HuMore is a great organic fertilizer. It has been used in research projects at major agriculture colleges, including Texas A&M University, and has been found to be effective. In some cases, it was more effective than the chemical products tested in the same studies. It is especially helpful to the beneficial soil fungi and other microbes.

I don't generally use it because I use so much compost, compost tea....and even make my own alfalfa tea from time to time (for the plants, not me, LOL) that my soil is already getting what it needs. As for donating compost? Oh girl, you are dreaming! There is a reason they call it "black gold"! You know, though, that as long as you are mulching, you ARE composting.....sheet composting. As your mulch breaks down, it turns into compost...and with no work on your part, except for spreading the mulch to begin with. For people who don't compost, mulching serves the same purpose over time.

Dawn

I thought that mulch usually tied up the nitrogen in the soil, or depleted it. Anyway, I always, at the very minimum, top dress my beds with chicken manure every year, and several times throughout the spring, summer, and fall (not too late in fall, tho).

I was wondering about the microbial action and whether Hu-more actually was effective in contributing to that environment or not. I have some good soil in my yard, and I also have some bad. Most of the bad soil is under trees where the soil is so compacted, that I would have to use a bulldozer to break it up. It's like concrete. But, my violets will grow there, and I have a raised bed there.

Yeah, I was just kidding about the compost, ya know! Thanks for the help! Now, I just need to get out tomorrow and finish planting and potting up. I am doing more pots this year because they are easier for me to keep track of, and also because it is easier on my back than digging new beds everywhere. I use them for annuals and very cold hardy perennials that I know will overwinter in them. Anything that is borderline (zone 7 and warmer) goes into the ground because it's much more likely to survive there.

Susan

Mulch itself does not tie up nitrogen as long as it is on the surface of the soil. If it is tilled into the soil, that is where it does tie up nitrogen. (Not an insurmountable problem, though, as you can just add lots of extra nitrogen to the soil to make up for it.)

HuMore IS wonderful and does a lot to improve soil life.

I knew you were kidding about the compost. Still, you never know, there might be someone who would give some away.

I don't dig a lot of new beds anymore either. I'd rather make a lasagna garden even though it takes longer. Three years ago, though, we bought a little Troy-Bilt cultivator and it has changed my life. I couldn't ever use the big rear-tine tiller because it is too powerful for me. And, DH is not always around when I want something tilled up. Now, I can use my cultivator on everything but the hardest clay soil. It is broken right now and we're waiting for parts to come in. I can't complain, though. I've used it for 3 years and this is the first time something on it has broken.

Dawn

Susan,

I have used this brand 2 years, just on my tomato plants of course. The first year was in 2005, the best tomatoes ever, which I thought was because of the Hu-more, I bragged about it to EVERYBODY, but after finding this site, I realize it may have been the drought, that made the flavor so good. I used it last year on 1/2 of my tomato plants, but couldn't tell that big of a difference, between it and the walmart humus, but that may be because of all of the rainfall. Sheri