14 Organic Fertilizers and How to Use Them

Bone meal, bat guano, gypsum...what ARE all of these organic fertilizers and how do you actually know WHICH to use, and HOW to use them? Enjoy this long-overdue organic fertilizer breakdown video.

SPONSOR: Espoma Organic

0:00 - Intro
0:40 - Alfalfa Meal
1:30 - Cottonseed Meal
2:31 - Bat Guano
3:37 - Kelp Meal
4:34 - Rock Phosphate
5:35 - Greensand
6:41 - Gypsum
7:47 - Garden Lime
8:57 - Blood and Bone Meal
10:15 - Cow Manure
11:05 - Chicken Manure
11:59 - Earthworm Castings
12:49 - Fish Emulsion
13:41 - Which to Use?

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[GardeningInCanada]

As a soil scientist I am watching this in love. Everyone needs to care about their soil ❤️

[rachaelescober]

These are the ratios and some of the suggestions, if you just want to scroll.

Alfalfa meal: 2-0-2
Spring suggestion
Cottonseed: 6-2-1
Suggested for the fall, weed suppression
Bat Guano: 10-3-1
Fast acting fertilizer, compost tea spray
Kelp Meal:
Many Trace minerals
Rock phosphate: 0-3-0

Green Sand:
Iron potassium silicate, helps bind sandy soil and loosen clay soil, and increase soil water hold
Garden Gypsum:
Need soil clay/salt heavy to be helpful

Garden Lime:
Raises ph in soil

Blood Meal: 12-0-0
Fast acting and acidic

Bone Meal: 4-12-0
Suggested for raised containers at the end of grow year

Cow Manure: 2-1-3
Trusted source- moderate speed

Chicken manure: 3-1-2
Hot, and can cause nutrient burn, compost a little bit.

Earth worm casting: .5-.7-.1

Fish emulsion or bury a full fish: 2-4-0
Huzzaaahhh

[MrFarva]

Kevin it makes me so happy you and Mark are YouTube garden friends. I appreciate the knowledge and content you share.

[sarahdee]

I'm always suspicious of the motivations when folks review sponsored products. BUT I love all Espoma products, and appreciate Kevin's guidance on use.

[icouldjustscream]

I like sheep poop outside and worm poop inside. I just realized how weird that sounds, but you all are my garden-family so you get it. ♥

[staceymoniz]

I love that you and Mark are cross promoting each other's channels now. Living in Hawai'i I can relate to both of you!

[addie]

I have bunnies and use bunny poop as a fertilizer. Works amazing! Doesn't need to be composted. I just toss in into the garden or bury it under an inch or so of dirt. My plants are super happy & have grown massive!

[maureengaka]

Thank you so much Kevin for constantly sharing endless amounts of information to help gardeners worldwide, keeps a lot of us motivated to grow our own food despite the challenges faced along the way!

[rivkahlafille]

Fascinating! I use fish emulsion on everything in my garden, and I've rarely had any plants that didn't respond incredibly well to it, but unlike the rest of these fertilizers, you usually mix it with water then spray it on the leaves themselves. It's stinky but holy cow do I see tired plants start perking up in less than a day! I love love LOVE it!

[CactusCaffeine]

This is so helpful! I go to a garden center and get overwhelmed with the variety of fertilizers that is available. This is a great start. 👍🏼😃

[melissagoodwin]

Can you do a video on testing for ph and making adjustments in the soil

[kimfleming]

I'm completely new to gardening, but I am growing vegetables in pots inside my apartment. I am learning so much from your videos. Always a confidence booster! Thanks

[KatarinaClaire]

Love this breakdown, Kevin! Super useful to have this quick analysis of the various garden amendments, their pros, cons and applications. This is going to become one of my go-to reference videos!

[grannygct]

Thank you, Kevin, for your video on the various organic fertilizers. Every time I go to a nursery, I stand in front of the fertilizers shelf and not knowing which one to buy. Thanks to your video, I can now have some ideas on which one to buy. You just made me a more knowledgeable gardener in this department!!! Love and look forward to all of your videos. Happy Spring!

[daved]

potassium, take wood ash, then strain it with water, take water to allow to dry in the pan. there you have raw potassium. POT ASH is derived from wood ash. or was, now it comes from rock. potassium carbonate.#epicgardening
great video kevin

[sarahk]

I’ve been using some locally made fertilizers this year - rotted horse manure, crushed crab shells and seaweed. All seems to be going well so far!

[nataliakurz]

Kevin, this was so timely !!! I just applied a little bone meal and garden tone (I saw on your channel!) before I planted corn. Now I know maybe it wasn’t the smartest with the bone meal.... it’s my first yet gardening, and you have helped and inspired so much! Thank you!

[WhitepepperFarmshomestead]

It is mind blowing how much good information is in this one relatively short video. Awesome work!

[rai]

Here on Long Island, natives (ex: Matinecock) used bunker fish as fertilizer, among other things. I’m so excited (& honored) to try this native method, along with local sea leaves, for the first time this year 🐟🌱🙏🏾

[netyote]

Thank you so much for this video! When I walk into a garden center, it can be overwhelming seeing all the different products on the shelves. There are so many options, and the numbers can get all mixed up in my head. Thank you for talking a little bit about each of these, and offering concrete examples of when or how you might want to use them.