I think the key to organics is sustainability, not necessarily some anecdotal health or quality benefit or a dogmatic adherence to "purity", both physically and philosophically. If chemical fertilizers damage the environment by killing the soil life, choking the watersheds, and resulting in more pollution, etc, then not only is it morally abhorrent, it just isn't good business sense or resource management. You kill your supply and potentially kill your demand (through systematic poisoning), you lose customers. But then again, I could go on about subsidies and lack of property rights that reduces these incentives, but I'll withhold. As for buying food, I think more emphasis should be put on buying local rather than the "organic" label, which probably was grown 3000 miles away in China by some dirt cheap labor and flown over with hundreds of gallons of gas, not to mention it probably isn't fresh. However, if people have chosen a lifestyle, for whatever reason, people should respect their choices and inquiries. I don't see many people mocking vegans for their lifestyle, claiming its a scam and marketing ploy which ultimately is futile.

I think you are worrying needlessly. There is little if any non-natural chemical residue in coffee grounds, specially those grown organically, which Starbucks and most other big coffee suppliers tend to support and promote. Even most decaffeinated coffee is achieved through a process using organic additives, namely ethyl acetate, a substance found in many fruits. And frankly, I'd be more worried about what pathogens might be present in wood chips or tree trimings than any pesticides. Few pesticides have any long term systemic effects, whereas unless composted at temperatures hot enough to kill them off, the potential for transporting untreated disease pathogens through the recycling of wood chips is pretty high. For that reason, I don't use them in my garden other than a pathway material unless composted. I have never heard of the "not burning fruitwood" theory and suspect that it is more of an urban legend than based on fact. Again, fruit trees are most likely sprayed to prevent fungal problems and few chemical fungicides are systemic in nature or very long lasting, therefore the need to reapply often. And a good many common fungal fruit tree controls are based on what are considered to be organic remedies, like lime- or copper-sulfur.

Hi Mike: Glad to hear from you, I'm too lazy to spray. Fifteen years ago, a neighbor saw me spraying roses with chemicals and told me, "why do you even bother growing roses with all these spraying?" Roses become unpopular when people associate roses with spraying. It's already a nuisance to spray my moldy shower stall with bleach/water solution. The pics I posted are FRESHLY dusted roses BEFORE another 20+ hours of rain. Today the rain washed most of the corn meal away, and the leaves are 100% green and healthy. My 10 Austins keep ALL their leaves green. I went and check the neighbors' disease-resitant roses, like Living Easy, and some single-petal species. They look horrible with yellow leaves after 5 days of constant rain, and no sun. It looks better dusting roses with corn meal using a flour sifter, and much faster than messy spray. My pics look bad because I threw corn meal by hand. The best thing about dusting with corn meal is the prevention of pathogenic fungi from germinating through the winter and inflicting more damage in the spring. It takes 10 days for the beneficial Trichoderma fungi to germinate from corn meal, and to suppress pathogenic fungi. I dusted August 1, September 1, September 17 (after 25+ hours of rain), and when I took the above posted pictures (Wed, Sept.28), after 3 days of rain. I finally see the sun this morning, Friday, Sept.30, after 5 days of constant rain.

Hi Sharon: You benefit me & others with your intelligent questions, which enable me to see what I did wrong with my past experiments. How did I cause rust by throwing POWDER GYPSUM on top? I repost the info: There's a U. of Nebraska research on rust, with the title, "Medium pH and Leaf Nutrient Concentration Influence Rust Pustule diameter on leaves of dry beans." Their conclusion: Plants grown in pH 5.8 medium show significantly larger rust pustules than plants grown in pH 6.5 or pH 7.9. Concentrations of Cl (chloride) and Mn (manganese) were more in high rust. In contrast, concentration of K (potassium) were less in high rust." From Straw: Alabama Agriculture Cotton Research also recommended potassium fertilizer to reduce rust. Info. about gypsum from USAgypsum.com: Elemental Calcium......21.0% Elemental Sulfur (S)....17.0% pH...................................6.8 Kelp4Less sells 5 lbs. of GRANULAR GYPSUM at 18% sulfur for $12.50 .... more than my local feed store, or Menards at $4.49 for 25 lb. bag. There's a quarry nearby that manufactures gypsum, so cheap here in my Chicagoland. I WOULD NOT use Pennington gypsum plus lawn fertilizer, if it's chemical nitrogen (high in salt). What I did wrong was to throw 1 cup of POWDER-gypsum on top ... it's acidic, plus fast release of calcium, which drove down potassium, necessary for rust-prevention. Previous times with 1/8 cup of GRANULAR gypsum, along with sulfate of potash ... no problems whatsoever. I would use even less GRANULAR gypsum, like 1 teaspoon, along with 1 teaspoon sulfate of potash, plus 0.2 cup of Milorganite. The best ratio for veggies is 1 part nitrogen, 1 part potassium, and 1/2 part calcium. Roses have a higher need for calcium, so I use equal amount to potassium. Sulfate of potash NPK is 0-0-50, and Milorganite NPK is 5-2-0. Take 50 divide by 5, you'll get 10. Ten teaspoons of Milorganite is equivalent to 0.2 cup, best with 1 teas. of sulfate of potash, and 1 teas. of gypsum. I would use more sulfate of potash & gypsum with pale own-root like Jude which needs more potassium for blooming, plus more sulfur for leaves to be darker-green. PALE own-root like Duchess de Rohan, W.S. 2000, Jude, Eglantyne, Honey Bouquet, Comte de Chambord can take more gypsum at 17% sulfur, and more sulfate of potash at 23% sulfur. DARK green roses grafted on Dr. Huey, and French roses dislike acidic sulfates. Bone meal has high sulfate at 2000 ppm, and 400 iron & 300 sodium, with the dark-green roses break out in diseases. I put too much bone meal in Gruss an Teplitz hole ... he's the parent of Dr. Huey, it became a BS-fest, and I had to fix the hole. Pennington fish pellets NPK 4-6-6, high phosphorus with fish bone meal. The pale & lighter-green roses LOVE that tea, today tiny Jude broke out in 2nd flush, 3 more buds with that tea, very fast repeat. Austin roses, bred in an acidic & high rain England like that ratio ... The ratio in David Austin Rose food has NPK 9.5 - 7.5 -10 ... a bit higher nitrogen due to high-rain England, which leaches out nitrogen. Acidic sulfates help pale-own-root to bloom better, but sulfates also burns if in direct-contact with roots, best as SOLUBLE. Pennington pellets is best as SOLUBLE tea under hot sun, to spoon-feed wimpy own-roots which can't acid-phosphatase as band-size. Bone meal is OK for pale own-root the planting hole, if mixed-thoroughly and buffered by plenty of soil. Bone meal burns if applied on top. Concentrated amount of sulfates near the stem burn. One person killed his tomato plant by topping with Jobe's Organic tomato fertilizer NPK 2-7-4, high in bone meal. When I mixed that stuff THOROUGHLY in the planting hole, I got bumper-crop tomato. Same with gypsum, at 17% sulfur, and sulfate of potash, at 23% sulfur. Both burns my finger, and burns any root, best used as soluble. If I sprinkle some on top, I flood the basin immediately with water, to dilute that, along with milorganite for nitrogen. Tomato Tone has NPK 3-4-6, neutral pH & less phosphorus ... it didn't burn my tomato plant, so that can be applied at 1/4 cup before a rain. It's finer particle & tend to float, best to let rain work that in. Milorganite is best 0.2 cup with 1 teas. sulfate of potash and 1 teas. of granular gypsum .... spread that on top before a rain, if you are lazy like me. Safe approach would be Milorganite on top, then make soluble out of potassium & calcium per gallon of water. Roses are all different from each other, the pale ones require more sulfates, potassium, and phosphorus via SOLUBLE to bloom. The darker-green leaves like Dr. Huey can secret acids to utilize nutrients from soil, thus breaking out in diseases when too much acid is supplied, like rain-water (pH 5.6 in East coast), or sulfates in bone meal, gypsum, and sulfate of potash .. which are components of Pennington Pellets. Sharon, best wishes with your roses. They all are different from each other ... such as pale Graham Thomas which required an ungodly amount of potassium & phosphorus as soluble to bloom for a Texan. It took me 3 years, and countless failed experiments to learn the above. This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Sun, Jul 20, 14 at 11:19