Geez, Louise - - Fertilizer Prices

Why not use manure instead of the 13-13-13? If you are gardening a 6,500 square foot area that is not all that big, only about 81 feet square. It could easily be fed with a few loads of free manure which is not hard to find if you ask around. I've seen free manure in the Trading Post news paper and on the internet in Craigslist. A lot of people with horses or cattle are happy to get rid of the manure.

With 13-13-13, you KNOW what you're putting in the soil.
With manure, it's a guessing game if you dont have each load analyzed.

It takes many MORE tons of manure to equal the actual nutrient rates of commercial fertilizers
You also run the risk of introducing unwanted weed seeds and excess minerals such as copper, or heavy metals

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Oh come on now, you know that it can't be bad if it's natural.......

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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.

what does the epson salt do for the garden....i have some and im curious....thanks
samm

Oil, last year, went to 145, on nothing but hot air. Israel has said it will not allow Iran to have Nukes. Iran has said it will have Nukes, and scrub Israel off the maps. If conventional true war (not this sissified PC crap occuring in Gaza) breaks out, oil will become unavailable, at reasonable costs... could go several times the 140 price... If Israel or Iran goes nuclear, all bets are off.

"Knowing" that the sword of damocles is hanging over our supply of oil, and fertilizer requiring fossil fuels, makes me want to stock up.

If you know you're going to need something in the future (your life or livelihood depends upon it), and there's the remotest chance of that 'something' being unavailable because of price or because it's simply not available, wouldn't it be prudent, to purchase 'more' now, instead of having blind faith that things will work themselves out.

My next stop at the feedstore, I'm going to buy all of their 'busted' bags, and what I'll need for this season, and next.

Composting is great. But, think about this... if everything breaks down (no more fuel, no more stores), will you be able to hand gather enough organic material off of your place, out of the woods, ditches, etc., to 'feed' the compost pile? I've looked around my place, and the only thing I'd be able to feed would be tree leaves, maybe some cattails, pond moss, some rottened logs. Anything edible would get processed through chickens or goats. The goat pellets would go straight into the garden, as well as chicken droppins'.

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

That's assuming that you hadn't already eaten the goats and chickens by then!

Martin

I recently bought lime and fertilizer. I ended up paying about $3.50 a bag for pelitized lime and $11.50 a bag for N fertilizer ( urea). Got these from Oakleys in Beebe AR and I believe if I had the means to bulk buy the price would have been less. I am not sure if they operate in other states.
I try not to use Tractor Supply as normally their prices are high. We have a Farmers Coop locally I use a lot mainly because their staff are a lot more knowledgable.
A lot of feed I buy from a local farmers who mixes ground corn, cotton seed, soy and rice and I pay $5.50 a bag for this. Hogs and cows seem to do well on this mix. Straight whole corn is about the same price.