Our Products: Organic or Synthetic?

Our Peace of Mind^® and Happy Frog^® fertilizers are 100% organic.  Our Big Bloom^™ Liquid Fertilizer and all of our soils are also organic.  We do offer some fertilizers with mineral-based, time-release ingredients that are not classified as organic.  These include American Pride^® and Marine Cuisine^® fertilizers, Tiger Bloom^® and Grow Big^® liquids, and our soluble products like Cha Ching^®, Beastie Bloomz^®, and Open Sesame^®. 

Just What Is An Organic Fertilizer?

Organic fertilizers come directly from nature.  For example, our Peace of Mind^® and Happy Frog^® fertilizers are made up of ingredients like alfalfa meal, bat guano, and bone meal.  Big Bloom™, our liquid plant food, contains earthworm castings and Norwegian kelp.  And when you dig around in our organic potting soil, Ocean Forest^®, you’ll find composted forest humus, peat moss, and marine ingredients like crab meal.

When you use organic products in your garden, you are providing the finest ingredients nature has to offer, harvested from all over the globe.  These nutrients may be released more slowly, but they’ll last longer, too.  Because the ingredients are all natural, they provide a rich, well-balanced meal to plants—one that is packed with important, but often overlooked, micronutrients.

Why Use Inorganic Ingredients?

A synthesized or mineral fertilizer can offer just the right support when your plants need it the most.  Think of the last time you took vitamin C for a cold.  An inorganic fertilizer can offer the same targeted benefit, and it’s fast-acting, too. Tiger Bloom^®, Grow Big^®, American Pride^®, and Marine Cuisine^® all include non-organic ingredients.

Some inorganic fertilizers are simply naturally-occurring minerals that have been treated to make them easier for plants to use.  Others may be manufactured in a laboratory.  Examples include ammonium sulfate, potassium chloride, and iron sucrate.  Each of these are specific nutrients designed to address a plant’s individual needs.

When it comes to synthetic fertilizers, quality matters.  FoxFarm chooses only the finest ingredients for its family of fertilizers that deliver optimal nutrition for each stage of a plant’s growth, and bottom line we never - will never - never going to happen in this lifetime- use cheap fillers or low-grade, industrial chemicals.

Do My Plants Know the Difference Between Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers?

Some people say that the plants cannot tell the difference between an organic and an inorganic fertilizer, but the soil can.  Remember, soil is alive.  It’s teeming with microbes, decaying leaves, tiny insects—all the very life that makes plants grow.  Organic fertilizers add food to that rich mix.  On the other hand, an inorganic mineral fertilizer can give your garden a boost in the same way that a concentrated multivitamin can give you the extra nutrition you need.  What matters most is that everything you feed your garden must be carefully balanced to deliver the nutrition plants need while avoiding the buildup of salts and other toxins.

What’s the Big Deal About Salt?

Think about the last time you walked through a forest.  It was probably cool and damp, no matter what the weather was like when you left the house.  That’s because trees and other plants are giant water pumps.  Water moves in through the roots, travels through the stems and leaves, and gets released into the air through a remarkable process known as transpiration.  A single maple tree can transpire up to 58 gallons of water per hour.  Even an ordinary tomato plant transpires 30 gallons during a growing season. 

Water, then, is critical to a plant’s well-being.  Too much salt in the soil can inhibit what we call a plant’s “osmotic potential”—its ability to take up water.  Just as salty food can make a person thirsty, salty soil can dehydrate a plant.  Cheap, poor-quality synthetic fertilizers can create salt build-up in the soil that can cause your garden more harm than good.

I’m worried about using lawn chemicals where my children and pets play.  Is it possible to maintain an organic lawn?

Absolutely!  In fact, it’s easier and more affordable than a chemical lawn program, not to mention better for the environment and for your family.  Just follow these easy tips:

• Use Peace of Mind^® or Happy Frog^® Premium Lawn according to package directions.  For large lawns and repeat applications, it’s now available in a convenient 18-pound bag.
  
  
• Set the blade on your lawn mower a little higher.  This helps the grass develop a deeper, healthier root system, and it conserves water.  Leave grass clippings on the lawn to decompose.  They’re a great source of nitrogen, the nutrient that supports healthy green growth.
  
  
• Aerate the soil in fall to break up thatch.  Garden centers sell special tools or spiked sandals for aeration.
  
  
• Rake Happy Frog^® Soil Conditioner into your lawn once in spring and once in fall, and water well.  This will add beneficial organic matter to the soil and keep your lawn healthy.

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