What is organic fertilizer?
Organic fertilizer refers to carbon-containing fertilizer made from various organic waste materials, such as crop straw, leaves, weeds, human and livestock manure, and household garbage, through composting and decomposition. It is generally divided into commercial organic fertilizer and farmyard manure.
What are the characteristics of commercial organic fertilizer?
Commercial organic fertilizer is produced by qualified companies using standardized processes. Commercial organic fertilizer uses safe raw materials. During the production process, it undergoes high-temperature sterilization to kill insects and weed seeds, and its odor concentration is well controlled. It is fully fermented by microorganisms, resulting in stable properties and safe application.
What are the characteristics of farmyard manure?
Organic fertilizer processed by farmers using traditional methods, commonly known as farmyard manure, generally refers to fertilizers that have undergone artificial or natural fermentation, such as manure and compost. Farmyard manure does not undergo standardized processing procedures or quality control, and its performance indicators vary greatly.
Is the stronger the odor, the better the organic fertilizer?
Farmers often say, “This manure is strong, that organic fertilizer is weak.” Generally, the higher the nitrogen content in organic fertilizer, the stronger the odor. Some farmers, upon smelling the odor, praise it. So, does the smellier the organic fertilizer, the better? The answer is clearly not. A strong odor indicates that the organic fertilizer is high in nutrients (especially nitrogen), but it also indicates that it has not been fully decomposed. Incompletely decomposed organic fertilizer has many disadvantages, such as burning seedlings due to secondary decomposition, breeding pests and diseases, and accelerating soil compaction and hardening.
How can you quickly determine the quality of organic fertilizer?
Being able to quickly and accurately assess the quality of organic fertilizer is of great practical significance for guiding production. Here are a few simple methods: First, touch. When the internal temperature of the organic fertilizer drops to or slightly above ambient temperature, it indicates that most of the substances have stabilized and the organic matter is fully decomposed, ready for storage and use. Second, smell. The odor of organic fertilizer depends on the degree of humification. Completed compost often has a smell somewhere between a faint cooking odor and that of rotting meat, with virtually no odor. Third, observe that the overall appearance of the compost gradually turns dark brown or dark gray. Meanwhile, the compost particles will become smaller during degradation, wear, and softening, and the overall texture will become loose and brittle.
What impact does organic fertilizer have on crop yields?
Organic fertilizer contains a variety of nutrients, providing comprehensive and rich nutrients to crops. However, most of the nutrients in organic fertilizer exist in an organic form and require microbial decomposition to be converted into a usable form. Microbial decomposition is a long and slow process. Crop nutrient demand is generally lower in the early stages and higher in the later stages. Therefore, organic fertilizer can meet the crop’s nutrient needs in the early stages. During the middle and late stages of crop growth, crops still rely on chemical fertilizers for the larger nutrient needs.
Can organic fertilizer quickly enrich the soil?
Applying organic fertilizer has always been one of the main methods for soil enrichment. Organic fertilizer can improve soil structure, increase organic matter content, enhance soil fertility, and increase soil water and fertilizer retention capacity. Long-term application can significantly enrich the soil.
With the development of new circumstances, especially with the large amount of newly added arable land in Beijing and its extremely low quality, rapid fertilization is needed in a short period of time. Can organic fertilizer achieve this? Increasing the use of organic fertilizers with high organic matter content, in addition to the amount of organic fertilizer used, can significantly improve the quality of newly added arable land over 3-5 years, achieving the expected rapid soil fertility improvement.
Why is a combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers most effective?
Organic fertilizers primarily improve and fertilize the soil, supplemented by providing nutrients. Chemical fertilizers primarily provide nutrients, supplemented by improving and fertilizing the soil. Therefore, to achieve long-term high crop yields, a combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers is necessary to achieve a 1+1 greater than 2 effect.
What are the key indicators of organic fertilizer?
Organic fertilizers are evaluated using a variety of indicators, generally categorized into three categories: basic indicators, nutrient indicators, and safety indicators. Basic indicators include moisture content, pH, and EC value; nutrient indicators include organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content; and safety indicators include five heavy metal levels, seed germination rate, and roundworm egg mortality.
What factors influence organic fertilizer indicators?
Many factors influence organic fertilizer indicators, such as raw materials used, processing and storage conditions, storage time, and sampling methods. Whether the storage conditions are ventilated, exposed to the sun, and protected from rain, etc., will affect the moisture content of organic fertilizer; too long storage time will significantly reduce the content of organic matter and total nitrogen; unscientific sampling methods will cause large deviations in the test results of various indicators of organic fertilizer; raw materials and fermentation processes will affect the safety indicators of organic fertilizer.
