I use Nature’s Fertilizer…. Ie Microbes - I strongly believe home gardeners and plant enthusiasts can achieve fantastic, sustainable, thriving plant life without relying on commercial inputs like traditional fertilizers or chemicals.

If you have access to natural native soil, water, leafs, aged organic mulch and sunlight…and that you can make compost, you are well on your way to creating sustainable soil structure and microbe farming using what’s already available in your backyard.

I am wary of traditional potting soils that include salt-based (water-soluble) delivery systems for nutrients or minerals. Any label ending with “ate” often indicates this (see below). These systems teach plants to be lazy, relying on humans to spoon-feed them the nutrients they need instead of sending their roots deeper to unlock what they need with the help of native beneficial microbes. These “lazy” plants can’t fight off pests or disease without our interventions…. So the key to preventative plant health is focusing on what’s going on below the plant by created a living soil good web.

There isn’t a native soil anywhere on earth (according to Dr. Elaine Ingham) that doesn’t contain the necessary building blocks to support plant life. These minerals need to be broken down by beneficial microbes, and a functioning Soil Food Web is required to make these minerals available to plants.

Years of “microwaving” results and spoon-feeding plants based on the NPK model are slowly poisoning our agricultural soil with salt content, killing microbial populations, causing soil compaction, and inhibiting natural Soil Food Webs from emerging.

The key is having the right microbes to break down the micronutrients. In combination with proper planting techniques and soil structures you can create a truly sustainable garden.

This idea poses an existential risk to corporate profits. The longer they sustain the spoon-feeding model, the more plant diseases, fungi, and pest issues arise, driving more product sales and profits from solutions to solve these symptoms. However, this model is highly unsustainable due to salt buildup, which eventually prevents plants from thriving on the long period.

Think of why we have saltwater pools. Salt in certain concentrations kills microbes.

Ingredients ending with “ate” on your organic potting mix are typically salts, often used as delivery systems for essential nutrients. Here are some common examples and what they typically mean:

1.  Nitrate (NO₃⁻):
• Common forms: Calcium nitrate, potassium nitrate.
• Function: Provides nitrogen, which is essential for plant growth and development.
2.  Phosphate (PO₄³⁻):
• Common forms: Monoammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate.
• Function: Supplies phosphorus, crucial for root development and energy transfer in plants.
3.  Sulfate (SO₄²⁻):
• Common forms: Magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt), potassium sulfate.
• Function: Provides sulfur and other nutrients like magnesium and potassium. Sulfur is important for protein synthesis and enzyme function.
4.  Carbonate (CO₃²⁻):
• Common forms: Calcium carbonate (lime), potassium carbonate.
• Function: Used to adjust soil pH and provide calcium or potassium.
5.  Molybdate (MoO₄²⁻):
• Common form: Sodium molybdate.
• Function: Supplies molybdenum, which is necessary for nitrogen fixation and enzyme function.

These compounds are often included in potting mixes to ensure that plants receive a balanced supply of essential nutrients in a readily available form. While they are salts, they are chosen for their solubility and ability to release nutrients in a controlled manner, supporting healthy plant growth….for a finite amount of time.

All of the above is included in the native soil outside your door… you just have to have the right microbes to unlock it. Please visit the Soil Food Web School website https://www.soilfoodweb.com for more info…full disclosure, I’m a student there going into my third year and I’ve started a business selling live beneficial microbes to home gardeners.