Australian and New Zealand Gardening: OUR BROMELIADS INTO 2015.. , 1 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone - That's if anyone is reading this. Maybe I've turned you all away with my off topic ravings yesterday, and if so I apologise. To make up for it, I'd like to share a brief article I once wrote about using natural fertilisers as opposed to chemically manufactured ones.

If you want a natural non-chemical feeding programme for your plants, it is still possible to a degree; you don't have to use chemical fertilizers. Although both types will promote growth, I have found the main difference between chemically manufactured and natural fertilisers are that the chemical ones are chemically balanced and consistent in quality, whereas animal and other natural manures are not.

Bromeliads grown in habitat rely on natural fertilizers such as bird and small animal droppings falling into the plant as well as the broken down leaf litter which eventually forms into a soup (liquid manure) in the vase of the plant. These are all natural products without any chemical content introduced by man.

I would imagine to copy this natural process in the home garden, you could apply a small amount of some type of old animal manure, (cow, rabbit or sheep are the safest and most popular ones) or try some of the commercially produced (natural) products such as Bone Meal, Blood and Bone or Hoof and Horn Meal which have been used successfully by gardeners over many years.

Any of these or a combination of them would do the same job as the bird and animal droppings in the wild. Sheep manure is said to be very good as it doesn't tend to be as hot as poultry manure and some of the others, and besides it comes readymade in a handy size pellet. I have applied this as a topping for orchids and other plants with good results and more importantly, no burning as would be the case with poultry manure (unless very old).

If desired, these can be supplemented with a liquid manure also, which can be made from any of the above manures by just mixing with water and allowing to stand for a week or two and then diluting with more water before applying. This would then take the place of the natural "soup" made from decaying animal droppings and leaf litter in the wild.

Likewise one of the many good liquid seaweed fertilizers now available on the market could also be used. These are natural products which are usually made from kelp, a type of seaweed which is also a renewable resource. In Australia we have a wonderful product called Seasol which is not so much a fertilizer but more like a "tonic". If you just Google "Seasol" you can read all about it. It is exported to other major countries so I imagine it should be easy to obtain.

In summary, to take the natural route, you can mix any one or a combination of the various animal manures in your mix initially and when growth appears to have slowed down, add a topping of one of the manures described. This can be supplemented with feeds of liquid fertilizer made from animal manure throughout the growing period along with a seaweed preparation which can be applied as per the directions right throughout the whole year if desired. You just have to work out what works best for you. The rule is to start off with a "little" and increase gradually until you find the right balance.

As a final question, I would ask, “Is natural really chemical free”? Remember even some animal manures contain chemicals as the animals are often fed on chemical supplements, growth hormones and/or antibiotics. It then stand to follow that the animal parts used to make products such as Bone Meal, Blood and Bone or Hoof and Horn Meal may still contain traces of chemicals, (albeit minute) so how do you guarantee something is absolutely chemically free? .............................................I don't know the answer, do you?

I'll just finish with a few pic's, firstly while the topic is growing things naturally, here's a nice Ae. recurvata happily growing on a Peppercorn tree in my back yard, Pic.2 is the very popular Neo.'Purple Star',Pic.3 is one of the nice new Neo. 'Lambert's Pride' hybrids to come out of N.Z. (Not mine), Pic.4 is another beautiful Neo. with unknown ID (Unfortunately not mine either) and Pic.5 is a colourful group of Neoregelias in my shade house.

All the best, Nev

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