alternatives for fertilizer?

Ok we all know the price of fertilizer is sky rocketing.Just got the bill on 10-20-50 wqas 675.00 a ton.Had to put it on a hay feild.I have manure but it will not go as far as I need to do other fields that I am sure need fertilizer.What do organic farmers use?What do they use lets say to replace nitrogen,or potash?

I quit spreading fertilizer 15 years ago.I could not pencil in a profit.The increase in yield would all go to pay the fertilizer bill and it often fell short.All it did for me was cause more work.

Maybe incorporating politicians and prisoners in your soil might get you by a couple mre years.

Dave, what is the PH of your soil?

buffer ph is 7.0

I have no idea what they get for it, but several farmers north of me buy turkey manure from a producer. They have it hauled to their hay fields in dump trucks, then use a regular box spreader to spread it on the fields. Their hay fields do really well with this.

I have a friend that is an Organic Dairy farmer, he uses compost from his cow's, but he also uses a liquid fish emulsion , live earth, and kelp meal. He usually applys them with his sprayer, first thing in the spring , and after each cutting. the numbers on these fertilisers are low in comparison to the chemical fertilizers , but they are readily absorbed by the plant,they dont burn the plant. they may or may not be cheaper than commercial fertilizer.depending on your soils need Brown Rock phosphate is another option....hope this helps , Shawn

All I ever use on my fields or my garden is Manure. I let my animals run in the same fields that I do my hay on. I also make sure there is a good bit of clover in the fields so nitrogen is not a problem either. So far I have been doing it this way for decades and always seem to do just fine

Best idea I've heard lately. If you could contain all the BS that is spewed out of that area you would have a bumper crop for the rest of your life.

Fellow I know grows a cover crop of Buckwheat, chops it when it flowers and tills it in. Grows vegetables on the fields. Seems to work for him.

Look up sustainable farming. There are a lot of ideas about what you can do without buying all the chemicals.

Rick

Manures of various types are the best fertilizer - they have many micros in them. Most realize that now, and so manure costs enough, and is hard enough to haul, that either you can get it or not. If you live next to bigger livestock operations that have more livestock than owned land, you are in luck. If not, you have little oppertunity for the $$$ involved in hauling it. I only get 6% or so of my land covered with manure from my small herd of cattle, wish I could grab some of the hog or dairy manure next door or turkey manure from farther away (too far) but just doesn't work out - the hog/dairy fellas still haven't filled up their own soils with P & K so they aren't selling yet.

Commercial fertilizers are probably the best value for the dollar; you have to watch your soil micros then.

Plowdowns and cover crops are third - they use up resources and time to create N or pull up P & K from deeper in the soil if any is down there. But rarely do you get exactly what you need from them - they are helpers to conserve or recycle the stuff you've already addd to your soils over the years. The time lost tho growing them instead of a full season crop is very expensive - many don't seem to comprehend this. For example I enjoy and do plant plowdown clovers, slfalfas, and radishes with my oats which I think helps me; but oats only pays 1/2 as much per acre as corn or soybeans would 'here' and my growing season is too short to consider any cover crops with beans or corn - so yea I use plowdown crops for fertility, but I pay a big price to do so, and only on 2-3% of my land - it's an expensive way to go! It only really adds N if you have a legume in it and they need to grow a long time to set nodes and replace N in the soil - no plowdowns _add_ P or K, tho some help to keep in place or pull up a bit of P & K from deeper in the soil. The organic matter they add is helpful, but small amount takes many many years to make a difference.

Adding organic P & K is just plain expensive, because it's a specialty product with artificial limits upon it, and you get charged more for the same basic product you can get from the commercial products - if you have personal reasons to want to pay more for these that is fine, but they won't be 'cheaper' in any way shape or form which is your question.

Pretty much your options. Hope you can find manure for a good enough price, or go commercial. Add plowdowns-covercrops if/when they can fit into your crop rotation, and go with organics if you can justify their higher costs somehow.

None are cheap.

--->Paul

Well this year I tryed somthing differnt.
" Duck manure ".Came fron a fellow that raises ducks for slaughter. It is about 3/4 sawdust,but the dust absorbs all the moisture.Hauled several loads home in a 1 ton dump,About as heavy as gravel!Applyed to one field,worked it in,and planted soybeans.Wont know about the yeild for awile yet,But the plants are a good 8" higher than my other fields planted with the same seed on the same day. Oh yeah, the best part is it was free,just had to truck it home ,dump it on the ground,reload it in the spreader and apply it. Maybe not so cheap afterall?? LOL

A legume such as any clover or alfala can provide nitrogen. But must die to really release it for other plants. Might take a chance and get municipal sludge. Heavy metals would be concern however it should pass tests before being released. Not dice I would be willing to roll. Wood ashes would be a great source, but can't imagine how anyone would find a large enough supply.

Red clover fixes atmospheric nitrogen, so frost seeding about 10 pounds/acre should do the trick for N. Mixing a manure tea and spraying it with a tank sprayer with the nozzles off will help with P & K. It helps to have the soil tested and the
manure tea analyzed before applying anything to the fields. Liming helps with better nutrient utilization; if the pH is 5.5 or less, P is not readily available to the plant. A pH of 6-6.5 is optimal for cool season grasses. Hope this helps.

Takes time and some fuel, but a good deal for you. I'd go for it.

Trouble is for growing 200bu field corn, you need 5 ton (or 10 ton on liquid manures!) an acre to really get something useful, so would sure take many loads!

Good deal for you, and even spread lighter as you did - it will help organic matter & micros as well as P & K. Your beans will like the small shot of N at the beginning, and still likely put nodes on to feed themselves later - if you spread it thick the beans might try to live off the manure N and mess up their N fixation later in the season, so I think you did things just right on a good deal! Nice.

--->Paul

You could always invite the boys from washington, dc, over, for a debate, that'd get things growin, fast!

As long as you take crop off the field, you are removing N,P,and K. Cover crops add a little bit, not much compared to what is removed by a good crop. There are no shortcuts- if you remove more than what you replace, the field gets run down. Organic sources of nutrients are ok, but it still needs to change to its inorganic form to be taken up by the plant.

Urea would work.Ive used a small amount of 10 10 10 on hay and got a good return.Just look at the out side rows of field corn to understand run out land.We sidedress sweet corn and potatoes on our garden plot.There would be no crop without some fertilizer.I see gardens that are planted year after year with out fertilizers.Runty corn,light green.

if you think 675 a ton is expensive you don't even want to know about what organic guys use when they run out of manure or compost.

AGGRAND makes a set of "organic" (was USDA but the USDA changed the rules) and is "USDA BioPreferred". they offer liquid fertizilers, liquid lime, liquid potash and liquid bone meal. all can be applied to soil or foliar. Cost is about $85-100/acre for corn and about $54/acre for beans. These are bulk prices and you can't really go completely cold turkey the 1st season if you're using other products.

as others mentioned it is a lower rating (4-3-3) but is natural and is absorbed and utilized faster by the plants. It also promotes microbial growth in the soil so you don't need high numbers anyway. send an email if you'd like more details.