Categories: Organic Garden

Using Natural Organic Fertilizers and Pesticides

The garden landscape is an ecosystem, says western MA professional gardener Cynthia Fitz. Improving any garden landscape starts with soil. The healthier the soil, the healthier plants will be.

Fitz believes that synthetic fertilizers may give a boost to plants, but in the long term, they deplete the soil and do not do plants much good. As a result, she chooses organic / natural fertilizers for installing and maintaining her clients’ landscapes. As a corollary, she also chooses to use natural pesticides when necessary.

Fertilizers

Pro-start 2-3-3 by North Country Organics ( P.O. Box 372, Depot Street, Bradford, VT 05033) is Fitz’s primary fertilizer. (Photo #2) This low-nitrogen blend focuses on flower and root production. She applies it on every plant in early spring – March to April, and again at mid-season – mid to late June. Roses receive an application once per month. Fitz also uses this fertilizer on new installations.

Pro-start is a no burn blend of these natural ingredients:

Greensand,
Rock phosphate,
Alfalfa meal,
Sulfate of potash,
Chilean nitrate,
Vegetable protein meal such as peanut meal, and
Animal protein meal such as feather meal.

Pro-start’s guaranteed analysis is:

2.0% – Total Nitrogen (N),
0.8% Water Soluble Nitrogen,
1.2% Water Soluble Nitrogen,
3.0% – Available Phosphoric Acid as (P2O5), and
3.0% – Soluble Potash (K2O).

Fitz uses Neptune’s Harvest Fish Emulsion 2-3-1 as a supplement for heavily blooming species such as roses and peonies (Photo #3). She applies the emulsion either as a foliar spray or by root injection. Although the recommended application is every two weeks, Fitz thinks plants can go longer between applications and still grow to potential.

Neptune’s Harvest, a division of Ocean Crest Seafoods Inc., utilizes portions of fresh fish left from filleting edible parts from the inedible – heads, skeletons, scales and fins. Before Neptune’s Harvest began in 1986, this inedible portion was loaded on fishing boats and dumped back to the sea.

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Pesticides

Fitz uses a few drops of Shaklee Basic H2® Organic Super Cleaning Concentratein either a small spray bottle or a 3-gallon backpack sprayer to discourage insects. For insect infestations, she uses the straight concentrate.

AgraQuest Serenade® Garden Concentrate Broad Spectrum Disease Control is used both on established disease problems and as a preventative spray. This broad spectrum disease control product may be used to protect

roses,
vegetables,
fruits,
flowering plants, and
trees and shrubs.

It protects against:

mildews,
molds,
blights,
leaf spots such as black spot of roses, and
rusts.

AgraQuest targets its business on discovering, developing, manufacturing and marketing effective, safe and environmentally friendly natural pest management products for the agricultural, institutional and home markets.

Deer Repellants

Messina Wildlife Deer Stopper® Repellent is Fitz’s choice to ward off deer from plants such as hosta, daylilies and Japanese pachysandra. According to the company’s website Deer Stopper® Repellent may be used on “all flowers, shrubs, forest and fruit trees to prevent browsing and rubbing damage from deer, moose and elk.”

The product’s Material Data Sheet states that it contains” No reportable quantities of hazardous ingredients…and, No toxic chemical(s)…”

The repellant is composed of these effective ingredients:

Putrescent whole egg solids,
Mint oil, and
Rosemary oil.

Compost and Mulches

Fitz, at one time, depended heavily upon compost as a nutritional source but found plants suffered. Now she works compost from commercial local suppliers such as the University of MA (Amherst) recycling program and supplements with Pro-start for 4-to-6″ into new beds. She also uses compost to top-dress established beds (application of soluble fertilizer, fresh soil, or compost to the soil surface). She does not use compost as mulch because compost makes an excellent seedbed.

Fitz likes using natural bark mulches and uses a well-aged product from local suppliers. She uses mulch as much for finishing off beds as for eliminating unwanted plant growth in the landscape garden.

Why Use Natural Products?

Fitz, as an adult, has always gardened. She started as a professional gardener ten years ago after teaching school for 16 years. She found early on in her love for gardening that she was allergic to commercial synthetically produced pesticides.

She switched to compounds that have a natural base for her own safety and comfort. Not only did these compounds make her gardening more comfortable, but she also found that plants in her garden landscapes responded well to them. Fitz now contracts with ten homeowners for garden landscape maintenance, and does 5-to-7 design / install or restoration projects per year.