On the path to 6 consecutive years of No N, P, K Required

[Meadowlark]

I don't know what those pellets cost you, but I just looked them up and it is a prohibitive price here.

Here an alfalfa "mini bale" costs about $7...they are great for mulching around tomatoes. A 40-pound bag of alfalfa pellets runs about $15.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Checking back, mostly alfalfa pellets are advertised as horse food and 20 kilos costs around £15. That's about 44 lbs for about $18.5 , not quite as much dearer than I originally thought, but to me that's a lot.
Looking at what's available locally, there are 'ladies who ride' who are happy to give me horse manure for free, and there are hop farms, when the hops are harvested the vines go into a machine which strips all the hops and leaves and then separates them and spews the 'shoddy' out of the back. The farmer will let me collect year old shoddy from last year's pile for free.

 

[Tundra20]

hello all picked up some alfalfa pellets today
50lb bag $18
now how would yal mix it and how much roughly
thx in advance

 

[Meadowlark]

When I used pellets, it was very imprecise. I'd just throw them in the planting space by the handfuls. I used it before seeding and during growth as kind of a dressing.

 

[Tundra20]

When I used pellets, it was very imprecise. I'd just throw them in the planting space by the handfuls. I used it before seeding and during growth as kind of a dressing.

lol now thats my kinda measurin

 

[YumYum]

Alfalfas NPK is roughly 2.45-0.5-2.1

N-P-K Value of Everything

If you plug those numbers in this calculator and want 50 lbs/acre of N, then you would put 46.85 lbs of alfalfa pellets per 1,000 square feet of ground.

 

[Tundra20]

Alfalfas NPK is roughly 2.45-0.5-2.1

N-P-K Value of Everything

If you plug those numbers in this calculator and want 50 lbs/acre of N, then you would put 46.85 lbs of alfalfa pellets per 1,000 square feet of ground.

thanks i will use that

 

[Meadowlark]

N-P-K Value of Everything

I've seen those tables before and have always questioned the values they assign to composted cow manure let alone my cow manure/sunn Hemp mix composted.

I have had my cow manure compost tested by soil test lab and it came in "No N, P, K required"

I have always been challenged by the relationship between N, P, K % and the ppm values of my test results...but I get 39 ppm total nitrogen (N), 32 ppm Phosphorous (P), and 114 ppm Potassium (K) out of straight composted cow manure...near perfect levels for growing anything.

Your referenced table above @YumYum says cow compost is only 2:0:0. Clearly, that just can't be correct?

Can you reconcile the apparent huge difference @YumYum between that table and what I get in ppm in a soil test?

Of course, ppm is apples to oranges to %, but 0 is 0 regardless of the units.

Thanks.

 

[YumYum]

That is the one thing about using an orgainic fertilizer. They can vary quite a bit. An exact number just isn't possible like you get with synthethic fertilizers.

Cows eat mainly grasses or grains so clearly it shouldn't be 0 or P or K. So no that isn't correct. Not sure how they got those figures. I've heard that if a milk cow gets into a field of onions, you can taste it in the milk. I haven't experienced that but I do believe it from folks that had their own milk cows. I am one who believes you are what you eat and what doesn't get processed goes out the other end.

You know humans and soil are alike as they need microbes (in the gut or soil) to convert food/nutrients into energy.

 

[Meadowlark]

That is the one thing about using an orgainic fertilizer. They can vary quite a bit. An exact number just isn't possible like you get with synthethic fertilizers.

I think we need a new "system", a system that recognizes the nutrient values in organic materials. Those organic materials show up as nutrient values in the soil which translates to nutrient density levels in our food which in turn arguably translates to the health or lack thereof to the people that consume them. The system is terribly lacking. We measure the Wrong things and ignore the things critical to good health.

I guess it will forever remain so in my lifetime...but I wouldn't trust those tables as far as I could throw them.

I've heard that if a milk cow gets into a field of onions, you can taste it in the milk. I haven't experienced that but I do believe it from folks that had their own milk cows.

I ran a small dairy to help get me through high school and college. Every spring, I hated doing the milking because of that onion smell. I can still smell it.

 

[redback]

I also make what I call "Super Duper" compost.

My compost is very powerful because of its ingredient s- grasses and weeds like stinging nettle, comfrey, lucerne, snail clover, burr clover, wood ash, coffee grounds, chicken manure from my birds, bean and pea plants, microbial mixtures like yeast, lacto-bacillus and protozoa soup. I also add whatever manure is being used at the time and occasionally I will donate my urine, used potting mixtures and kitchen scraps like onion peel, banana skins, eggshells, citrus peels and others I can't recall now. I turn it twice and notice how it steams and teems with life.
Like all organic fertilizers its impact is accumulative. So, after two initial additions to the clay soil they become alive, friable and sufficiently fertile to raise seed and support seedlings. Once the initial doses are a working, I normally apply it as a top dressing as plants begin to fruit along with liquid seaweed and organic pellets. Because it contains air amongst its fibers it is superb as an insulator, a nitrogen source and a cover for aerial roots of tomatoes and corn.
Every gardener loves their compost.

 

[redback]

I was going to say that the air component of compost is not normally recorded. I ended up spending a lot of time trying to do a first photo post since my last visit.

 

[Meadowlark]

Waiting for 2025 results:

Nutrient	optimal	2020​	2021​	2022​	2023​	2024​	2025​
pH	5.8-7	6.49​	6.65	6.51	6.37	6.11
Total Nitrogen (N)	32-60	30.2​	34.23	34.28	38.9	32.41
Nitrate (NO3-N)		8.1​	9.72	9.83	30.1	10.19
Ammonium		5.9​	17.51	24.45	8.77	22.22
Phosphorus (P)	8.0-20.	48.2​	75.7	63.39	31.6	68.16
Potassium (K)	38-80	116.2​	62.53	111.27	115	50.23
Sulfur (S)	7.-22	4.1​	3.47	7.38	9.92	8.22
Calcium (Ca)	80-320	300​	499.7	464.64	83	488.3
Magnesium (Mg)	27-70	25.4​	24.86	43.46	33.7	57.09
Sodium (Na)	.5-30.	6.6​	5.38	23.17	13.8	8.74
Iron (Fe)	3.-10.	11.4​	2.7	14.45	1.27	46.84
Manganese (Mn)	4.-10.	11​	10.94	12.56	4.7	30.11
Zinc (Zn)	.1-.25	0.4​	0.49	0.52	0.17	0.74
Copper (Cu)	.06-.3	0.1​	0.15	0.08	0.03	0.1
Boron (B)	.2-.6	0.1​	0.11	0.14	0.01	0.06

p.s. I finally got the past data complied @YumYum

 

[YumYum]

Me likey. That is in terms of ppm?

Where did all that iron come from last year do you think, and manganese?

 

[Meadowlark]

Me likey. That is in terms of ppm?

Where did all that iron come from last year do you think, and manganese?

Yes, ppm.

Those iron and manganese and even calcium readings were kind of off the charts. I have no clue

It will be interesting to get this year's data.