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Concept
Organic fertilizer
Summary
Organic fertilizers are fertilizers that are naturally produced. Fertilizers are materials that can be added to soil or plants, in order to provide nutrients and sustain growth. Typical organic fertilizers include all animal waste including meat processing waste, manure, slurry, and guano; plus plant based fertilizers such as compost; and biosolids. Inorganic "organic fertilizers" include minerals and ash. The organic-mess refers to the Principles of Organic Agriculture, which determines whether a fertilizer can be used for commercial organic agriculture, not whether the fertilizer consists of organic compounds.
The main organic fertilizers are, peat, animal wastes, plant wastes from agriculture, and treated sewage sludge.
Minerals can be mined from fossil products of animal activity, such as greensand (anaerobic marine deposits), some limestones (fossil shell deposits), and some rock phosphates (fossil guano). Adding limestone or “liming” a soil is a way to raise pH. By raising the pH of a soil, microbial growth can be stimulated, which in turn increases biological processes, enabling nutrients to flow more freely through the soil. When nutrients flow freely they are more accessible to plants and therefore can increase plant health and mass. If the soil is already pH balanced, liming the soil, would be ineffective.
Rock phosphate
Raw Langbeinite
Rockdust
Unprocessed natural potassium sulfate
Animal sourced materials include both animal manures and residues from the slaughter of animals.
Manures are derived from milk-producing dairy animals, egg-producing poultry, and animals raised for meat and hide production, or sport and recreation. Manure is an abundant resource with estimations for cattle manure in the US alone reaching two billion tons annually, and one hen has the potential to produce a cubic foot of manure every six months. By adding manure to crops it adds nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, magnesium and calcium.
Official source
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