Kyle Kushman has been winning cups with his veganic approach. That seems to indicate high quality of his flowers.
The point is not to use manures, or animal products, use plant based composts to feed. In fact the application of composts depends on raw material. Manures and are to be applied in a shallower layer vs plant based composts that can be applied heavier and thicker. Manure based fertilizers are know to cause sodic problems to soil when applied too heavily.
Manures, proteins, animal products. are not nearly as broken down as items in a traditional hot compost pile, or a vermicompost pile. Vermicompost is also loaded with microbes, enzymes, and polysaccharides that make PK easier to absorb by plants.
Lastly the smell, I do not like the smell of liquid fish products or blood meal. Outdoors its not so much a problem, indoors it is, mainly fish products, when I water 50-100 plants a day it smells terrible.
i dont know about all of this, lots of compost is 24:1, lots of manure is far lower C/N and so available faster no?
I think the point of compost is sustainable fertility overtime. Manures are a bit quicker to be spent, its more volatile and so can cause overdosing, leading to pests and problems, and often manures contain a reduced list of microbes, esp before its properly composted itself, and so we could argue manures have less overall benefit alone, but when combined as compost, or additionally bokashi fermented, as in the case of my nutrients, they are better through greater diversity.
Any organics like manures over done can cause all sorts of stability problems, not least with Potassium, Boron, Manganese and so on, but with pests, pathogens and the environment too.
As growers of organics in a world where access to data is more inclusive, perhaps we need to better understand how each and any input changes the microbial ratios and so again has consequences for our plants that we might need to note.
What we also need to acknowledge is, how organic is a product that has come from synthetically grow grasses fed to a cows drugged with antibiotics whose shit we then use?
Kushman is at least trying to reduce the farce of many so called labeled organic products, who use manures from synthetic fed cattle and animals, but shit its expensive his solution and of course it still week 1 do this, week 2 do this. Honesty this is the great fraud but its something the community demands, this i can tell you first hand.
I think people ought to learn about growth makers and learn how to properly feed plants and not just run off a guide made to sell more stuff, which you may or may not need on week blah.
Also what fish products have you been using? I make one that dont stink the place up, perhaps its the products and process to make them that has tarnished your experience?
I can't say that I entirely agree with the authors spin on how compost teas were discovered but I did find it informative.
