Soil and Fertilizers

Over the years that I had been gardening, I used mainly chemical fertilizers for my plants. The plants started of well with new compost and soil. As I fertilized and planted new plants into the pots, the plants started to display malnutrition in their growth. Somehow, their leaves will turn yellow and their growth was not as healthy as plants before them. Therefore, I added other chemical fertilizers thinking that it will balance the nutrients to the plants. The plants did improve initially, but as time when by, they started to show symptoms of weak growth once again and, began to attract pest too.

After a while, I decided to change the soil each time I transplanted or propagated new plants. The plants were now happy to be in their new environment. They were healthier, produced lush growth and had little or no pest problems. However, changing and replacing the soil every time just did not seem right.

I noticed that farmers plant their crops in the same soil over and over again, producing good crops for our table. Further to this, in the natural forest, the cycle of life repeats itself without ever getting their soil changed, nor humans to cast chemical fertilizer. Thus, these prompted me to investigate and find out more about soil and fertilizers.

Investigation on the subject led me to natural organic farming techniques, composting and beneficial microorganisms. The previous two posts were about composting, and I will discuss more about my findings in my coming posts.