It sounds to me like what you're looking for is Iguana Juice. Advanced Nutrients makes it, it's completely organic and most importantly it has none of that typical organic fertilizer smell. I wouldn't use it as an air freshener, but your neighbors won't know you're using anything. It's just kind of a mild, fresh kind of "nature-y" smell, if that's a word. It smells wholesome, healthy.

Here's a link to AN's website that has all kinds of info about it. You might also like Mother Earth Super Tea, I haven't smelled but it's supposed to smell nice too. I know the Iguana is great stuff.

Here is a link that might be useful: Iguana Juice

Organic is not simply a substitute for "conventional" gardening, a way to find and use fertilizers that are maybe somewhat less toxic to the environment. Organic is a way to build up the soil so "fertilzier" are not needed and so the plants will grow strong and healthy in a good, helathy soil so they are less susceptible ot plant diseases and insect pests so powerful poisons that kill everything do not need to be used.
The best all around "organic fertilizer" anyone can use is compost and other organic matter.

I just read your post and almost fell-out of my chair laughing. You certainly have a way with words my friend.

Greg

kimmsr - there is such a thing as organic hydroponics, you know? There's no soil at all in that and it's still organic.

Just because someone doesn't want to do it exactly the way you do doesn't mean they're blaspheming organic gardening. Is your way better? Most people would probably agree that it is. But Gary clearly has different priorities than you do.

Maybe he should be encouraged to continue seeking out organic solutions rather than criticized for not doing it the way you think he ought to. Who cares, really, as long as he's not putting toxins in the ground?

Gary - I think what you're doing is admirable. I use mainly organics in my garden simply because it's free (leaves, coffee grounds from S-bux, ect.) It'd probably serve you better in the long run to try to rehabilitate your soil if it's not healthy, but I'm not going to tell you what to do.

Sorry I can't give better advice.

Hydra, I think you read what I wrote wrong.

It doesn't happen often, but I'm going to agree with kimmsr on this one. Without getting into the semantics of it being a "fertilizer" or not, compost is the best all round organic nutrient source you can use. It provides the widest range of nutrients and trace elements, encourages soil biology and improves soil structure. It also has the ability to provide disease suppressing properties, resulting in healthier plant growth. I don't know of any other single, commercially available organic product that can make similar claims. Plus, it is widely available or you can make your own and recycle your own garden and kitchen waste into a wonderful free resource.

I'm not trying to start a fight, I'm just reacting to what I've seen in this forum both here but especially elsewhere. Gary asks for advice on commercial organics. For whatever reason he's looking for an end product and not something he has to make himself.

I've got a worm bin that makes free worm castings for me, but to be quite honest I'd rather just get the castings for free and not have to worry about keeping the bin balanced, cool enough, warm enough, and so on and so forth. So I can understand where he's coming from. He wants to garden, he wants to stick with organics, and he doesn't want to spend more time doing it than absolutely necessary. Am I right Gary?

I know Gary a little bit, he and I have talked hydroponics before through email. So I'm probably a little more defensive because I know him. But it's still true that there is a lot of criticism, some of it surprisingly nasty, of people who mention things here that aren't considered the "right way" to garden organically.

Heck, you can nearly get crucified for simply naming certain products - not suggesting their use, simply naming them and failing to spit the name out as an epithet.

Organics is about kindness. Kindness to yourself, kindness to the environment, and kindness to the earth. Why then, do we show such hostility to anything or anyone different here? I'm not saying this thread is a prime example, I probably knee-jerked a bit because of the trend I've seen and figured this was just more of the same aimed at a guy I think is pretty cool. But it's all too common for people to get attacked for mentioning non-organic solutions here.

Again I'm sorry if I overreacted. It looked to me like the same kind of stuff that's going on in other topics in Organics. All I'm saying, and it's not directed at anyone specifically, is that those of us who believe in organic gardening should "kill" the opposition with kindness rather than with poison. After all, when it comes to toxins that's their strong suit, right?

I have no advice for you Gary, but I just wanted to say that your post had me spitting tea all over my screen! Yours has to be one of the funniest posts that I've read in awhile.

But you have given me an idea...fish emulsion as cologne...

"But it's all too common for people to get attacked for mentioning non-organic solutions here."
That is because this is an ORGANIC GARDENING forum. Far too often I see people looking for ways to simply substitute something for the "conventional" fertilizers without going out and improving the soil they have, they just want substitues and that is not organic.

I like this stuff. It is composted poultry manure + small amounts eucalyptus and tea oil so it smells good. Now available in the US.
Thanks for the laugh.

Here is a link that might be useful: raingrow

surgically enhanced nose ...

I LOVE it!! You made my day ...

"Far too often I see people looking for ways to simply substitute something for the "conventional" fertilizers without going out and improving the soil they have, they just want substitues and that is not organic."

Many products are organic that are not intended for the improvement of soil. Simply because that's the (allegedly) best way to grow organically doesn't mean that it's the only way, nor does it make appropriate being critical, if not actually hostile, towards those who have differing opinions.

Organic plant food - regardless of how useless it may or may not be in rehabilitating soil - is lightyears better than the "conventional" alternatives.

I'm just saying that instead of focusing on how everyone who disagrees with you is wrong and inferior, perhaps more flies could be caught with a pleasant response that just happens to include "oh by the way, you might find it better in the long-term to focus on soil health - here's a link."

It doesn't have to be pointing fingers and shouting that they're not really organic enough for the forum.

The "No True Scotsman" thing cuts both ways.

Garden produce is best when you feed plants all the nutrients and minerals that are good for our health. So using the best fertilizers are necessary. Unfortunately commercial growers in general are in it for the money and not concerned with produce that is good for our health. But they are completely unaware how productive and inexpensive liquid organic methods are, especially with the increased costs of oil dependent chemical fertilizers.

Before you can honestly know what particular crops need, do a simple soil test to determine NPK and PH needs.

Then use liquid fish, kelp, bone meal, humate, molasses, lime. These ingredients can be mixed to meet those particular deficiencies. The liquid form is much more easily absorbed by leaves and roots because the particles are smaller than a dry fertilizer. Consequently there is no waste using liquid fertilizers from these ingredients. And no watershed pollution.

This is how I do it, of course there are other things to do to the soil, such as cover crops, green manures etc..
But the liquid spray is the "icing on the cake"

Very simply an organic gardener/farmer will work to improve the soil they have with lots of organic matter. There are no "fertilizers" out there, organic or not, that will do that because no one can afford the quantities needed to get there. This has nothing to do with " focusing on how everyone who disagrees with you is wrong and inferior" they are not, but far too many have not grasped this concept, that organic gardeneing/farming is about the soil.
I have had people that claim to be organic but have no idea whether they have clay, sand, or loam for soil. There are people that claim to be organic that have never had a soil test done but each year add "fertilizers" because they have always done that and they have no idea what their soils pH is much less whether the nutrients they add to their soil are needed or are simply adding to the pollution of our planet. Someone asks "should I use Kelp meal, fish meal, bone meal, blood meal, greensand, rock phosphate, granite dust, manures", etc. and most of us tell them yes without asking about current soil nutrients and soil conditions. Nutrient deficiencies can mimic plant diseases, and in fact are, but they can be because of soil pH issues not simply because the soil lacks these nutrients, or an excess of a nutrient can cause a deficiency of another.
Organic gardenening/farming is not simply substituting one type of fertilizer for another.

In your opinion. An opinion does not a fact make.

Geesh. This is not so friendly a place! You'll fighting makes newcomers leary of posting. What's wrong with being nice?

I think what the deal is that many of those who visit this forum are passionate about using organic methods of growing. When someone even hints of going outside the boundaries of individually accepted (or generally accepted) practices of growing organically, disagreements take place. But then as always I could be wrong.

Thanks for the suggestions, hooked. And thanks for sticking up for me hydroponica. Oh, and thanks to the people who said they got a laugh out of my post. I try.

Let me extend my deepest and most ground-scrapingly prostrate apologies to the Dieties of Organic Gardening for not having been born with the knowledge of their peculiar rules of what is and is not organic.

Silly me, I thought that "Organic" was defined by what it excluded. That would be things that don't have an organic origin, right? FFS, why can't people just be happy someone isn't spraying fossil fuel products on their lawn rather than whipping out the "oh you're not organic ENOUGH to play in my sandbox" yardstick.

Geez, what a nice welcome.

I'm trying to keep the backyard garden simple, okay? I don't want to get all mad scientist out there with soil testing and crazy mixtures of god knows what. Plants grow just fine in the soil already. I'm just looking for something to make sure they're as happy as I can make them without going to a lot of effort, okay? Does it really make me so evil if I just want to use an organic shotgun style fertilizer on my garden?

You make it sound like I'm killing puppies or something because I'm not treating my soil like it's my kids or something.

What is organic? The OMRI (organic materials review institute) is generally regarded as the standard bearer.

Fish emulsion is organic. It doesn't matter if one ignores the soil and just pours fish emulsion on the soil for their plants, under OMRI rules they are organic (or their use of fish emulsion is).

This idea that one *must* focus on the soil to be organic is simply untrue. If one chooses to grow in soil (as opposed to soil-less potting mixes or in water (hydroponics) then I would certainly agree that working to make the soil as good as possible is a worthwhile goal. This isn't the *only* way to be "organic" by a long shot though, at least not according to any current, accepted definition of the term.

The concept of using compost and other natural, locally made or obtained stuff to improve the soil seems more like sustainable agriculture than organic gardening. Not that sustainable practices are a bad thing (or that they can't be organic), far from it. Just that the approach seems more like a subset of organic gardening rather than the defining method of organic gardening.

A little tolerance is a good thing.

Hi Garysgarden: This is definitely the place to find a fight. lol. I think what you are doing is fine. I do agree too that making your own compost or adding as much organic material to the soil is best, but we do what we can. Not adding synthetic fertilizers and chemicals is a great start too. This year I had composted cow manure hauled in and chicken manure from my chicken coop that I added to the soil in my new raised beds. I just started a new compost pile in the spring, so that won't be ready until next spring of course. We do what we can with what we have. As you have done, I have also avoided adding any synthetic fertilizers or insectisides to the soil. Goodluck with your garden, and don't be offended by anyone here,,they can't help themselves. =)

Gary,
I'm glad you spoke up. I haven't been on this site for some time and now I remember why. Knowledge is great with a good measure of diplomacy and humility mixed in.
Vicki

Gary,
There are a lot of "one stop" organic fertilizers on the market. Many of them contain humic acids and other highly refined enhancers and are also very expensive. Most of these enhancers will only help if you have the basics in place, so I don't know that they are a good starting point. I compost because I can, and it's very helpful. If that's not an option for you, I would suggest adding some bagged organic matter to your garden. If everything's already in place, then you can sidedress with amendments like bloodmeal, phosphate rock, and greensand. Fish emulsion and seaweed solution are great.
Before I plant an area of my garden, I generally add compost, lime(every 3 years), and one of the Espoma products(planttone, tomatotone, veggietone, etc.) then, throughout the season, I fertilize with fish emulsion every 3 weeks and seaweed every 3 weeks on alternating schedules.
I've found that it's difficult to have a single, comprehensive organic fertilizer, unless you make it yourself. As far as using multiple substances, you don't need to worry about the math too much. It's all done by handfuls rather than milliliters.
I'm curious about this Iguana Juice though. I wonder if it has tequila in it.
Best regards,
Pants.

I think there actually is a drink called an "Iguana Juice" but I don't know what goes into it. Hooked gave a link to the plant nutrient one.

I got some ordered, we'll see how it goes.

garysgarden, the one thing that I have found that covers a lot of ground fertilizer-wise is composted manure. It doesn't smell, and you could tell the lady it is just dirt. If her kids want to eat it, well, talk about realizing a metaphor, eh?:) But seriously, I have had terrific luck with side-dressing with it. Just make sure to get stuff that is actually composted instead of merely dried out. The latter can burn your plants. I always do a test application when I am faced with a new brand of it.

I am one of those people who has been gardening organically since 1987 and who has never gotten a soil test. This does not make me feel like I am somehow not really organic. Although there is regulation of organic farming and stipulation of what is allowed and what is not, so far there is no regulation of organic gardening. For which we must all be thankful.