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Bloomington, IN

Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times
By: Steve Solomon

Formula for Complete Organic Fertilizer

Mix fairly uniformly in parts by volume:
4 parts any kind of seedmeal except coprameal

OR

3 parts any seedmeal except coprameal and 1 part
“tankage” (sometimes called “blood-and-bone”
or “meatmeal”). This higher nitrogen option is
slightly better for leafy crops in spring

OR

4 ½ parts less potent coprameal, supplemented with
1 ½ parts tankage to boost nitrogen content

BLEND WITH

¼ part ordinary agricultural lime, best finely ground

AND

¼ part gypsum (if you don’t use gypsum, double
the quantity of agricultural lime)

AND

½ part dolomite lime

PLUS (for the best results)

1 part of any one of these phosphorus sources:
finely ground rock phosphate (there are two
equally useful kind of rock phosphate, “hard” or
“soft”), bonemeal, or high-phosphate guano
½ to 1 part kelpmeal or 1 part basalt dust

3/25/2011 9:04:32 PM

Bloomington, IN

(From same part of Steve’s book; Page 20 to 22. Keep in mind this book was written for vegetable gardening.)

Complete Organic Fertilizer
“Because my garden supplies about half of my family’s yearly food intake, I
maximize my vegetables’ nutritional quality. Based on considerable research, I
formulated an organic soil amendment that is correct for almost any food garden.
It is a complete, highly potent, and correctly balanced fertilizing mix made
entirely of natural substances, a complete organic fertilizer, or COF. I use only
COF and regular small additions of compost. Together they produce incredible
results. I recommend this system to you as I’ve been recommending it in my
gardening books for 20 years. No one has ever written back to me about COF
saying anything but “Thank you, Steve. My garden has never grown so well;
the plants have never been so large and healthy; the food never taste so good.”
    COF is always inexpensive judged by the results it produces, but it is only
inexpensive in money terms if you buy the ingredients in bulk sacks from the
right sources. Finding a proper supplier will take urban gardeners a bit of
research. Farm and ranch stores and feed and grain dealers are the proper
sources because most of the materials used to make COF are used to feed
livestock. If you should find COF ingredients at a typical garden shop, they will
almost inevitably be offered in small quantities at prohibitively high prices per
pound. If I were an urban gardener, I would visit the country once every year
or two and stock up.

3/25/2011 9:04:55 PM

Bloomington, IN

A fertilizer that puts the highest nutritional content into vegetables provides
plant nutrients in the following proportions: about 5 percent nitrate-nitrogen
(N), 5 percent phosphorus (P), and only 1 percent potassium (K, from Kalium,
its Latin name).-----------(more potassium for giant pumpkins of course)-----------
It would also supply substantial and perfectly balanced amounts of calcium (Ca)
and magnesium (Mg), and minute quantities of all the other essential mineral
plant nutrients such as iodine, cobalt, manganese, boron, etc. The ideal fertilizer
would release slowly, so the nutrients didn’t wash out of the topsoil with the first excessive irrigation or heavy rain. It would be a dry, odorless, finely powdered,
completely organic material that would not burn leaves if sprinkled on them and would not poison plants or soil life if somewhat over applied. All this accurately describes COF.
    You could sizably increase bulk yield---(me likey)---by boosting the amount of potassium in garden soil higher than COF will, but the nutritional content of the veggies would decrease by just about as much as the yield went up.---(do we giant pumpkin growers care? lol)---Most commercial growers, be they chemical or organic growers,
push soil potassium levels to high levels for the sake of profit. But the higher bulk yield
potassium triggers is in the form of calories – starch and fiber – and not in the form of
protein, vitamins, enzymes, and minerals, which we need a lot more from our food.
    COF is concocted by the gardener. All materials are measured out by volume:
that is by the scoop, bucketful, jar full, etc. Proportions varying plus or minus 10
percent of the targeted volume will work out to be exact enough. DO NOT attempt to
make this formula by weight.

3/25/2011 9:05:44 PM

Bloomington, IN

I blend mine in a 20-quart (20-liter) white plastic bucket using an old 1-quart
(1-liter) saucepan for a measuring scoop. I make 7 to 14 quarts (7 to 14 liters) of COF
at a time. The formula is shown above.
    Seedmeal and the limes are the most important ingredients. These items alone
will grow a great-looking garden. Gypsum is the least necessary kind of lime and is
included because it also contains sulfur, a vital plant nutrient that occasionally is
deficient in some soils. If gypsum should prove hard to find or seems to costly, don’t
worry about it and double the quantity of inexpensive agricultural lime. If you can
afford only one bag of lime, on most soils, in most circumstances, your best choice
would be dolomite, which contains more or less equal amounts of calcium and
magnesium. You could also alternate agricultural lime and dolomite from year to year
or bag to bag.
    Guano, rock phosphate, bonemeal, and kelpmeal may seem costly or be hard to obtain, but including them adds considerable fortitude to the plants and greatly
increases the nutritional content of your vegetables. Go as far down the list as you can
afford to, but if you can’t find the more exotic materials toward the bottom of the list,
I wouldn’t worry too much. However, if shortage of money is a concern that stops you
from obtaining kelpmeal, rock dust, or a phosphate supplement, I suggest taking a
hard look at your priorities. In my opinion, you can’t spend too much money creating
maximum nutrition in your food; a dollar spent here saves several in terms of health
costs of all sorts – and how do you place a money value on suffering?”

3/25/2011 9:06:25 PM

Bloomington, IN

Steve goes on in detail of each individual ingredient in COF, but I don’t have the time or patience (plus my hands hurt now, lol) to type it all. This is one book worth reading. Even though it was written mainly for vegetable gardening, a lot of the information can be applied to other aspects of gardening, be it giant pumpkin growing, flower gardening, etc.

Also, for us giant pumpkin growers, when it comes to COF, you’ll want to emphasize or de-emphasize an ingredient depending on what your soil tests reveal.

P.S. Don’t ask me where to get basalt dust. lol

Brian

3/25/2011 9:07:31 PM

Kentucky, U.S.A.

Brian, that is great info. One day I might learn to read!!!
Seriously Thanks, I'll utilize this info, and seriously concider a copy of Steve's book. BSD, David

3/26/2011 10:49:44 AM

Bloomington, IN

(Can’t believe I forgot this part! Kinda important. It was after the part about each individual ingredient. Page 24-26)

Using Complete Organic Fertilizer
Preplant. Before planting each crop, or at least once a year (best in spring), uniformly broadcast four to six quarts (four to six liters) of COF atop each 100 square feet (ten square meters) of raised bed or down each 50 feet (15 meters) of planting row in a band 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 centimeters) wide. Blend the fertilizer in with hoe or spade. If you do not dig your garden, just spread it on top of everything. Soil animals will eat it and mix it in for you. If your making hills, mix an additional teacup of COF into each. This amount provides a degree of fertility sufficient for what I’ve classified as ‘low-demand’ vegetables. It is usually enough to adequately feed all ‘medium-demand’ vegetables. If your using less potent coprameal as the basis of your mixture, err on the side of generous application.
    Side-dress medium- and high-demand vegetables.---(I think giant pumpkins qualify as high demand, lol)---If you want maximum results, then, in addition to the basic soil-fertility-building steps, I suggest that a few weeks after seedlings have come up or been transplanted out, sprinkle small amounts of fertilizer around them, thinly covering the area that the root system will grow into during the next few weeks. As the plants grow, repeatedly side-dress them every three to four weeks, placing each dusting farther away from the plants’ centers. Each side-dressing will require spreading more fertilizer than the previous one. As a rough guide to how much to use, side-dress about four to six additional quarts (four to six liters) per 100 square feet (10 square meters) of bed, in total, during a full crop cycle. If a side-dressing fails to increase the growth rate over the next few weeks, that lack of results indicates it wasn’t needed, so do it no more.

3/29/2011 9:57:24 PM

Bloomington, IN

Also as a side note, if you use Sulfate of Potash as a potassium source, which I know many on here do, you can eliminate gypsum from your COF mixture since the SOP contains sulfur.

3/29/2011 10:09:40 PM

churchville, ny

Pumpkin cholo- thanks for posting - interesting info.

There is no mention of pH here - adding the lime would certainly raise the pH.

FYI - basalt is the most common type of extrusive igneous rock = lava. You are not going to find it in Indiana but in volcanic areas out west, it is very common.

Tom

3/29/2011 10:47:39 PM

Bloomington, IN

Thanks Tom for that tidbit about basalt. I didn't know that. This is from page 23 where he talks about lime.

“You may have read that the acidity or pH of soil should be corrected by liming. I suggest that you forget about pH. Liming to adjust soil pH may be useful in large-scale farming, but is not of concern in an organic garden. In fact, the whole concept of soil pH is controversial. (If you are interested in the debate, read the papers of William Albrecht cited in the Bibliography) ---(you could probably google it)---. My conclusion on the subject is this: if a soil test shows your garden’s pH is low and you are advised to lime to correct it – don’t. Each year just add what I recommend in the sidebar “Soil improving in a nutshell”: compost/manure and 50 lbs of lime(s) per 1,000 square feet (25 kilograms per 100 square meters), or else COF. Over time the pH will correct itself, more because of the added organic matter than from adding calcium and/or magnesium. If your garden’s pH tests as acceptable, use my full recommendation in “Soil improving in a nutshell” anyway because vegetables still need calcium and magnesium as nutrients and in the right balance.
One final thing about limes. If you routinely garden with COF, there will no longer be any need to lime the garden. COF is formulated so that when used in the recommended amount, it automatically distributes about 50 pounds of lime(s) per 1,000 square feet per year.”

Here's a couple of links to his chart on "Soil improving in a nutshell":
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h271/brianmo/DSCN5146.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h271/brianmo/DSCN5147.jpg

3/31/2011 12:06:44 AM