There are countless articles on blogs and in magazines ranting about organic fertilizers or “the next big thing” in sustainable agriculture. But what is sustainable agriculture all about? Pardon the pun, but I feel it means a return to our roots.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mycorrhizae (pronounced my-core-rye-zuh), a little fungus that could be a messiah for farmers all over the United States–but most just don’t know it yet.
Invading the roots of more than 90% of all plants on our planet, mycorrhizae acts as a long term organic fertilizer aid by improving nutrient and water uptake, root growth, plant growth, and crop yield, while reducing transplant shock and drought stress.
Mycorrhizae might be the saving grace of plants everywhere. Although it’s been around for thousands of years, gardeners and scientists have only discovered its organic fertilizer qualities in the past 20 years or so. But the fungus is in danger of extinction. All those chemicals we dump on our plants everyday–in a vain hope that some miracle liquid chemical will render outstanding Petunias–is killing the mycorrhizae!
Furthermore, chemical fertilizers are expensive. Mycorrhizae is reasonably priced and is readily available at most gardening stores in granular, seed coat, and liquid forms. It can be ministered with initial planting, watering, soil mixes, or root dips. And it won’t come back to poison you or your family.
We shouldn’t be in our yards throwing chemicals on our plants to give them a little boost because, honestly, in the long run, we’re only hurting ourselves and our gardens. But where did the use of chemical fertilizers begin?
In post-World War II, the United States government found itself with numerous factories equipped with ammonium nitrate for bomb-making, and no reason to manufacture bombs anymore. But the US did need a new form of industrialization. In a stroke of genius, all this ammonium nitrate was re-commissioned as fertilizer by the Department of Agriculture.
Everyone knows that plants love nitrogen. Nitrogen acts an herbal “power bar,” if you will. It gives plants an incredible boost of strength and energy. But at what cost? The nitrates our society so willingly scatters over our lawns and gardens are actually killing our soil. Yes, killing it.
The damage from excess nitrogen is known. You don’t have to look very hard to find studies on the internet relating nitrogen run off to dangerous water conditions, acid rain, and hypoxic dead zones, not to mention “Blue Baby Syndrome”, and childhood diabetes. The chemicals you use on your plants find their way back to you and your family. (Alternately, soil could be thought of as a natural fertilizer manufacturing system. The millions of organisms that live in the soil around our plants and grass are the purest and truest form of fertilizer we can use.)
While alarming, that’s not all. Scientists experimented for years till they discovered how to convert atmospheric nitrogen encompassing 80% of our air to a chemical form readily available for plants. In 1909, Fritz Haber, the German chemist known as the “father of chemical warfare,” succeeded. In 1918 he even received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for synthesizing ammonia.
Along with this scientific breakthrough came an agricultural industry completely dependent on fossil fuels. Oils and gases have since been consumed faster than farmers’ grew crops, as factories sprung up to convert atmospheric nitrogen to chemical.
In turn, farmers began seeing less and less of their hard work returned as profit. More and more of their money went to the manufacturing, buying, and transportation of the chemicals that were supposed to save them money.
So how do we get off this hamster wheel?
Here’s the call to arms. Stop using dangerous chemicals in your garden! These chemicals are short-terms fixes to long-term problems. Store-bought chemical fertilizers create run off that is harmful to the environment and to people alike. Plus they drain farmers of profits and resources.
In short, let’s return to our roots people-literally! Let’s understand just what we’re doing to our gardens and learn how to do it more responsibly. Let’s return to natural agriculture and supporting farmers who use natural agriculture. And let’s use mycorrhizae as our backyard organic lawn fertilizer, too! Your plants will thank you for it, and so will the environment.
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