The Pros and Cons of Organic vs. Synthetic Fertilizers

Even though it may seem like you're getting a lot for the money because that nitrogen percentage is higher I'm, not sure that your plants end up getting everything you're putting down there What's up, Lazy Dog Fam, I hope all y'all are having a fantastic day. It is Friday, December 1st here in South Georgia and on a recent video we were talking about some of the gardening fads or you know techniques out there that claim to drastically reduce your need to fertilize your garden And we got some really thought-provoking comments on that video that I thought we would address here today. So in today's video, we're going to talk about why we only use organic fertilizers around here in our backyard garden plots Why we made the switch several years ago We're going to talk about some of the pros and cons of organic and synthetic fertilizers I'm going to give you some helpful tips if you're looking to make that transition from synthetic To organic fertilizers and at some point in the video i'm going to tell you about a neat little giveaway We're doing between now and Christmas where you could win one of those nice raised beds that we use. So first let's talk about why we made the decision to switch to only Organic fertilizers and why we've continued to roll with that strategy and just for a little historical perspective When we moved here in 2013 All that up there was covered in pine trees So we started out with just two garden plots this one here and that little one over there and then A couple years later We got all those pine trees out of the way and added six more in-ground garden plots And then last year we converted that in-ground plot to raised beds And so starting out in the very beginning when we had just these two garden plots behind me We were using only synthetic fertilizers and we were doing pretty good Growing some good groceries in those two plots And then when we added these six additional plots this area we call the dream garden We started using some organic fertilizers still we're using a decent bit of synthetics and then in early 2021 We made the decision to cold turkey leave out the synthetics and go strictly organic So now let's talk about what led us to make that decision But before we get into the details of that, let me just clarify I'm not here to tell you you need to only use organic fertilizers in your garden You use whatever you need to use to enjoy your garden have fun out there and grow some great groceries for your family I'm not preaching to you here just sharing our experiences So one of the things I noticed after using synthetic fertilizers for several years is that after growing certain things Some of my plots would just seem kind of zapped and lifeless afterwards if you watch our channel much You know, we pretty much grow food year-round around here So when one particular crop is done, we might grow a cover crop there But a lot of times we'll just plant some more vegetables and I noticed this especially on plots that had heavy feeders in it Say something like sweet corn. So after a grow out of sweet corn where we had used a lot of synthetic fertilizer That following vegetable that I put in there Never seemed to do that. Well, it always seemed to struggle a little bit Like I said, the plot just seemed kind of zapped and occasionally I would have a situation I in fact remember it happening in that plot where you've got those raised beds there one winter where I was trying to grow some cabbage and Broccoli and cauliflower and some other brassicas had a situation where it seemed like no matter how much synthetic fertilizer I gave those plants They just wouldn't take off and go now. I didn't collect or have any good soil chemistry data to Verify what the actual problem was my guess it was some sort of ph issue or some sort of salt accumulation issue And it wasn't happening on every single grow out But it would randomly happen and kind of mystify me because you would think okay If I keep pushing the juice of these plants, they got to take off sooner or later, but they just didn't So after seeing that happen several times in the warm season and cool season garden I thought well, maybe we need to focus more on sustained Soil fertility, so we're not always kind of chasing that rabbit We're not always just rushing to the barn to grab another bag of synthetic fertilizer to try to solve a problem that we're seeing With our plants if we can have that sustained soil fertility, maybe we don't ever have those problems in the first place And here we are a couple years later after cutting out those synthetic fertilizers and I would say things are going pretty well Now we still do get skunked from time to time on a particular veggie But usually when we get skunked it's not a nutrient or fertility issue It probably has something to do with pests poor timing of planting on my part Or maybe the weather not cooperating us getting a hurricane coming through here So our experience has been pretty good, but that doesn't mean everyone's journey is going to be the same So let's talk about some of the pros and cons of organic and synthetic fertilizer So unless you're able to generate a significant amount of manure and compost on your homestead You're likely going to have to buy some fertilizer at some point and synthetic fertilizer is usually significantly cheaper than organic fertilizer Now organic fertilizer can vary greatly across the board depending on the source and brand But synthetic fertilizer say for example a bag of 10-10-10 You can get that for pretty cheap around here. My father-in-law uses a lot of his garden I think he gets like a I want to say a 40 or 50 pound bag for like 20 bucks Which is a lot cheaper than you're going to find any organic fertilizer Now the other benefit to using the synthetic or chemical stuff is that it works faster So plants are usually going to have a fairly immediate response to it So if you're creating a new garden plot you're taking a piece of your yard That's in grass and you're going to till it up and plant a garden there You can pretty much assume there's not a lot of nutrients in that soil and Synthetic fertilizers could help you out a lot in that situation because you're not going to have time to Build all this organic matter in the soil Now if you're tilling up a spot in the yard and you're going to plant something like sweet potatoes cow peas or okra That don't need a whole lot of nutrients. You might be just fine But if you're going to till up a spot and plant you a nice plot of sweet corn Chances are you're going to have to use some synthetics in the first year because you just don't have enough time to get those Organics working so the synthetic stuff definitely has some advantages at least on the surface But i'm not convinced you get all the nitrogen that you're putting out when you use a synthetic fertilizer Say for example, you use something like a 13 13 13 that synthetic fertilizer Yes, it's really fast, but it's also kind of volatile in the soil You get a hard rain after putting down some water soluble synthetic fertilizer. You're probably losing a good bit of it So even though it may seem like you're getting a lot for the money because that nitrogen percentage is higher I'm, not sure that your plants end up getting everything you're putting down there Now the big benefit in my opinion to using organic fertilizers is that you are building the soil biology You're not just feeding the plants. You are feeding the soil and creating some long-term Fertility there. Yes. It's a much slower process and you have to plan ahead a lot more But the rewards are there long term now personally i'm not a huge fan of the whole save the planet argument Yes, I believe we should be good stewards of this great earth that the good lord has given us But I don't think what i'm doing here in my little backyard garden or what you're doing there in your little backyard garden Is impacting the planet that much as a whole i'm more looking at things from a soil perspective how do we Maintain some good soil fertility so we're not always chasing some kind of nutrient deficiency And as i've told you before i'm not sure i'll ever get to the point Where I can just plant something kind of forget about it and it's just going to produce abundantly for us But when I can simply throw a couple handfuls of a balanced organic pre-plant fertilizer like that coop grow we use Down in this bed plant some lettuce not do anything else and grow lettuce that looks like this I think we've done a decent job And since we're over here in the raised bed plot It's probably a fine time for me to tell you about that giveaway that I mentioned earlier So I told you a couple videos ago that we now have these metal ollie gardens raised beds that we love Available on our website at lazydogfarm.com We've got these 32 inch tall ones the 12-in-one kits where you can make a bunch of different shapes out of these We've got these 17 inch tall ones Which you can make a rectangle out of or like a long skinny bed and we've got those round ones That we have up front and so as a part of getting those launched on our website The fine folks at ollie gardens wanted to give us one of these beds that we could give away to one of our great subscribers So this is how it's going to work So in the spirit of the season, we're going to do a little photo contest and see who has the most Festive garden this time of year now personally i've never thought about Decorating my garden for christmas, but this might get you thinking about it So what i'm going to do is i'm going to put a link in the description below and you can go to that link And submit a photo of your christmas themed garden, you don't have to go all out you can get creative with this Maybe just a little santa claus somewhere strategically placed in your garden But submit some kind of photo with a christmas theme of your garden at the link below And the one we choose is the best photo is going to win one of these nice tall Ollie gardens raised bed and you get to pick whatever color you want and because we're already in december You don't have a whole lot of time here. So make sure to get those photos submitted quickly I'll be sure to share some of those on our social media pages as we receive them Can't wait to see what you guys come up with. But anyways back to the topic at hand here Let's talk about some helpful tips If you're looking to make that transition from using a lot of synthetic fertilizers to using mostly organic fertilizers Now as I told you earlier if you're tilling up a new garden spot unless you live in an area of the country that just has some amazing Fertile soil you're probably going to have to use some synthetic fertilizers in the beginning While you get all that good soil biology working for you Now even if you do have to use some synthetics in the beginning, don't worry about it. You'll be just fine Just try not to be completely reliant on them and also try to add some things there Some nice organic matter that is going to build your soil over time And I would say make the transition gradual keep some synthetic fertilizer on hand because you may need it for some heavy feeders like corn cabbage onions, for instance, but Try to focus more on building the soil over time If that's what you want to do and you slowly kind of wean yourself off the synthetic stuff As someone commented on that video I referenced earlier. It's going to take some time to understand Using organic fertilizers how much you need to use and it may seem a good bit more expensive in the beginning But once you create that sustained soil fertility You won't have to use near as much and I think you'll be happier with the results So that's my two cents on the matter and feel free to share your two cents or your half dollar In the comments below and as always you can find links to a lot of the products we use in the description below Also, don't forget to submit your photo so you can win one of those raised garden beds And if you missed that video where we were talking about Why we're not trying to replicate nature here in our gardens. You can see that right here So check that out and we'll see you next time right here at Lazy Dog Farm