Chemical Fertilizer Vs. Organic Fertilizers
This is the common dilemma faced by most farmers and gardeners today. It's essentially the decision to choose between the tried and true but slow working fertilizer and the one that promises faster growth. Let's get to the bottom of this once and for all.
Fertilizers are the protein supplements for your plants. They are used to enrich the soil with nutrients that it does not inherently have. They should be used strictly as a deficiency-buster. Inordinate use of different types of fertilizers kills the naturally present ingredients in soil too. So, it is important to use them carefully and only as per need.
Understanding the Two Types
Organic fertilizers are made from naturally occurring substances, and include by-products or waste remains of the animals. Dead plants and dead animal remains are also often used as fertilizers in organic farming. They are naturally chemical-rich and contain high amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK).
The main difference between a chemical and an organic fertilizer is that the former come out of a lab and the organic one comes from living beings. A chemical fertilizer is synthetically prepared to include the vital nutrients that are necessary for the plant's growth process. All of them contain the normal NPK requirement and any other nutrients as required.
Comparing the Two Fertilizer Types
Benefits of Organic Fertilizers
Production:
Price:
Organic fertilizers are much cheaper compared to their chemical counterparts as they are easily available in nature and only require packaging. Chemical fertilizers need extensive research and production work making them much more expensive.
Benefits of Chemical Fertilizers
Composition:
It is custom-made for your requirement. Now if your soil is rich in nitrogen and potassium, what you need is a fertilizer that will take care of the phosphorus deficiency. Chemical fertilizers will give you the option of using phosphorus-rich fertilizers.
Fertility:
While organic fertilizers have a low NPK ratio, the chemical ones enjoy a very high ratio of the same. So if you have a very unproductive soil, chemical fertilizers are what you need as they have an NPK ratio of nearly 60% while the most fertile of organic fertilizers can give only about 14%.
Release time:
Organic fertilizers may take more time to release the nutrients as they need some microbial activity to get them working. Chemical fertilizers get cracking instantly and release the essential nutrients into the soil.
This is the common dilemma faced by most farmers and gardeners today. It's essentially the decision to choose between the tried and true but slow working fertilizer and the one that promises faster growth. Let's get to the bottom of this once and for all.
Fertilizers are the protein supplements for your plants. They are used to enrich the soil with nutrients that it does not inherently have. They should be used strictly as a deficiency-buster. Inordinate use of different types of fertilizers kills the naturally present ingredients in soil too. So, it is important to use them carefully and only as per need.
Understanding the Two Types
Organic fertilizers are made from naturally occurring substances, and include by-products or waste remains of the animals. Dead plants and dead animal remains are also often used as fertilizers in organic farming. They are naturally chemical-rich and contain high amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK).
The main difference between a chemical and an organic fertilizer is that the former come out of a lab and the organic one comes from living beings. A chemical fertilizer is synthetically prepared to include the vital nutrients that are necessary for the plant's growth process. All of them contain the normal NPK requirement and any other nutrients as required.
Comparing the Two Fertilizer Types
Benefits of Organic Fertilizers
Production:
They are made by natural processes. Although they take time to make
due to the nature of its 'ingredients', they prove to be much better
when you produce them at a constant rate. Plus, you know exactly what's
going into it so you can figure out if you want to add or substitute
some things.
Effect on Biological Activity:
Chemical
fertilizers kill the microorganisms in the soil. It is one of the
advantages of organic fertilizers that they boost microbial activity in
the soil. These microbes help in degenerating the complex compounds
present in the organic fertilizers.
Effect on Soil:
Overuse of fertilizers is often a problem as excess nutrients are
neither good for the overall composition of soil nor are they good for
the plant. Organic fertilizers may also have a problem of overuse, but
it is a slow nutrient releasing material, so the nutrients will anyway
take some time to get absorbed.
Effect on Environment:
It
is one of the greatest advantages of organic fertilizers that they are
easily available in nature, in plenty and with almost no adverse effect
on the environment. Chemical fertilizers on the other hand might have
the problem of nitrogen components seeping into groundwater streams or
otherwise into the nearest lake or river and causing pollution.Price:
Organic fertilizers are much cheaper compared to their chemical counterparts as they are easily available in nature and only require packaging. Chemical fertilizers need extensive research and production work making them much more expensive.
Benefits of Chemical Fertilizers
Composition:
It is custom-made for your requirement. Now if your soil is rich in nitrogen and potassium, what you need is a fertilizer that will take care of the phosphorus deficiency. Chemical fertilizers will give you the option of using phosphorus-rich fertilizers.
Fertility:
While organic fertilizers have a low NPK ratio, the chemical ones enjoy a very high ratio of the same. So if you have a very unproductive soil, chemical fertilizers are what you need as they have an NPK ratio of nearly 60% while the most fertile of organic fertilizers can give only about 14%.
Release time:
Organic fertilizers may take more time to release the nutrients as they need some microbial activity to get them working. Chemical fertilizers get cracking instantly and release the essential nutrients into the soil.
It's now pretty
obvious that using chemical fertilizers excessively will not only harm
your plants, but the soil and the underground water reservoir as well.
They can produce optimum results is used in monitored moderation.
Organic fertilizers on the other hand, prove to be better in the long
run, as long as your land isn't desperately low on one or more
compounds. Thus we now know the advantages and disadvantages of each
type of fertilizer. This will help us solve the old dilemma once and for
all
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