I'm glad you understood my post. I haven't applied synthetic fertilizers on my lawn in years. I use a weed hound for my weeds. Even when I used synthetics, I used a low maintenance approach, so I'd use some 21-0-0 once in the fall and once in the spring. I spot sprayed for weeds until I found the weed hound. A synthetic approach can be less expensive than an organic approach. I've seen the arguments that list the cost of the Scotts 12 step program compared with using cultural practices to control weeds and using organic fertilizers, but you can use the cultural practices with synthetics, as well, so I think the cost advantage is with organics in two cases: if you are replacing the Scotts 12 step program or if you are using waste material for fertilizer. Since I switched from the 21-0-0 applied 2x a year to using coffee grounds applied as often as I get them, my costs for fertilizer and weed killer went from $6 a year to $0 a year. I think there are other benefits to using organics. I've seen people say that ammonium sulfate lowers the pH of the soil. The pH lowering is cited as a reason to use organics. If ammonium sulfate lowered the pH to any significant degree, I'd go back to it in a heartbeat. It may have a slight adverse effect on soils that are already low pH, but I've had seen the pH of my soil improve much more with organics. Organics move the soil closer to neutral no matter which way the soil was off before. In a heavy clay soil like mine, organics improve the ability of the soil to absorb water. In sandy soil, organics improve water retention. I would have some problems with spreading grains on my lawn for a couple of reasons, but I don't have a problem with others using the grains. My family didn't have a lot when I was growing up, so spreading grains feels too much like throwing food on the lawn to me (even though it wouldn't be food for me, it would still be food). I don't have a problem with others doing it, but that's one reason I don't. Another reason I don't use grains is that it takes a lot more urea or ammonium sulfate to produce the corn that I'd apply than the amount of urea or ammonium sulfate that I'd use instead of corn. I think that is not true for soybean meal, since it's a legume. If I use corn on my lawn, I'm being environmentally friendly to my lawn, but not to the planet. If you're focused on your lawn, the corn is a much more environmentally friendly option. In some ways, I'm more of a fanatic than almost anybody here. I'm working on replacing my traditional lawn with native grasses. Most of my neighbors have been watering daily for a couple of weeks. I haven't even tested my sprinklers yet. Once I start watering, I'll water once a week until after the fireworks season. Then, I'll stop completely and let my non natives die. I'll overseed in late fall for spring germination. My goal is little or no water other than what nature provides (almost nothing in the summer months). If I have to water once a month to keep the natives green, I'm much more comfortable with that than twice a week.

It actually doesn't address productivity of one method vs. the other. There are no grape growing in either picture. I am more in line with that organic approach, but still- it's not fair to say that the organic produces better based on that article.

Thank you, Michael, for the link. It's very interesting. Personally I don't like horse manure since it's very alkaline due to the lime stables use to deodorize the stalls, plus the salt in the manure. However, for alkaline soil with pH over 7, neither rock phosphate nor bone meal work. University of Colorado recommends manure for alkaline soil. An acidic source of cow manure, pH of 4, is Green Thumb Organics Inc., LaPorte, IN. The other bagged cow manure I tested Moo-manure from HomeDepo, has pH over 8 for my Chicagoland area. Here is a link that might be useful: Phosphorus and alkaline calcareous soil

While compost is wonderful stuff, and I wouldn't dream of growing tomatoes at home other than in a bed or container chock full of decomposed organic material, one still should remember that no nutrients whether "organic" or "chemical" are taken up and used by the plant until they have broken down to their elemental form ... their base chemical form ... nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, mangnesium, calcium, iron, sulfur, whatever. As said in a post above, the nutrients must be water soluable before they are of any use to the plant. One also should remember that while the compost is breaking down, certain organic components like leaves, bark chips, sawdust, and other rough cellulose materials will rob the compost of nitrogen as the rotting process advances. So, some finished compost, while looking wonderful and providing a fantastic growing medium, may be deficient in nitrogen and other essential nutrients for that matter ... and the addition of those particular nutrients is advisable. The choice of whether you add organic-source or chemical-source boosters is yours. But regardless the source, you should provide the initial needs before and when you plant the seedlings, and then feed your tomatoes what they indicate a need for as the season progresses. Bill