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Location

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New Brunswick and Nova Scotia

I have run into some argument about how long granular
fertilizer remains active, since if it lasts only 30 days or so, than it should be wrong to prep a patch 3-4 weeks
before planting, and re-applications could cause problematic aborts of future fruits. I would love to see
some high powered opinions on this concern.
Half dead crow

5/22/2005 6:23:48 PM

Montoursville, PA

Both organic and manfactured inorganic fertilizers are or may be granular.

Your question needs to clarify more specifically which you are concerned about.

5/22/2005 9:03:27 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

This is a complex subject that deserves more space & time than we can deliver here. But let's touch the high points.

Like Dwaine points out, we're not sure if we're dealing with synthetic or naturally derived granules. The solubility of each can be "engineered" to some degree either by selection (organic) or during manufacturing (synthetic).

Examples of Nitrogen sources:

Ultra fast:(10-20 days)
Ammonia Nitrate
Potassium Nitrate

Fast:(21-45 days)
Sodium Nitrate
Ammonium sulfate
Urea
Blood

Moderate:(90-180+ days)
Poly Coated Urea
Resin coated urea
Methylene Urea
Amino & Dimethylenetriurea

Slow: (up to 2 years)
Urea Formaldehyde
Natural organics like Sludge, Turkey & other animal manures

Now let us keep in mind that all soils have a measurable Cation Exchange Capacity that we can use to determine the soils field holding capacity of applied nutrients. To accurately determine how much of our applied elements will remain in the soil solute we need also consider the "fertilizer efficiency factor". In short, this means that around 50-70% of an applied element might be detectable (available to plants) on a soil test some known time after application (if we're lucky & environmental conditions are ideal! LOL).

So in other words, if we follow the advice of some very tenured & accomplished growers & soil scientists, applying synthetic or natural fertilizer well in advance of the growing season is not a waste of material if we're careful to gauge the materials selection to the soil type & the timing.

Phosphorus & Potassium are much slower to release & less prone to both volatility & leaching. So while their dynamics in the soil are complex, their reaction is still predictable & early application is even more prudent.

Soil type, moisture & temperature combined with cover cropping, tilling & ploughing practices all play a significant role in fertilizing practices as we

5/22/2005 9:36:41 PM

Puyallup, WA

Great answer, Steve!

5/23/2005 1:16:51 AM

I started getting into growing atlantic giants 5 years ago and had pretty good luck by following recommendations on your web site. Unfortunatly at the time I was just getting a good plot going my 56 year old ex got really weird and I moved.I have a new yard that I rounduped 2 months ago. The topsoil is about 8 inches deep, a clay loam that is full of big nightcrawlers. I did not get around to getting a.g. seeds because I did not have a garden and figured i couldnt grow a garden this year, but last week i bought a pack of burpee prizewinner seeds, planted them in 3 hills. Then I cleaned out the chicken coop and spread 4 bushel baskets of straw manure (six month old accumulation) from 1 to 6 ft outside of the hills. Since I have been out of the gardening scene for several years i kind of forgot how to do things. Your response about longevity of different kinds of fertilizers and their persistense amazed me. Poultry manure releases nitrogen for 2 years? Do you think that the manure i spread will fry the plants in the ammount applied or the distance proximal to the plants? Also, i dont have a rototiller or any affordable means of cultivation. my plan is to no till into the plot and grow cereal rye in late summer, then mow it to kill it. Does cereal rye die with mowing at the proper time, if so, when and at what heighth should it be mowed? I do have a riding mower and could cut the rye!

5/23/2005 5:58:51 PM

oops i forgot to say my location which is zone 5 northwest ohio.

5/23/2005 6:01:46 PM

Montoursville, PA

You are on the edge of maybe being to hot. Till the dickens out of it and feed four ounces, of black strap molasses per thousand square feet twice two weeks apart. Don't stop tilling even if it looks good. You need the bacteria and the oxygen, to be at their maximum. By the time the plant gets there you may be OK. If not a lesson will have been learned and it will be heck, of a good start, for next year.

Yes residual from manures can be working, in your soil, for even longer than two years. That is why we call it the soil building best major player. Each year you add more you have what was left and all, of the new working, for the following year.

5/23/2005 6:13:46 PM

Montoursville, PA

If you absoutely can not till you may indeed be to hot. Just turning it over by hand would not likely bring forth the oxygen to knock it down so to speak.

Could you rake it hard and get most of the chicken manure off? Just thinking.

5/23/2005 6:17:18 PM

yep i can rake it off, how far away from the plants should it be?

5/23/2005 6:51:17 PM

Ontario, Canada.

bad seed & half dead crow, Fresh Chicken manure has a lot of ammonium nitrate. If you don't rake it off you may be doomed to a fast growing plant that sets no fruit and even when and if it does set a fruit it may become a fast fruit growing splitter. Compost is the best place for it at this time of year. Fall applications of fresh manure are best.

Well done Steve and Doc.

5/23/2005 7:46:01 PM

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia

The above comments to my question are much appreciated and
very helpful. Thanks...Half dead crow

5/23/2005 10:43:56 PM