# Compost/Manure tea Vs chemical fertilizer



## smoking shawn86 (Jun 26, 2012)

This is my second year of gardening.The first year went really bad we didn't even get to harvest any of the vegetables that we planted.this year I did a lot of recherche on the Internet through this wed site and through You Tube. I come to realize what we did wrong, we didn't amend the soil.Our soil had to much clay and not enough organic mater

This year is going great I have been able to harvest so much.I'm able to pull of five zucchini ever three days not mention the rest of my garden is doing very well. this year I am doing some thing very different than last year, it's called compost tea.I did a lot of research and found that people that use it in their garden have had success, but that's all I found.I decided to do a little experiment of my own comparing compost teas to a chemical fertilizer and here are my results so far.

This was the first week of using compost tea








2end week of using compost tea







This is the first week of using chemical fertilizer 







2end week of using chemical fertilizers


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## daveomak (Jun 26, 2012)

shawn, evening....  what kind of fertilizer and how much did you use ????  I would say from the looks of the pictures, your soil is lacking in lots of nutrients....  A complete fertilizer should not have had that effect...  either way, pile the compost, from the tea you made, around the plant to take advantages of the remaining nutrients....  and keep using your compost tea..... the plants looked pretty darn good to me...  Dave


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## smoking shawn86 (Jun 26, 2012)

I used a lot of manure and compost for both plants I dug a hole and mix it all up.I used a balanced fertilizer 16-16-16


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## diggingdogfarm (Jun 26, 2012)

If you used a lot of compost and manure, be careful adding additional fertilizer.......you can over do it leading to beautiful bright green bushy leafy plants with few fruits.




~Martin


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## smoking shawn86 (Jun 26, 2012)

thanks for the info but how do you know if your over fertilizing or under fertilizing


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## diggingdogfarm (Jun 26, 2012)

Experience.




~Martin


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## smoking shawn86 (Jun 26, 2012)

that's not what i want to hear but thanks


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## smoking shawn86 (Jun 26, 2012)

on the other hand what would you recommend


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## diggingdogfarm (Jun 26, 2012)

I recommend that you don't give them anything further unless there's some sign of obvious deficiency.


~Martin


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## smoking shawn86 (Jun 26, 2012)

could you tell me what to took for


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## diggingdogfarm (Jun 26, 2012)

If you notice any obvious problems with the leaves (discolored, misshapen, etc.), take a pic a have someone take a look.



~Martin


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## doctord1955 (Jun 26, 2012)

Talk to a county extension agent!  They will test a soil sample if u send it to them!


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## smoking shawn86 (Jun 27, 2012)

I do my own soil testing at home the only thing it is lacking is nitrogen, although the county extension office would give me better results


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## doctord1955 (Jun 27, 2012)

u need to work leaf and decaying grass into your soil!

u will get nitrogen from that!  till u build it up use the compost tea!


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