Geez, Louise - - Fertilizer Prices

[Txsteader]

Apparently TX is slow to react, because I've been reading here about folks pleased that fert prices have dropped. This year, I paid darn near double what I paid last year....last year it was around $12 for 40#, yesterday I paid $25!! And that was the cheapest formula (13-13-13)---prices went as high as $35 for 40#. Local feed store and hardware store had NO fertilizer, we ended up buying at Home Depot. Found some later for slightly cheaper at Tractor Supply, but the difference wasn't worth the hassle of returning to HD.

We have roughtly 6500 sq. ft. of gardens. Increasing the size of the compost pile is going to be #1 priority to offset expenses. I much prefer growing my own food, but the costs are getting outrageous!

Are prices in your area higher or lower than last year?

[Alice In TX/MO]

Keep in mind many fertilizers are petroleum products, and it takes a year of lower prices to cycle through the production and marketing. It was produced, manufactured, and shipped before oil prices went down.

[EarthSheltered]

we naturally fertilize our gardens, and as much of our pastures and hay fields as we can. But we farm over 50 acres of hay, so we end up buying [U]some[U] commercial fertilizer for the fields at least every other year. Seed as well is awful.

Horse people complain about the rise in hay prices. If they saw my fertilizer/seed/twine/diesel fuel bills, they would understand.

[whinnyninny]

I was at my gardening class yesterday and the speaker kept stopping every few minutes (for 6 hours) to complain about the high cost of fertilizer thanks to 'last year'! I bought a 50# bag a couple years ago and haven't bought any more since, so I haven't noticed the prices, but yikes!!!

[texican]

As soon as I can find what I need, I'll be getting half a ton, and putting 90% in the barn, for future years. This could be the last year commercial fertilizer is made, and I'd like to have some insurance fertilizer on hand. I prefer natural fertilizers, but am not so foolish to believe that it can ever match pound for pound, and time/conservancy issues, as pure fertilizer. Oh, and will probably get 1/4 ton of nitrogen, if I can get tightly sealed bags.

A year after the fall of civilization, I won't be worried one wit about whether my grub is organic or not... I'll only worry about whether there is Any food available or not... and if you don't grow your own, you won't be eating. [sorry, but I'm one of those folks that has zero faith in civilization as we know it lasting forever]

[Ozarkquilter46]

as far as backyard gardening I use ebson salts. I use it on everything and my garden is always grows twice a big as the gal next door to me who uses the blue stuff she swears by LOL
ebson salts dosn't cost much.

[mnn2501]

Originally Posted by Txsteader

Increasing the size of the compost pile is going to be #1 priority to offset expenses.

Thats the key, I don't use commercial fertilizer, I use compost -- we have well over doubled our garden this year and I quadrupled my composting last year to get ready for it.

My Dad taught me that if you grow good dirt, your dirt will grow good plants.

[Woodsprite]

Originally Posted by Rose

Keep in mind many fertilizers are petroleum products, and it takes a year of lower prices to cycle through the production and marketing. It was produced, manufactured, and shipped before oil prices went down.

Exactly. We're seeing the same thing with tar paper here. Hubby stopped at the store with 20 bucks in his pocket to pick up a roll of what we thought would be 15 dollar tarpaper, and it was $35! Since nobody but us is building anything in this economy, the stuff in the stores has been sitting there since before oil prices started going back down.

TX, sounds like you need to get to work on that compost pile.

[EDDIE BUCK]

Originally Posted by Rose

Keep in mind many fertilizers are petroleum products, and it takes a year of lower prices to cycle through the production and marketing. It was produced, manufactured, and shipped before oil prices went down.

Lol, it didn't take a year for the prices go up once the price of oil started climbing, at least around here it didn't. Eddie

[Txsteader]

Originally Posted by texican

This could be the last year commercial fertilizer is made, and I'd like to have some insurance fertilizer on hand.

Are you serious? That's news to me. Is that a hunch or did you read it somewhere?

Does that apply to natural ferts, too?????

[Txsteader]

Originally Posted by Woodsprite

Exactly. We're seeing the same thing with tar paper here. Hubby stopped at the store with 20 bucks in his pocket to pick up a roll of what we thought would be 15 dollar tarpaper, and it was $35! Since nobody but us is building anything in this economy, the stuff in the stores has been sitting there since before oil prices started going back down.

TX, sounds like you need to get to work on that compost pile.

Yeah, we found out about tar paper prices last year after Hurricane Ike roared through here. DH liked to fell over when he saw the price. He's still ranting about it.

[sammyd]

The price of oil has little to do with fertilizer actually.
Natural gas is the building block for the inorganic types of N.


Most of the price raises had little to do with anything other than greed and some bad guesses. Commodity prices rose quite high. Fert companies decided that they wanted a piece of that action and adjusted their prices accordingly. Middlemen that thought they would be helping out prebought lots at these high prices expecting the prices to go even higher. But alas, the speculators got out of the market, commodity prices dropped back down, and now you have a lot of high priced fert sitting in wharehouses that companies can't afford to sell for what it is actually worth today without taking a big bath.
If you are big enough and have connections I have heard that you can pick stuff up cheap right off the barges down in the gulf.

[DJ in WA]

If our society ever gets hungry enough we'll use all that nitrogen we pee down the toilet. But now we're just too sophisticated. We'd rather send it to the septic and possibly to our drinking water than try to recycle it first into plants.

http://www.liquidgoldbook.com/index.html

[Paquebot]

It's mainly the increasing cost of transportation. Most of the potash sources are in Canada. Phosphorus is limited to just a few states. If you live 3,000 miles away from a source of something, you're going to pay accordingly to get it to you.

Martin

[DaleK]

and yet potash from Saskatchewan costs more in Saskatchewan than in many parts of the US.

[Fae]

At my DD feed and seed store triple 13 is $12.99. Last year it went to $22.oo.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Natural gas prices followed the crude prices. Up and down.

[rambler]

Was at a U o M meeting yesterday in the blizzard, an ecconomist from Mosaic Fertilzer was there & talked for 45 minutes.

Fertilizer went from under $100 a ton to over $900 a ton and now back down to under $100 a ton wholesale. In 2 years.

The problem is what that does to everyone all along - from the person digging it out of the ground, to the person buying food in the grocery store.

The deal is typically farmers put on about 1/2 their fert in fall, and the other half in spring. All the barges, stockpiles, retailers, wholesalers, are set up to handle this much fert in this way.

This fall, all us farmers saw the super high priced fert the retailers had, and also saw the rather cheap wholesale cost it was going for. So, we didn't put mouch on.

We probably only put on 1/4 of the fertilzer last fall, and now what? Will we put on the full 3/4 left to go, or will we only put on another 1/4 or 1/2, and just be short on fertilizer?

So all winter long, barges were coming this way but had no place to unload - no one was using any. The people digging the fert out of the ground stopped digging,b ecause there was no place to go with it.

If we farmers try to put on the ful 3/4 left to go this spring, we will run out - driving prices up.

If we see corn & soybean prices continue to fall, we might only put on another 1/4, and skip 50% of our fertilizer. This will make a smaller crop, and so grain prices might go up a lot next fall, if there is any weather problems.

Same thing is happening in Brazil - not using much fertilizer down there.

India is still using a whole lot, more than last year.

If you have 5 or 10 acres, why should you care?

Food & feed prices - in addition to the fertilizer prices - are going to continue to be a real rollercoaster ride. The use & cost of fertilizer has long legs, and will affect grain prices well into 2010 and beyond.

I don't know if things are going up or going down. But, they will want to react & go somewhere!

If you buy feed or food, keep track of what is going on. It will affect you.

Nitrogen comes from natural gas, and has been the better value, prices have come down & been more stable.

P & K is mined out of the ground, and depends on diesel fuel to get it, and are the ones that really, really have gone way too high, and now are all messed up in the supply-line.

--->Paul

[fordson major]

for me it means more work! farmer wants to stretch that farm gold even further!

[georgec]

Originally Posted by texican

This could be the last year commercial fertilizer is made, and I'd like to have some insurance fertilizer on hand.

I was just talking to a friend of mine, he is an engineer at a fertilizer plant in FL. He did not mention being out of a job within the next year.