Natural Slow release fertilizers

Hi,

I'm looking to start a plant nursery and would like to keep the soil mix as organic as possible, instead of using slow release Osmocote what would be a better option? Would I simply have to fertilize more often with blood meal/worm castings? I'm planning on growing blue berries, some flowering shrubs, and house plants.

I would make or acquire the best compost I could (BEAM/Johnson Sunis my preferred method) and make compost extracts and aerated foliar teas with that. These can be mixed with organic fertilizers at a fraction of the concentration and have a similar benefit. The compost contains nutrients in the living organisms in it, and these cycle any other available soil, water, and air borne nutrients many times over with the plant as a symbiotic partner. That or the plant literally consumes the microbe and consumes its nutrients, often with some spores or genetic material of the microbe surviving the process and benefiting from the plant’s growth and infusion of photosynthesized sugars.

Foliar feeding with aerated compost teas can be many times as efficient as soil applications (4-50+x depending on the nutrient according to John Kempf). This seems to me to be because they benefit both the surface of the plant and its ecosystem, and much of the runoff is then caught by the soil.

For water and nutrient holding capacity, I would look into biochar and its use as an alternative to perlite or vermiculite. This combined with good compost can be the foundation of a potting mix, with sharp river sand added for drainage as needed.

Thank you sir, you have gotten my mind thinking. I have ordered a wood chipper to begin the process. Need carbon material to begin the composting process.

For seed starting, I use an approx mix of 50-50 finished compost and sand. I rinse the compost by putting it in a flowerpot with holes in the bottom and draining water through it, using that water to water plants that want fertility. This mix works pretty well for seed-starting, in my experience.

Darrin Neagoy wrote: I'm looking to start a plant nursery and would like to keep the soil mix as organic as possible, instead of using slow release Osmocote what would be a better option?

I believe composted poultry manure is considered a slow release fertilizer. If you can source it.

here is link to a bunch of organic slow release fertilizers


https://www.planetnatural.com/product-category/organic-gardening/organic-fertilizers/dry-fertilizer/

I guess if your going to start a nursery you might contact the makers of product that might work best for your situation and find out if 30 or 50 lb sacks or pallet orders would be more economical.
if your just starting out a nursery these products might big help while making compost properly takes time.
something else might be interesting is the use of biochar. ive have yet to read of anyone using it in potted nursery plants.
I guess you could add biochar with your potting mix and put it in pots.
when you say nursery are you growing annuals or perennials?
ive had experience with time release fertilizer and you want to use it in early spring for perennials as you dont want plants to have lots of fertilizer late in season before dormancy the new growth that doesn't have time to harden off will be destroyed when frozen in winter

where are you located? I have large stacks of nurses plant pots mostly 1/2 gallon or so and larger I could help you out with if you want to come get them