General Information on growing Fruits and Vegetables

For as long as we could call ourselves humans and longer, plants and trees have provided us life in a multitude of ways besides the food that we eat. Plants and trees have given us shade on hot days, the air we breathe, the beauty we see all around us, the trees for our tree houses to live in the skies, the grass our children run on, the decorations we have around our homes, the trunks to tie our hammocks, the wood for our houses, the crude oil we use for our plastics and gasoline to drive our cars, the oil we use for cooking, the chocolates for our sweet delights and gifts we give to each other, and so many of the medicines that keep us alive and healthy. Of course, we cannot forget that these same plants and trees provide life to all of the other trillions of species on this planet that outnumber us. We are actually the minority on this planet, yet we are tasked with the most responsibility to take care of this planet.

Fertilizer:

As we love to eat, and need to eat and drink to live, so do plants and trees. However, we have stomachs with bacteria and acids to help break down the foods that we eat for us to absorb all of those vitamins and nutrients, plants and trees do not have stomachs. Normally in nature, bacteria and fungi help break down fallen leaves, decomposing fruit, decaying organic matter, and fallen trees into other nutrients for plants and trees. Plants and trees need these nutrients and basic chemicals provided for them in forms that the plants and trees can absorb through their roots. At times, the plants and trees can receive these nutrients in more easier to absorb forms like nitrogen from rain water on rainy days. In most cases, the bacteria and fungi do the work of breaking down all of these materials. In the cases of the fruits and vegetables that we grow on our land and in our pots, we may use fertilizers. Yes, to offset the usage of fertilizers, we make compost bins and create our own soils and organic fertilizers, but these are long and slow processes, harder to assess the chemical composition of our fertilizers, and not always available in large quantities. In other times, we buy fertilizers for our plants and trees. 

The main fertilizers are N - Nitrogen for leaf growth, P - Phosphorus for development of roots, flowers, seeds, and fruit, and K - Potassium for strong stem growth, metabolism, movement of water in plants, promotion of flowering and fruiting. Higher nitrogen is great for vegetables that are harvested for leaves like spinach, basil, and lettuce.

The secondary macronutrients are Ca - calcium (helps build plant cell walls), Mg - magnesium (core of the chlorophyll molecule in plant tissue. If Mg is missing or low, the result is poor and stunted plant growth.), and S - sulfur (necessary for chlorophyll formation, develops and activates certain enzymes and vitamins, and out of the 21 amino acids that form protein, sulfur is a crucial component.)

The micronutrients are Cu - copper (for chlorophyll and seed production, and photosynthesis. Copper is essential in plant respiration, assists in the plant metabolism of carbohydrates and proteins, and is linked with Vitamin A production), Fe - iron (needed to produce chlorophyll which helps plants produce oxygen and stay green), Mn - manganese (plays a direct role in photosynthesis), Mo - molybdenum (needed by plants for nitrogen nutrition. Mo is needed so plants do not accumulate nitrate in their leaves, and end up no using those nitrates to make proteins for normal growth), ZN - zinc (promotes plant growth, development, yield, and helps plants produce chlorophyll. Without zinc, carbohydrate, protein, and chlorophyll formation is significantly reduced), B - boron (supports the structural and functional integrity of plant cell membranes), and of occasional significance are Si - silicon (improve drought tolerance and delay wilting, and protects plants from insect attack, disease, and environmental stress by improving the plant's defense response. Si aids in higher drop yields), Co - Cobalt (necessary for the processes of stem growth, expanding leaf discs, critical for plants to reach maturity, and healthy bud development), and V - Vanadium (elevate plant height, root length, seed germination, essential element uptake, nitrogen assimilation and utilization, and biomass production due to enhanced chlorophyll biosynthesis). 

Website1 - Additional information about the nutrients effects on plants.

Website2 - Wikipedia article on fertilizer.

Nitrogen - "When plants do not get enough nitrogen, they are unable to produce amino acids (substances that contain nitrogen and hydrogen and make up many of the living cells, muscles and tissue). Without amino acids, plants cannot make the special proteins that the plant cells need to grow. With too much nitrogen, plants produce excess biomass, or organic matter such as stalks and leaves, but not enough root structure. In extreme cases, plants with very high levels of nitrogen absorbed from soils can poison farm animals that eat them." [web]

"Nitrogen is part of the chlorophyll molecule, which gives plants their green color and is involved in creating food for the plant through photosynthesis. Lack of nitrogen shows up as general yellowing (chlorosis) of the plant. Because nitrogen can move around in the plant, older growth often yellows more than new growth.

Nitrogen is also the primary building block for plant protoplasm. Protoplasm is the translucent substance that is the living matter in cells. It is needed for flower differentiation, speedy shoot growth, the health of flower buds and increases the quality of fruit set." [web]

Nitrogen is needed for the initial stages of plant and tree growth, but reduced in later stages. Lightning can also fix nitrogen by producing nitrates. 

"The high temperature of a lightning bolt can break the bonds of atmospheric nitrogen molecules. Free nitrogen atoms in the air bond with oxygen in the air to create nitrogen oxides, which dissolve in moisture to form nitrates that are carried to Earth's surface by      precipitation." [web]

"Legumes are able to form a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria called rhizobia. The result of this symbiosis is to form nodules on the plant root, within which the bacteria can convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia that can be used by the plant." [web]

Phosphorus - Promotes early root growth and development, winter hardiness, and seed formation, stimulates tillering, increased stalk and stem strength, improved flower      formation, cold resistance, seed production, increase resistance to plant deficiencies, uniform and earlier crop maturity, development throughout the entire life cycle, and increases water use efficiency. "Lack of phosphorus can limit plant growth and yield. Phosphorus helps in the      process of plants converting the sun's energy into food, fiber, and oil. Phosphorus plays a key role in photosynthesis, the metabolism of sugars, energy storage and transfer, cell division, and cell enlargement." [web] [web] [web]

Potassium - "associated with the movement of water, nutrients, and carbohydrates in plant tissue. Potassium is involved with enzyme activation within the plant, which affects protein, starch and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. The production of ATP can regulate the rate of photosynthesis. Potassium helps regulate the opening and closing of the stomata, which regulates the exchange of water vapor, oxygen and carbon dioxide. If K is deficient or      not supplied in adequate amounts, K stunts plant growth and reduces yield. Other roles of K include increases root growth and improves drought resistance, maintains turgor; reduces water loss and wilting, aids in photosynthesis and food formation, reduces respiration which prevents energy losses, enhances translocation of sugars and starch, produces grain rich in starch, increases plants protein content, builds cellulose and reduces lodging, and helps reduce crop diseases." [web]

NPK Fertilizer for young plants - NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium) are the normal numerical structure for labeling fertilizer. If you see a fertilizer listed as 10-10-10, then that fertilizer is 10% nitrogen, 10% phosphorus, and 10% potassium. The higher level fertilizers that are shifted toward or only contain N, P, or K (for example, fertilizers listed as 46-0-0 [mainly nitrogen and no P or K], 18-46-0, or 0-0-46 [mainly potassium and no N or P]) are a little too strong for plants (especially newly sprouted plants.) During testing, a young chili  and tomato plant that were over a few weeks old were given fertilizer and immediately wilted and died. Fruit trees are better at handling the higher concentrations. Dilute the stronger ones down with more water or soil, or only add a few pellets to soil. Another option is to use lower concentrations of NPK fertilizer such as 16-16-16.  

Water

We cannot forget that water is a fertilizer. Water is H2O, and all plants and trees need water. If we watch videos on youtube, many people recommend watering pots from the bottom. This is a technique in which we put water into a container, then place our pot into that container and allow water to saturate from the bottom of the pot to the waterline of the container. A few of the benefits are that we are able to soak and saturate the soil by letting the pot remain in the water. This allows the soil to retain water longer. If we water soil that has wood, then most of the time, watering from the top will make the outside of the wood wet, but not get into the wood. This is the same for other material in our soil. Another benefit of watering from the bottom is that watering from the top is a disruptive force on our soil and displaces soil. The displacement of the soil removes the top layer, creates uneven dips in our soil surface, and may even expose roots. If the plant is not in a pot and in the ground, then watering at the base of the plant or tree is ideal, but making sure not to disturb the soil.

There are benefits to spraying water from the top occasionally, but not to nourish the plants or trees. Plants build up dirt and dust, especially in areas that have a lot of fine loose dirt. Using water to wash off the dirt and clean the leaves is beneficial because the layer of dirt can cause lower rates of photosynthesis. Some leaves are susceptible to water rot and disease, so having wet leaves that stay wet may not be good for some plants. Another benefit to using water on the top ever so often is to build up the strength of plants. Trees for the most part have a strong trunk and branches, but plants some times have weaker stems and stalks. Simulating rain now and again and watering with a gentle spray will place water on the leaves, make the leaves heavier, and make the plant grow stronger stems and stalks. The opposite is true as well. Placing plants in locations that do not get rain and get watered from the bottom can create plants with weak stems and stalks.

Nutrient Cycle

Before we move on to "natural fertilizers" (fertilizers based on organic material that contain carbon), we need to understand the processes that are going on in the plant world. "Chemical fertilizers" (such as N, P, and K) are generally concentrated chemicals. Depending on the type of chemical fertilizer, many are water soluble and will easily be absorbed by plants and trees. However, in the cases of "natural fertilizers" that are normally composed of organic matter, the chemicals are not in a form that is easily absorbable by plants and trees. Because plants and trees do not have stomachs (like we do) full of bacteria and acids, plants need microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) to help break down organic natural fertilizers, nematodes eat the microorganisms, and the nematodes make those chemicals available for plants to absorb. One of the processes of nematodes that eat bacteria and fungi is the waste that these nematodes create in the form of ammonia (composed of nitrogen and hydrogen). Since ammonia consists of nitrogen, that process allows plants to absorb the ammonia through their roots and use the nitrogen. Other microorganisms eat bacteria and fungi too, and those microorganisms help release many other chemicals like potassium and phosphorus. [web]

Now that we understand more about the processes of how organic matter gets turned into nutrients, we understand how natural fertilizers play a role in agriculture. Natural fertilizers come in a vast number of different forms, but the processes of the nutrient cycle remain the same. The natural fertilizers contain the basic chemicals that plants need, but come in different forms based on the material of the natural fertilizer. In the case of a banana, we get all of potassium, phosphorus, zinc, manganese, glucose (sugars), amino acids, and vitamins that the banana contains and that the bacteria and fungi break down, the microorganisms consume those bacteria and fungi, and those microorganisms release the chemicals. In the case of a fertilizer like cow manure, the same process applies, but the cow manure may contain more, less, or none of the various other chemicals that plants need. All of the natural fertilizers contain various levels of the chemicals plants need and in many different forms, as opposed to chemical fertilizers that mainly or only contain the chemicals listed and do not contain any vitamins, minerals, or nutrients This is why having healthy soil full of good bacteria and fungi is crucial for plant development. As we need need a diverse diet of different foods to keep us healthy, plants and trees need a diverse diet to keep them healthy.    

Natural products like coconut husk, compost material from left over vegetable scraps, leaves, ground up trees, cow and chicken manure, any other plant materials, egg shells, seaweed, and tree bark can be used to make natural fertilizers. Adding already decomposing leaves for their leaf mold will help speed up the process of making organic soil. Coconut husks add smaller and harder thin strands of composite material that is great at absorbing water and helping to maintain soil structure. Vegetable scraps, leaves, any other plant material, and tree bark add organic material to fertilizer to make soil. Take in mind that to break down these materials, nutrients such as nitrogen are used and may cause a nitrogen deficiency in soil. This is why in most cases the recommendation is to make a compost bin or an area to make the organic soil, so that the composting material does not take away nutrients from trees growing near the decomposing material. Also decomposing vegetables, and especially fruits, attract insects. By placing decomposing matter directly in the same soil as our plants, we change our soils and add many other factors that may be harder to control. 

 After the soil has had a chance to cure and go through much of the process of breaking down the organic material, then that organic soil is added to plants and trees. Worm castings are considered "soil gold" because of the nutrients that are readily available for plants and trees to absorb right away. Starting a worm casting bin and worm farm to harvest worm castings is highly recommended. Cow and chicken manure is great because of the nutrients like the high amount of nitrogen. However, putting cow and chicken manure directly onto plants and trees should be avoided without converting the anaerobic condition to aerobic. By adding cow and chicken manure to the compost bin, then the anaerobic "bad" bacteria will die off and the "good" aerobic bacteria and fungi will grow. (We will go into anaerobic and aerobic concepts in the next paragraph, but here is a wiki article on Hydric Soil.)

Composting (making our own natural organic fertilizer) - For us to get into composting, we need to learn to answer the following questions.

• What are the processes?
• What is happening?
• Why we do what we do?
• How we need to make things happen?
• Where do we do composting?

What are we actually doing when we say we are "composting". For the natural processes in nature, organic material is given life through nutrients like food and water. Once that process is stopped, things begin to decay. A leaf that falls to the ground, does not receive any more nutrients from the plant and the leaf begins to decay. A tree that falls does not get nutrients from the roots and goes through the same decaying process. As things decay, they slowly break down into their constituent parts, other life consumes those parts, and those chemicals and nutrients go back into the web of life. When we say we are composting, we are turning plant and organic matter into fertilizer by assisting in the process of decay

We use different types of composting processes and materials, but all of these methods are trying to achieve the same goals. In composting, one of the methods is to create compost bins. These are places we put composting material and assist in the process of decay. What happens in that compost bin during the decaying process? For things to compost, we need to understand that composting is a chemical reaction. Chemicals are breaking down and changing from one form to another. These organic material need water, heat, and microorganisms to help things break down. When we make a compost bin, we water the compost to keep the material moist. We want the compost moist because the decaying process needs water and keeps the microorganisms alive. As we layer and layer the compost bin, the inner layers of the pile get hotter and hotter. Psychrophilic organisms appear at temperatures starting at 28 degrees and thrive in the 55 degree range. These organisms start the process of breaking down the organic material. As we go deeper into the pile, around the 50-115 degree temperature, we get mesophilic organisms. These mesophiles do most of the decomposing work and take over the compost layers starting around the 70 degrees. Finally, in the center of the lowest layers are the thermophilic organisms that love the high temperatures around 115-160 degrees. This zone breaks down the materials the fastest. These thermophiles take over around 100 degrees. At higher temperatures above 160 degrees, bacteria no longer survives. This stops the decomposition process and is used at times to sanitize the soil. In the case of sanitation, the temperature is lowered back down. The soil is used or sold or good bacteria may be added back to the soil and then used or sold. That process is known as hot composting. 

Article on composting. [Web]

For smaller compost bins that have less material and do not get to the higher temperatures, these processes take longer and are slower. During composting, 

Compost:

• Composting kitchen scraps can potentially reduce the amount of waste sent to the garbage by 30%.
• Soil is made up of air, water, minerals, organic matter, and living organisms. Compost is largely made up of all of those things and has an abundance of organic matter and living organisms.
• Adding compost adds moisture retention of soil.
• Aeration are the air gaps in soil and are important for two main reasons. All plant roots need oxygen from the soil air gaps to complete their life functions like photosynthesis. Aerobic microbes in the soil need air to conduct their vital processes like nutrient fixation. 
• Compost adds life. The sheer number of microorganisms in compost provides a huge boost to soil.    
• Do not add orange, lime, or any citrus peels into compost. As well as, garlic and onion. They deter earthworms and raise the acidity of the soil. The opposite is true for wood ash. Do not use wood ash as this will raise the Ph level and make the soil more alkaline. Try not to add avocado skins because the skins start to smell and take a long time to decompose.
• Do not add dairy, eggs, and meat. This attracts rodents and anerobic bacteria. Peanut shells take a long time to decompose, so do not add. 
• Deter from cooked vegetables because of oils and salts used in cooking. Try and use only fresh uncooked raw green waste. 
• Add mushroom scraps. Earthworms love fungi and mushrooms are fungi. 

Fertilizing with Hot Compost:

• Hot compost is made by mixing brown dead leaves with grass clippings. Compost tea is made by adding fresh grass clippings to water, then filter the grass clippings out and use the tea water for plants. Coffee grounds break down easily, natural pest deterrent, add organic material to soil, and add water retention. Coffee grounds contain several key minerals for plant growth like nitrogen, calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and chromium. They may also help absorb heavy metals that can contaminate soil. Also, coffee grounds help attract worms, which are great for your garden. 

Fertilizing with Kelp and Seaweed:

• Find and use kelp and seaweed - In conclusion, kelp can help germinate seeds quicker, improve taking of cuttings, encourage rooting, build immunity, add more color and flavor, give a longer shelf life, produce more and larger buds and flowers, counter any nutrient deficiency, and fight off insects and disease. Kelp is truly mother nature’s gift to the modern gardener. The most important aspect of kelp is the growth hormones. Kelp contains ample quantities of auxins, gibberellins, and cytokinins. All growth hormones play a part in how a plant functions, and are more accurately called growth regulators. Kelp has very high amounts of a particular hormone, cytokinin. Cytokinin's are responsible for cell division, cell enlargement, differentiation of cells, development of chloroplasts. Take note that using raw and pure seaweed will raise sodium levels in soil, so be careful for things like lettuce, beans, and fruit crops. Using kelp will lower initial nitrate levels. After adding kelp, we enhanced nutrient uptake, microbial populations, and stress avoidance. There will be slight increases in our micronutrients. Also there's the value added of enhanced nutrient uptake, stress avoidance as well as, our enhanced microbial populations. Ph levels were slightly reduced. 
• Washing seaweed multiple times will wash the highly salinity water off of the seaweed. The water inside the seaweed is fresh water. However, the seaweed itself does have higher levels of sodium.
• Contains over 70 minerals, vitamins, and enzymes, promotes additional budding, extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, increases the nutrient uptake and protein content of a crop, improves resistance of plants to frost and disease, increases uptake of inorganic constituents from the soil, bolsters resistance to stress conditions, promotes vigorous growth, deters pests and diseases, contains almost every micro-nutrient in a fully chelated (immediately available) form, acts as soil conditioners; alginates from long, cross-linked polymers in the soil who improve soil crumbling in the soil, swell up when they get wet, and retain moisture, supports larger root mass, supports strong plant growth and high survival rates, reduces transplant shock, converts unavailable nutrients, increases chlorophyll production, regulates plant growth, deters greenfly and whitefly organically, provides Auxins that balance speed of growth, stimulate root growth and prevent bud forming or bud opening at the wrong times, assists plants in the formation of the plant's own auxins, provides cytokinin that initiate and activate basic growth processes, stimulate growth with greater vigor, provide protection from marginal frost (up to -3 celsius), and retard the senescence (aging processes) in the plant, provides betaines that play an essential role in the osmotic processes in plants, increase the water uptake in plants and are helpful in dry conditions and to plants under stress, early seed germination and establishment, improved yield, elevated resistance to biotic and abiotic stress, enhanced post-harvest shelf life.

Fertilizing with Coffee Grounds:

• Raises Iron levels drastically, as well as manganese and zinc. The soil Ph level remained mainly unchanged. Calcium and Magnesium saw a small boost. The nitrogen reduced significantly by around 75%. Although coffee grounds have a low carbon to nitrogen ratio, bacteria and fungi needed to use the nitrates in the soil to break down the carbon in the coffee grinds. We might see a reduction in the germination rates in lettuce seedlings. At later stages, the nitrogen would become mineralized and made available as ammonium and nitrate. However, original ammonium levels were slightly reduced and remained fairly stable. For using coffee grounds, add nitrogen sources in conjunction to supplement initial nitrogen reduction. Worms love coffee grounds. Worms need some gritty foods to help their gizzards with digestion. Make sure to disperse or mix in thoroughly. 

Fertilizing with Eggshells: (Research eggshell tea)

• Increased calcium, but increases Ph; therefore, reducing the amount of available micronutrients such as Iron. The calcium helps worms in their gizzards to grind up other materials. 
• Eggshells can be used where soil is calcium deficient.  
• Eggshell tea has been studied to show increases in basil production by 40-50%, and eggshells can function to activate the formation of root and seed hairs and strengthen the stems. 
• As for crushed eggshells, one study showed that adding 90-105g of crushed eggshells increased cayenne pepper root length by 25%, plant height by 20%, and final cayenne pepper production by almost triple.
• However, eggshells take about 6-12 months to break down. Crushing the shells speed up the process toward the lesser 6 month side.

Fertilizing with Ash:

• No ash to blueberries, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.
• Ash raises the alkaline levels in soil, so too much ash in soil makes the soil too alkaline. For example, fruits trees prefer a little acidic soil.
• Vegetables grow best around the 6.5 Ph level, so soil that is too acidic can benefit from ash.
• Depending on the wood, wood ash generally contains as high as 20% calcium, 5% potassium, and 2% of magnesium, phosphorous, and sulfur. Other trace elements that may be found in ash are iron, aluminum, manganese, zinc, boron. 

Fertilizing with Mulch:

• Wood chips. Make sure to use wood chips that do not contain any contaminates like paint, nails, chemicals, or treated wood. 
• Do not use wood from diseased trees. 
• Mulch with about 6 inch radius of space around the base of trees to prevent crown rot and fungal diseases. Also, make sure not to mulch more than 3 inches deep. 
• Wood chips need nitrogen to decompose. Therefore, do not mix wood chips into soil because the wood chips will take nitrogen away from the soil. 
• For aged wood chips, having chickens go through the wood chips and search for any bugs is a possibility, but that takes time and is not a guarantee of removing all bugs. 
• The main difference between wood chips and hay is that wood chips offer more organic matter during decomposition.

Foliar Feeding:

• Experiments showed that foliar feeding is effective. Radioactive phosphorus and potassium were applied to foliage. A Geiger counter was used to observe absorption, movement and nutrient utilization. The nutrients were transported at the rate of about one foot per hour to all parts of the plants.
• A spray enhancer, called a surfactant, can help nutrients stick to the leaf and then penetrate the leaves' cuticle.
• Foliar application has been shown to avoid the problem of leaching-out in soils and prompts a quick reaction in the plant. Foliar application of phosphorus, zinc and iron brings the greatest benefit in comparison with addition to soil where phosphorus becomes fixed in a form inaccessible to the plant and where zinc and iron are less available. 
• Foliar feeding is generally done in the early morning or late evening (possibly at night, but the plants sleep), preferably at temperatures below 24 °C (75 °F), because heat causes the pores (stomata) on some species' leaves to close.
• Stomata are present in the sporophyte generation of all land plant groups except liverworts. In vascular plants the number, size and distribution of stomata varies widely. Dicotyledons usually have more stomata on the lower surface of the leaves than the upper surface. Monocotyledons such as onion, oat and maize may have about the same number of stomata on both leaf surfaces. In plants with floating leaves, stomata may be found only on the upper epidermis and submerged leaves may lack stomata entirely. Most tree species have stomata only on the lower leaf surface. Leaves with stomata on both the upper and lower leaf surfaces are called amphistomatous leaves; leaves with stomata only on the lower surface are hypostomatous, and leaves with stomata only on the upper surface are epistomatous or hyperstomatous.