Diy organic fertilisers/soil conditioner

Hi,

I've been conducting some research relating to organic fertilisers, as well as the ecosystem in the rhizosphere and I'm considering building my own fertiliser to sustain a healthy rhizosphere and in turn plants.

My question would be has anyone with experience got any suggestions as to what I should include in this?
I'm trying to promote all life in the soil, from microbe, fungi to invertebrates.
I've read worms aren't too fond of decaying flesh, blood, or bones for that matter and in turn decided to veer away from fish, blood and bone meal and see what other alternatives I would have.

My thoughts so far are buying the following and mixing them to around a 5-3-5 NPK.
Kelp meal
Cotton seed meal (a lot of ericaceous plants)
Chicken manure
Worm castings

The garden will consist of roses, rhododendrons, camelleias, hydrangeas and bulb/tuber plants such as dhalias etc...

I'd appreciate any advice and guidance possible considering this could go very right, or very wrong!

Thanks in advance,
Adam.

 

Blood fish and bone is dry and sterilised when bought so I wouldn't worry too much about worms avoiding it can attract foxes though. In the compost heap yes rotting meat would be avoided by worms.
I use blood fish and bone as it is slow release compared to some of the other fertilisers you can get, I also use compost from garden and household waste as a mulch and generally increase levels of organic matter in the soil.
I mulch ericaceous plants with rotted pine needles, I have pine trees so they are free, just have to sweep up.
I use growmore in the veg and fruit areas and Miraclegro plus a seaweed concentrate or tomorite plus seaweed concentrate in the greenhouse and for potplants.
One of the things to watch based on your list is how fast the nutrients are released, one of the things that will upset an ecological system is sudden shots of nutrients.
Have you considered using rock dust in your mix? See here Rock dust helps soils store carbon and boosts crop yields, research shows and What are the pros and cons of different rock dusts? also Remin Volcanic Rock Dust
I have't tried it myself so cannot really comment on it's effects.

 

The Rhizosphere is decscriped as a Complex Microhabitat and trying to feed it directly like that would seem quiet a difficult task, how could you know exactly what to feed it , would you risk damaging it by overfeeding or using the wrong compounds ?

Our thoughts would seem to go back to more basic and time honoured things like feeding it with quality compost, either from a typical cold heap or one of the more recent hot boxes and/or wormeries etc.

 

I agree you cannot feed the rhizosphere directly you can encourage it, by not using quantities of synthetic fertiliser and organic fertilisers which break down rapidly and release amounts of nitrogen in a short time, these are better suited to the veg and fruit plot for example chicken manure and well rotted animal manure. Avoiding pesticides and fungicides, using garden compost as a soil conditioner and mulch.
So pretty much go organic.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the replies - it's greatly appreciated.

I've taken note of all suggestions, from fertilizers suggested, to reviewing breakdown times.

I'm aware of the complexities of the rhizosphere and that a healthy rhizosphere is a byproduct of the soils contents, which ranges beyond organic matter, but remains inclusive of organic matter provided.
My ambition is to take control of the areas I can, having sourced quality composts and having adjusted the soils structural downfalls, I'm now moving towards organic matter.

From my readings, I discovered that the majority of the fertilizers I stated are slow release, with the exemption of chicken manure which reportedly provides a large % of its nitrogen content in a short timeframe.
With this in mind, I'll alter the composition, or ratios of applications, tailoring it to time of year, and organic products being applied at the time of application.

Thanks again!
Any further information, suggestions, or literature would be very well received!

 

In principle it would be reasonable to agree that taking care of the rhizosphere would be the first place to start, however it would be interesting to know your reason for such work and why you think doing such detailed rhizosphere feeding would be more beneficial/practical than conventional soil care such as traditional garden compost and ferilisers when used with care.

Also, will your formula cope with the differing areas of PH you will need for the plants you mention, some needing quiet acidic values.

"having sourced quality composts and having adjusted the soils structural downfalls"
Would again be very interersted to know which compost you have used and what you have done to Adjust it ?

 

I've always preferred the organic ways, considering that's how nature intended on it being done.
I respect there's often a deficit in results, given traditional store bought fertilisers are immediately available in salt format.
This however isn't of concern to me, with a preference to preserving what in my opinion should be preserved - nature.

The prime aim behind this is to provide a home for those it should be a home to, before human intervention, while providing the results I want. Sort of a symbiotic relationship is what I am to achieve.

I bought bullrush compost having read largely positive experiences from those who use it.
In regards to changing the structure, this was largely in the soil to begin with which had areas which were very sandy, some which had larger quantities of clay, and alternate areas where there wasn't much of anything other than soil and would get very soggy and likely contribute to root rot and undesirables being present in the rhizosphere.
To combat this, I mixed the soils, as well as adding in some stone and horticultural sands in hopes of enhancing drainage and aeration, while retaining moisture.

From what I read, their breakdown shouldn't be dramatically hindered from the PH required by the ericaceous varieties.
I've also read that providing the soil isn't alkaline, the plants should still thrive in neutral to slightly acidic soils.
My plan was to add organic matter at the start of each year which would gradually reduce the PH during the breakdown, providing a window of opportunity in which I'd have slight PH swings enhancing nutrient availability, and accommodating desirable PH for the microbes responsible for breaking down the varying organic matters and nutrition contained.

My gardens soil sits around 5.8ph naturally, with the compost at 5.4ph - 5.8 to my knowledge would make the majority of nutrition available and cater to a large variety of microbial and fungal life.

Of course, I'm no expert - I'm a software developer who took interest in gardening a couple of years back and has an occupational tendency to read excessively

In regards to maintaining and monitoring this, as mentioned above, my profession has provided the skillet and desire to onboard an arduino board irrigation project.
The ambition being to have PH and moisture sensors scattered around with control valves fitted on irrigation piping, in order to control soil moisture and evaluate soil PH.

 

Very interesting, from your comments it sounds like there is a growing community around this subject, expect its developed from things like the No Dig and Organic methods.

If you have a large enough garden are you going to reserve part for typical soil treatment to use a a reference against your rhizosphere cared for garden ?

Imaging there is a limited amount you can do to the soil before Winter, though it will be good to hear how things develop next spring.

Had to smile as literally have an Arduino build just infront of me, the second generation of our greenhouse controller which has a 4x16 lcd, this one is TFT touch screen but using an ESP32 (Arduino coded and programmed) which allows for wifi /bluetooth as well.
Your controller should be straight forwards, plenty of info on moisture sensors, though never tried to use the metal probe garden PH meters with an Arduino.