Most soils need the addition of organic fertilizers to keep them fertile and healthy. Organic fertilizers come from decomposed plants, animals, and natural minerals.

The nutrients that come from its are only released gradually during high temperatures, moisture, and microbial activity. These are the same conditions that plants need in order to grow, thus making organic fertilizers in perfect sync with plant growth.

One of the major advantages that organic fertilizers have over chemical fertilizers is that they contain organic matter.

Comprised of dead bio-matter, organic matters are the ones responsible in keeping water and air trapped in the soil, making nutrients available to plants, and preventing plant-related diseases.

Types of Organic Fertilizers

There are several types of organic fertilizers which you can find available in catalogs or garden centers. Most these are a combination of organic materials, although some only have one source.

Organic fertilizers are separated into four basic categories - plant, animal, mineral, and compost. Plant organic fertilizers have a rich storehouse of specific nutrients like nitrogen.

This type of fertilizer is considered to be a renewable source of nutrient. A fine example of a plant organic fertilizer is the alfalfa meal.

The recent controversy on using chemical or inorganic fertilizers and its harmful effects on the environment has brought about the organic movement in the agricultural sector.

For environmental and health reasons, more and more farmers and home growers have turned to organic fertilizers as the solution. As a result, the organic fertilizer industry has experienced a boon in their profits.

People, from the regular backyard growers to the big-time farmers, are buying organic fertilizers for their gardens and farms.

But with all the attention shifting to this, buying them has become a confusing task, especially since there are several factors involved: N-P-K, organic matter content, moisture content, etc.

To the average home grower, all these numbers and percentages in an organic fertilizer bag tend to become perplexing. This article is aimed to help you, the home grower, make an informed decision before buying organic fertilizers.

What to look for in an organic fertilizer

What does N-P-K mean? There are three major nutrients that plants need in order to grow. These are Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K).

Green Harvest Organic Fertilizer runs a mail order business that provides the market with organic garden care products, seeds, books, and supplies.

True to its organic gardening principles, Green Harvest also offers their clients an online source of information pertaining to organic gardening and its fertilizers.

The Australian Organic Gardening Resource Guide (www.greenharvest.com.au) gives customers access to product information and online shops where they can buy anything from its fertilizers to seeds, to tools and books.

The Natrakelp organic fertilizer available through Green Harvest is liquid seaweed made from Tasmanian Bull Kelp (Durvillea Potatorum) found all over the coast of Australia.

Renowned for its plant growth and benefits, the Natrakelp organic fertilizer available through it underwent a revolutionary liquefying process and fermentation in order to extract the minerals and micro-nutrients found in it.

This process allows plants to absorb the nutrients in Natrakelp organic fertilizers available through Green Harvest faster. It also maximizes the use of growth hormones in Natrakelp organic fertilizers available through it to augment development of the plant system.

Several university studies have been conducted to test the success of Natrakelp organic fertilizers available through Green Harvest. They have found that Natrakelp organic fertilizers available through it Harvest can increase yields in small and broad acre crops.

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 nutrients may be done using either inorganic fertilizer type or organic fertilizer type.

Because of the increase in environmental concerns, many home growers have preference in using the organic fertilizer type over the inorganic fertilizer type.

This is due to the fact that inorganic fertilizer types contain possibly harmful chemicals and a concentrated amount of nutrients that may leach into the soil.

However, a common misconception in using this fertilizer types is that they are safer for plants. Inappropriate or improper application of organic fertilizer types can be as harmful to plants as chemicals are.

Organic fertilizer types, if not properly applied, may contribute to ground water pollution, cause nutrient deficiency and toxicity, or induce salt burn.

Nutrient needs of plants vary according to soil conditions, previous inorganic or organic fertilizer types used, and the plant type grown. In order to find out what specific nutrients are needed in an organic fertilizer type, a soil test must be conducted.

For the past few years, the focus of cane farming has been on the production of organic foods using organic fertilizers.

The two reasons that explain this new tread in cane farming is that the public awareness of need of environment protection has increased and that several benefits in using renewable resources and organic fertilizers have been uncovered.

Why use organic fertilizers in cane farming?

There are several benefits involved in using organic fertilizers for cane farming. Some of these merits are stated below:

Using organic fertilizers in cane farming is environmentally friendly. It is common knowledge that chemicals can kill the many beneficial insects and microorganisms needed for healthy cane farming.

The chemicals found in inorganic fertilizers can cause environmental degradation and decrease crop yields in cane farming.

Inorganic fertilizers can also cause leaching and groundwater pollution due to contamination from pesticides. Those kinds of threats are eliminated if organic fertilizers are used in cane farming instead of inorganic fertilizers.

In an organic cane farming system, natural pest control is used and practiced. In fact, in cane farming, the focus in pest management is not through cure but through prevention.

Organic fertilizers nowadays are a dime-a-dozen. Because they are so common, many organic fertilizer manufacturers have adapted ingenious ways to get people to buy their products. Competition is fierce and countless sales strategies are developed.

Organic fertilizer distributors are learning that the best way to keep the organic fertilizer sales up is to create a riot of information, colorful packaging, and inviting sales propaganda to lure customers in.

At several organic fertilizer shops and garden centers, display is everything. Their sales strategy consists of placing whole organic fertilizer product lines in one row.

Some also spread their fertilizer products all over the shop to increase its presence and encourage people to buy, thus increasing the store’s sales bracket.

Another sales strategy popularly used is scattering that fertilizer products throughout their plant department. For instance, it is not surprising to see that beside a potted rose plant are some organic fertilizers that can encourage flowers to bloom.

Cross-merchandising and educational marketing are the best sales strategies any organic fertilizer manufacturer can adapt.

Advertising organic fertilizers in magazines, newspapers, TV, and radio can increase the presence of the product in the market and help boost sales in the manufacturing company. Providing more information about this fertilizer product also helps in increasing sales.

Organic farming is newest approach to improve the natural fertility of soil and farm resources. For many people, organic fertilizes are the answer to nutrient deficiency in soil.

Some farmers use traditional practices like recycling farm-produced livestock manure, composting, or crop rotation in order to produce their own natural organic fertilizer.

But because of innate nutritional shortages in regional soils and high productivity demands in the market, farmers have turned to purchasing organic fertilizers and soil additives from specialty suppliers and organic fertilizer dealers.

This article is aimed to provide farmers and gardeners alike a short resource list of organic fertilizer dealers and suppliers in the United States and bordering countries.

Acadian Seaplants Limited (www.acadianseaplants.com)

Is an organic fertilizer dealer specializing in providing the market with the largest supply of sea-based products.

Based in Nova Scotia, Canada, this organic fertilizer dealer derive their products from seaweeds such as Ascophyllum nodosum for rockweed and kelp meals, Chondrus crispus (Irish Moss), Furcellaria lumbricalis, Fucus vesiculosus (Bladderwrack), Laminaria digitata (Kelp),and other seaweed species.

Acadian Seaplants is also not just an organic fertilizer dealer but is also the world’s largest distributor of seaweed ingredients for food, health and beauty markets.

The subject of fertilizer use in gardening has sparked controversy — whether or not to use organic fertilizers or inorganic fertilizers.

Certainly, both organic fertilizers and inorganic fertilizers have advantages and disadvantages of their own.

And it is not as if plants will recognize the difference between nutrients coming from organic fertilizers and those coming from inorganic fertilizers.

Below are some pieces of information for you to understand better the merits and demerits of using either organic or inorganic fertilizers.

Organic Fertilizer

Organic fertilizer is derived from materials that are essentially carbon in nature. These materials of organic fertilizers can either be plant or animal or the by-products of which.

Using organic fertilizers can be both advantageous and disadvantageous. One distinct merit of organic fertilizers is that they naturally contain organic matter that is beneficial to plants and the soil.

Organic matter in organic fertilizers helps improve the water-holding capacity of soil and also augments its structure, thus increasing its nutrient-holding capacity as well.

Another benefit of organic matter in organic fertilizers is that it encourages microbial activity which plays a big part in the breakdown of nutrients so plants can use them.

With today’s growing environment concerns, growing plants the organic fertilizer manufacturer way seems to be the most logical, not to mention the safest gardening method available.

More and more people are turning to organic fertilizers for supplying their plants with the nutrients necessary for their growth and survival.

One of the first groups of people who are taking advantage of this “organic” boom in the agriculture industry is the organic fertilizer manufacturers.

As their name classification suggest, organic fertilizer manufacturers specialize in commercially producing organic fertilizers.

From bonemeal and seaweed extract to compost and manure, organic fertilizer manufacturers have every kind of organic nutrient-enhancer possible.

Below is a short list of the world’s top organic fertilizer manufacturers along with their product description:

Home Harvest Garden Supply, Inc.

Home Harvest is an organic fertilizer manufacturer offering alternative gardening products like organic fertilizers, natural insect controls, hydroponics, and other agricultural tools.

Some natural fertilizers that this organic fertilizer produces are fish fertilizers, bat and seabird guanos, organic liquids and seaweeds. There are several types of fish fertilizers produced by this organic fertilizer manufacturer.

In answer to the growing problems of the environment today, more and more farmers have turned to organic farming as the solution to producing top quality and chemical-free products.

California Organic Fertilizers, Inc. is a company based in Fresno, CA. With its premium organic Nitrogen produce, California Organic Fertilizers support organic farming as a step in the right direction for farmers all over the world.

California Organic Fertilizers have been in business for more than ten years, using natural and organic raw materials to produce organic fertilizers that are high in Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium.

The products of California Organic Fertilizers are designed to contain not only the three major nutrients needed by plants but also the micronutrients that are just as essential to their growth processes.

California Organic Fertilizers have six major products lines – Phyta-Green, Phyta-Grow, Phyta-Start, Phyta-Guard, Phyta-min, and Phyta-Qc.

The Phyta-Green products of California Organic Fertilizers are designed to target turf and horticultural markets.

California Organic Fertilizers and their Phyta-Green products provide nutrients to encourage microbial activity and growth and in the process, augment the food web processes of plants in the soil.