants.  You are cut off from many of the greatest things in life like underground Mycorrhizae, tangential microbes from surrounding soils, and a host of other things with long names and even unknown relationships.

The bananas and plumerias, and any other raw organic matter, will decompose more slowly in a pot because you do have a limited territory for the microbes and therefore a limited space for the population.  The microbes meanwhile have to consume extra amounts of Nitrogen to do the work of rotting the garbage, and this is only going to deprive the star of the show, the potted plant, of the nutrients they consume while doing this work.

Pot culture is much different from Earth culture.  And it is a real challenge.

If anyone is up to it, sounds to me like it would be you.

Be VERY careful about the quantity of organic matter you add to this pot.  I would even venture to recommend that you rely on home-made compost, if you have a basement, preferably of the vermiculture variety, to make decomposition take place quickly and out of the immediate environment of your potted plants.  Compost Earthworms are a different species from Terrestrial Earthworms, so don't think that you can kill these 2 birds w/ one stone.  It would be far more preferable for your to supply decomposed organic matter to your potting Soil than to combine the life processes of the plant and the decomposing microbes and Soil fauna.

That said, I applaud your outside-the-box approach.

Let's talk about the fertilizer.

When microbes are generating nutrients in Soil al fresco, the rate of output paces the metabolism of the plants around them.  Because the microbes work harder and grow faster when it's warm.  And they slow down when it's cold.  There's no shortage of good food out there when it comes to relying on Nature's Way.

Indoors is another system.  You have a constant temperature and no growth spurts other than those that are triggered by lighting.

Add to that things like your probably shortage of Fungal Mycorrhizae, and I'd say this is a good system you are proposing, spraying leaves with chemical fertilizer.

Keep daily records and even take pictures once a week, and you have yourself a great little research project, sir.

Any questions?  I'm so backed up, but I'd like to make sure you understand the outdoor/indoor mechanisms.  Thanks for writing,

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,

to live next door to me, you have to travel a long journey :)

If I have more space here I would like to do the decomposition as you told, besides it's the smell too. By putting the organic matter directly in the pot, the bad smell can be reduced drastically. Just hope the microbes here in tropical land are available abundantly even in the pot and work hard every day amid constant warm temperature.

Rgds,
Ari

Answer
Thanks for your little note, Ari.  I just want to underscore the reasons in-ground compost curing is inadvisable:

(A) It's inefficient because aerobic microbes need Oxygen to digest and conduct life processes; without them, you only have anaerobic microbes doing the dirty work, and THEY are the ones that stink up the compost pile (as well as cause disease).

(B) While consuming and rotting food underground, microbes also consume Nitrogen.  That's less for the plant.  They get first dibs at all the Nitrogen down there.  It is EASY to create a Nitrogen shortage in a pot (and nearly as easy in the ground).  The trend is worst in alkaline or thin, Sandy Soil, where NH4+ is HIGHLY unstable and evaporates faster than you can say GLOBAL WARMING.  How unstable?  Think Gunpowder (Potassium Nitrate) and Nitroglycerine.  If you add Manure (or a Urea based commercial fertilizer) you can smell the NH3 steam rising from the Soil.

Speaking of Manure, let me refer you to one USDA study that found you can turn Manure into slow release fertilizer by adding roughly 1 part Kitty Litter to 18 parts Manure.  Researchers mixed dairy Manure with 6.25 percent Zeolite -- an ingredient commonly found in Kitty Litters.  Ammonia loss was reduced by more than half.  The scientists explained that the Zeolite is a 'sequestering agent'. What you should also know, however, is that Kitty Litter is often high in Phosphorus.  So watch your brands.

Rainwater does not get the praise it should.  Yes, it's basically chemical free.  But the BEST thing about it is that it has so much Nitrogen dissolved in it.  If you can get it, use it.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER