Posted in Homestead Garden and Farm
If your plants are in need of a good all-purpose, high Nitrogen fertilizer, I heartily recommend Lady Bug Brand Garden PEP Cottonseed Meal. Garden PEP is an all natural, vegan, feed grade product, so it is free of residual chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides. The package states: " allowed for organic gardens".
For more information on this product or others by Lady Bug Brand, visit the Lady Bug Brand website.
I discovered this product when my newly planted tomatoes developed a problem. I had planted several heirloom varieties, which were given to me. Soon after planting them in our newly layered raised beds and in several containers, the bottom leaves began yellowing and falling off, moving slowly up, up, up the stalk.
I did some research and one possible culprit was the common Tomato Wilt, which some heirlooms are more susceptible to. But, Anne of Backyard Treasures sent me information about Nitrogen Deficiency, which also has similiar symptoms. In all my own gardening adventures, I'd never had this problem with tomatoes, or any other plants. I decided to try her suggestion of adding some nitrogen to the soil and see what happened. In all but 1 variety, the Garden PEP made a great improvement, and now the once sad leafless stalks are dark green and have new leaves coming back. The plants are blooming and setting fruit. So, Thank You Anne for coming to my rescue, and possibly helping many others who may have the same issue develop!
I did learn one other useful bit of wisdom through this: Be cautious when adding lots of organic matter that isn't fully composted to your beds right at planting time. Though I had read that it is ok to plant in newly layered lasagna type beds, if you are adding things that are not fully decomposed; that might not be the case. The micro-organisms that break down the uncomposted matter use nitrogen for decompostion. The nitrogen drain caused by these micro-organisms can cause a deficiency in the plants. This seems to be exactly what happened to my garden. After applying the cottonseed meal, things quickly greened up and are now growing nicely. For before and after photos, see this post.
I hope this information will be of use to some of you, and do check out the Lady Bug Brand products. I love their liquid fertilizer, too, it works great!
Blessings,
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