Nitrogen Fertilizer and Soil Organic Matter: What Does the Evidence Say?

[Rootsruler]

Nitrogen Fertilizer and Soil Organic Matter: What Does the Evidence Say? | CSANR | Washington State University (wsu.edu)

[FreshnoobgrowerNLD]

go ahead and tell us

[FreshnoobgrowerNLD]

I'll ask the ladies in about a hour and 6 min... after turning on the light and watering... 😅

[Rootsruler]

Read it but basically what it says is that, no, in moderate amounts Nitrates don't kill your soil biology. If anything, they help the biology. Granted too much of anything will depress microbial life but as long as you aren't dumping tons of salt nutes into your soil it's actually beneficial to your organic soil.

One of the takeaways I read was that organic soil doesn't have enough N in it to be able to feed the microbes meaning either deficiencies or, at best, slower growth. This is where immediately available N ions can help bolster the microbial activity and actually boost the microbial and fungal colonies in the soil. Feeding synthetic nutrients will also help in keeping enough N in the soil for the plants to take up.

Many pros are starting to come around to using organic soil with synthetic nutrients. Some of the major youtube weed channels are suggesting this also. Dr, Bruce Bugbee discussed this also and likes that combination.

I do it with the intent of not running out of nutrition for the plants but it was more intuition than scientific corroboration. I'm starting to see my intuition being confirmed by science. It's also why I don't go full strength when I feed. 1/2 strength synthetic and if the plants want more then the soil biology is there to take up the slack.

[SoOrbudgal]

Agreed

[Bluey]

All my outdoor grows using soil of varying quality in pots I added kelp extract to lift the N throughout late veg to a week or two before harvest. Once every 14 days to once every 7. Even with the best soil in large pots she would typically show fade too early in their cycle. In the large garden beds no additional nutes or suppliments required.