Function: Growth of leaves and stems

Deficiency Produces: yellowing of older, lower leaves; stunting

Recommended Product(s)

• Soybean Meal
  • The most economical source of nitrogen as well as the least polluted, since it is sold as livestock feed
  • Available only in 50-pound bags
  • 7% of the product is Nitrogen
  • Apply 2 to 7 pounds of soybean meal per 100 square feet*
  • Store in a metal can with a tight-fitting lid, because animals will chew right through plastic to eat it.
• Blood Meal (dried blood)
  • Available in 20-pound bags (maybe some smaller, too)
  • 12% of product is Nitrogen
  • Apply 1 to 4 pounds of blood meal per 100 square feet *
• Others
  • Animal manures, cottonseed meal, pelleted chicken manure....
  • The chicken manure is the most organic.
  • Fresh manure should never be put directly on the garden when plants are growing

Miscellaneous

You can add too much nitrogen, even in organic form. Plants will grow too much leaf and stem, without the root structure to keep the top structure nourished. Tissues will be soft and floppy, susceptible to insects and disease.

Chemical fertilizers for grass usually give too much nitrogen. The lawn greens up fast, with lots of leaf, but inadequate roots mean the grass is dependent on lots of watering and continuing high nitrogen.