The Pros And Cons Of Organic Plant Food

When one thinks of organic plant food one’s mind usually skips to manure.  This is the number one most common source of organic plant food.  Providing active nutrients, fungi and the bacteria necessary for the development of fertile soil, manure in all of its forms is very popular. Manure actually comes in several forms and grades. It certainly is not all horse or cow dung.  Manures that are feces of animals are known collectively as simply animal manures.  The animals used are typically herbivores, plant eating mammals such as hogs and cattle, though poultry manure can be used with due care.

There are also green manures that are basically crops cultivated for the express purpose of plowing them back into the ground to provide nutrients such as nitrogen and a host for bacteria. Composted grass and plants are also a form or manure or may contain animal manures. Although composts are not defined as manure they are a very practical organic plant food and actually provide a more easily accessible and acceptable form of organic plant foods than manure.

Benefits

Clearly one of the main benefits of using organic plant food is simply that they provide most of the elements and organisms required for the basis of the soil food cycle.  This cycle is very similar to other natural growth cycles and is necessary for sustaining viable arable farming lands, pastures for grazing and fertile soils for the growing of fresh vegetables and fruits.

An additional benefit is that plants appear to do better long term with natural organic plant food than they do with simply synthesized nitrogen based nutrients.  To most it is clear that the existence of certain organisms, bacteria and some fungi is essential for the health of the soil biosphere.

Down-Sides

Unfortunately, there are two fairly obvious problems with organic plant food.  The first is that they are a by product of animals and, therefore, may have some organisms, germs, bacteria and even viruses that are harmful to man.  Certain animal viruses and bacteria can actually be shedded in the animal feces.  Overuse of these organic plant foods without some form of sterilization or processing can result in contamination and can cause pandemic scale health issues.  However, it is difficult to process out the harmful elements and, therefore, human safe manures are expensive.  The other issue is that some raw manures can generate considerable amounts of heat as they decompose that actually can cause more damage than good and also smell pretty bad.   The simple conclusion is that organic plant foods are perhaps the best plant food if used carefully and with consideration of the potential for harmful side effects.