These days you will find the hard goods section of your local nursery crammed with a wide variety of organic sprays, fertilizers and soil amendments. In fact, square footage of organic materials on shelves far exceeds that of their chemical counterparts. Today you can control pests and diseases, or feed a plant, just as effectively with a natural product as you can with a chemical one. Even the major chemical companies like Bayer and Ortho offer natural products.
These products, especially those OMRI certified, are not cheap. So read the fine print if you want to get the most bang for your buck. Look for the OMRI seal (from the Organic Materials Review Institute, which has rigorously tested and made sure all materials in the product are organic) if you want pure organic.
If a product is not OMRI certified this does not mean it is chemical-laden or bad. It just means that some or all of the ingredients might not be from an organic source. Further, consider terms like "rapid dominance" and "nature's intelligence." These phrases mean nothing, but sound appealing. Instead, look at the teeny tiny print that says "active ingredients." This information tells you exactly what's in the product, and how much. Here is some info on what's on the shelf these days:
NATURAL OIL SPRAYS -- Many organic sprays are made from natural oils, such as sesame, fish, rosemary, clove, cinnamon, canola, neem and the like. Oil sprays are effective for pest and disease control before things get out of hand. This means if you have a fuchsia smothered with whitefly, or a cucumber bush frosted with powdery mildew, an oil spray won't take care of business -- it's too late. Preventative spraying is key here. Oil sprays coat the leaves with a film that prevents disease from taking hold. To control bugs and insects, oil sprays coat the pest with oil and kill it. Sometimes the eggs and larvae are not affected by oil spray. More spraying is needed to kill the newly hatched insects. Some oils prevent pests from feeding. Using oil sprays works best when the first signs of trouble appear. Keep spraying until all signs of pests are gone.
NITROGEN FIXING MICROBES -- Used to be if you wanted to increase the yield of your bean and pea crops you could get a packet of innoculant, or rhizobium, coat the seeds and then sow. Rhizobium is a bacteria that can turn nitrogen gas in the air into a nitrogen form that plants can use. In a symbiotic relationship, rhizobium attaches itself to a legume's roots and forms nodules. In order to get nitrogen into the soil, however, you have to till the entire nitrogen-laden plant back into the soil.
New to the market is another nitrogen fixing microbe called Azosperillus brasleleinse. This one fixes nitrogen, but also produces hormones that help seedlings and cuttings take root, as well as improving soil nutrition. It is beneficial when transplanting nursery starts into larger containers and into the ground. Azosperilllus is commonly used as a soil drench, or in hydroponic systems.
BISON COMPOST -- There is no doubt that garden compost greatly improves soils by adding humic acid, organic matter and trace nutrients. New on the market is bison compost. Many local nurseries offer it. This rich, black compost, derived from aged bison manure, adds nutrition and a host of beneficial microbes like bacteria, nematodes, protozoa and mycorrhizal fungi. Adding bison compost to native soil and potting media is an organic way to boost plant nutrition naturally.
HUMIC ACID -- Humic acid comes from natural materials like peat moss and composts. Packaged humic acid products on the market are derived from leonardite, a material found in low-grade coal. Leonardite has the highest humic acid content of any source.
Humic acid benefits the soil in several ways: It increases water holding capacity, increases aeration, improves soil workability, helps plants resist drought, makes soil more "friable" (crumbly) and reduces erosion. It also stimulates plant growth, aids in seed germination and stimulates root growth. Plants grown in humic acid soils are stronger, healthier and better able to withstand the stress of drought, pests and diseases. This stuff really works, but unlike the packaging suggests, you still should add plenty of bulky organic matter to the soil every year.
Terry Kramer is a trained horticulturist and journalist. Email questions to email@example.com and put "Question For Terry Kramer" in the subject line, or write to Terry Kramer/Lifestyle, Times-Standard, P.O. Box 3580, Eureka, CA, 95502.