#permiculture

When we buy fertilizers, they generally have NPK listed on the front, which gives the concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the fertilizer. Organic fertilizers typically are sourced from plant or animal sources, while non-organic or chemical fertilizers are specific elements that we've determined plants need, and may have been synthesized in a lab or mined from the earth. Why might you favor one type of fertilizer over the other? It comes down to nutrient availability, which is a double edged sword. To understand why, we need to know a bit about mycorrhizal fungi.

Plants need nitrogen and other minerals, and when growing without excessive fertilizers, they form symbiotic relationships with ecto and endomycorrhizal fungi, which have vast mycorrhizal networks with incredible surface area. This allows the fungi to much more efficiently absorb minerals and water from the soil, which they exchange for plants' root exudates, which have sugars that the plants have fixed through photosynthesis. Plants with these symbiotic fungi are more resilient to disease and drought, and grow better. The mycorrhizal fungi can also reduce plant's uptake of heavy metals, and can prevent nutrient rich runoff.

When nitrogen, potassium, and especially phosphorus are too available, plants kick out their symbiotic fungi because they no longer need them to get these nutrients. However, this has a down side: symbiotic fungi protect against pathogenic fungi, so now those plants are more vulnerable to fungal infections. They also can no longer can take up water as easily, along with other micro nutrients that may or may not be in the fertilizer.

However, you may have noticed that I didn't specify chemical fertilizers in the above paragraph, and that is because you can see the same effect in some organic fertilizers, like manure, rock phosphate, bone meal, etc. So it's not JUST chemical fertilizers that can negatively impact fungi and their symbiotic relationship with plants- it's any fertilizer that is too rich and too available. If our goal is to support mycorrhizal networks, ideally we would add just enough fertility and in a form that is more available to fungi than plants, thus encouraging those symbiotic relationships.

However, that does not mean that chemical or readily available fertilizers don't have their place. If I'm growing something in a pot and it's going to be in a pot it's whole life, I'll often use some kind of fertilizer that I wouldn't use in my garden. Chemical or quick release fertilizers are great for when you've spotted a nutrient deficiency and want a quick turn around for your plants. I usually use some very rich sources of fertility for my cucurbits and raspberries, but learning this has made me rethink this practice.

I think an apt analogy between a box of strawberries and a soda. The box of strawberries has sugar, but it also has more micronutrients and will feed the kind of symbiotic bacteria we want in our gut in the long term. Meanwhile, the soda has a lot of sugar which will rapidly increase our blood sugar and feed the kind of bacteria that aren't as beneficial. However, if your blood sugar is crashing and you need to bring it up, the soda is the better choice. Each has their place, and it's best to analyze your situation and determine which is the better choice.

If you want to read more, here's some sources:

"A Gardener’s Primer to Mycorrhizae: Understanding How They Work and Learning How To Protect Them (Home Garden Series)" by Linda Chalker-Scott, available for free from WSU.

"The complete guide to restoring your soil Restoring your soil" a book by Dale Strickler, very in depth and a great book to read if you want to know more about soil.

If you’ve met me in person or have followed me on instagram, you’ll know how I feel about lawns, the usage of fungicide sprays instead of systemics,  how I think smokey the bear is one of the biggest perpetuated lies/ propaganda machines in forestry history, how I feel about the honey bees in the United States and the misrepresentation of the “save the bees” campaign has increased problems, and how vermiculture and the idea of using surface earthworms in compost has caused reprehensible and some of the most detrimental issues to our ecosystems as a hole. Areas where the phenology of egg laying worms conflicts with fire ecology and burn zones that are highly compartmentalized or continuous burn zones despite either human (first nations) land management or natural or areas where we have glacial fronting history had deep earth worms but never had frequent upper surface earth worms. We are so deeply effected them from the destruction of bacterial and mycological communities that decline in forests. Upper surface earth worms in the US are also what aids establishment of invasives and can even increase foreign allelopathic desertification faster. If you know about ground dwelling bees, or overwintering insects, you should be concerned. If you know about salamanders and foodweb interactions for birds and reptiles as well as small rodents, you should be concerned. From the composting and fishing communities continued usage this decline will only increase. If you live in the subtropical south flat lands post burn we have worms that can thrive because their phenology for surface appearance never is disrupted by burn season, instead it’s beneficial. These earthworms (deep soil) resolve themselves to earth until it’s time to lay eggs.

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialanimals/earthworms/index.html

This is only their second year with me, and look how tall they've gotten! This is the west side of my house, and their entire purpose is to slade it, this reducing the internal temperature.

I really lucked out because I got them for free from someone who's new puppy was chewing on them. They're in a pot:

So they can't spread in the ground. It's still pretty early in the season so they should fill in quite a bit up top though. I have two other pots which I put free bare root hops in last year, but they're not as full yet. The pots don't have bottoms, so they're well rooted into the ground as well.