What does 'organic based' mean

[gtnate]

I bought this product last week thinking that it was organic. I put it on my maters this morning, but after I did so, I think I may have made a mistake. I looked at the ingredients and they are all chemicals.

So, I went to the web page of the product and it states that it is 'organic based.' What does that mean? Is it organic or not?

Here is a link to the product's web page.
http://www.ebstone.org/21_tomato.php

And, as long as I have an open thread, I would also like to know if it is necessary to use Epsom salts on tomato plants. I have seen that a lot of people do so.

Thanks,
Nate

[Worth1]

I have been preaching this since I have been here.
There are 2 different meanings to organic so dont be fooled.

Organic compounds are derived from the earth this could mean anything from petroleum/carbon based chemicals or for us compost, dead rotten critters and so forth.

Some of this stuff is pretty nasty.

I want to add, what is the rest of the stuff in this fertilizer, the so called inert ingredients (Salts?)
My personal opinion is If I were but I am not into total organics I would not use it. BUT am not so I personally WOULD use it.
Make sense?

Today most folks think of organic as earth and people friendly agriculture.

Another thing to consider is responsible Organic gardening.
High nitrogen and organic material run off from a farm or garden into the streams lakes and our ground water is bad news for everybody.
It doesn't matter where it comes from, chicken, horse, cow, pig, you, or what ever.


Epson salts are what they are. I see no need to add this stuff to must plants because almost all soil has enough magnesium in it to prevent blossom end rot.
I also will nut ridicule anyone for using it because it wont hurt anything if done properly.
To each his own when it comes to gardening.

A healthy plant should not go through periods of wilted to plush it should be happy all of the time.

Good watering habits and healthy plants are the key to prevent BER.

To treat BER you simply throw the affected tomatoes in your neighbors yard.

Worth

[amideutch]

Basically it is composed of organic/non organic products. In this case the ferts used are organic and chemical. I can buy a chemical fertilizer, mix with water at the required dilution rate, and add molasses to it and say it's organic based.

If your looking for a good organic fertilizer for your tomatoes check out BioBizz Bio-Grow.

Ami

[les matzek]

laura at heirloom tomato plants
uses e.b. stone so it must be good
good luck.

les

[TZ-OH6]

These look like organic ingredients to me

http://www.ebstone.org/pdfs/msdstomatovegetablefood.pdf

The link you gave reports fertilizer analysis, not ingredients from which they originate.

[gtnate]

Well, it seems that EB Stone has an 'organic' line (which is the MSDS that TZ-OH6 linked), and then they have the 'organic based' product that I ended up with.

Here is the MSDS for the product which I bought.

http://www.ebstone.org/pdfs/msdsgatomvegfood.pdf

Looks pretty chemical based, for instance, the first ingredient is Ammonium sulfate. I think amideutch has it right, they threw in a few organic ingredients and then called it whatever they felt like.

[RayR]

You are right, "organic based" is not the same as "organic". The E. B. Stone Organics Tomato & Vegetable Food is what I consider a true organic fertilizer.
The GreenAll Tomato and Vegetable Food 5-10-10 you bought is a combination of naturally occurring organic ingredients and man made chemical compounds.
I wasn't sure what some of those ingredients were like "Duration 43-0-0" until I looked it up. It's a polymer coated urea, as a slow release N source, and the Iron, Zinc and Manganese Sucrate's are sucrose compounds made as slow release forms of those micronutrients.

[fortyonenorth]

From my perspective it's not the "ideal" fertilizer (in terms of ingredients) but it's pretty good. Ammonium nitrate is a very good, fast-acting source of N. The only thing I don't care for is the murate of Potash - I prefer sulfate of Potash because it is said to be kinder on soil microorganisms.

Remember: from a plant's perspective "organic" is meaningless - Nitrogen is Nitrogen, regardless of whether it's organic or synthetic. Same for the other components. You can hardly blame E.B. Stone or other manufacturers for promoting the "organic" aspects of their products. It's what the (largely uninformed) market demands. "Organic" isn't going to grow a bigger, better or more nutritious tomato. However, I think this fertilizer is a good bet for your purposes.

In terms of Epsom salts - if you need Magnesium, Epsom salts will be beneficial. If you don't, it won't help and could definitely be detrimental. To much Mg compared to Calcium is going to throw your soil our of balance. Get a soil test and you'll know.

[habitat_gardener]

One rule of thumb I picked up somewhere is to be cautious with any NPK value 10 or above. So this one is probably ok, but be sure to use minimum recommended amounts.

[gtnate]

Thanks to all who have answered, particularly the insights on what the actual components of the fertilizer. I'm going to stick with this fertilizer and let you know how it does.

After reading about the differences in organic vs. inorganic fertilizers on some of these forums, I am not going to get too uptight about the labeling. The only thing I was really worried about is fertilizer burn from the inorganic materials, but there was a good post on the garden web about how to avoid that pitfall.