Why should you add nitrogen to the soil without fertilizer?
You may have many questions about the relations between nitrogen and soil. Fortunately, there is a strong connection between them to plant the crops, trees, or tiny plants properly. You will learn the importance of nitrogen of a plant’s health in this article.
Why Nitrogen?
Nitrogen, usually found in the air, is an essential element for plants to grow up healthy. It contains amino acids, proteins, and other friendly elements for your crop fields and gardens. Trees have this element through their roots from the soil. If there is an ample amount of nitrogen, plants will likely to be grown greener and faster.
Nitrogen in Fertilizers
People nowadays tend to use fertilizers containing nitrogen. They are readily available and straightforward to use. These fertilizers are built for growing vegetables, flowers, and fruits. But sometimes they are not up to the marks. Artificial harsh chemicals prevent plants from producing well. These ingredients make tree stems weaker. Besides, your investment would be entirely a loss for the infertility of the plants. Moreover, fertilizers may pollute the air, contaminate the soil.
On the other hand, natural usages of nitrogen to soil have no side effects. They won’t create nuisance things that could restrict you from becoming a successful garden owner or farmer. But how to add nitrogen to the soil without fertilizer?
Before that, know when you should add nitrogen to soil.
Signs of Nitrogen Deficient Plants
When your plants have nitrogen deficiency, they won’t be productive as regularly. They will grow slowly and become smaller than usual. The leaves or foliage will turn pale and yellow when the plants are nitrogen deficient. The rate of blooming flowers, having fruits will be notably lower. The reasons behind all these are just a lack of nitrogen. The trees can’t grow cells without this ingredient.
How to Test Nitrogen Levels
You can collect soil testing tools from the hardware stores. Many plant nurseries have their toolkit to examine the fertility of the soil. It would be better if you contact them. They may suggest you how to test the nitrogen level of land.
How to Convert Nitrogen To Soil Naturally:
Experts suggest two standard methods like nitrogen-fixing and composting.
Fixing the level of nitrogen helps plants to acquire a complete photosynthesis process. Some bacteria are there to convert air-found nitrogen into solid-state through mixing in the soil. You can plant beans, peas, etc. plants to increase the number of these bacteria.
If you don’t like to use harmful fertilizers, you can use natural compost to add nitrogen to soil. You don’t need to buy bags of chemicals or powders. Make the natural composts for nitrogen at home with regularly used things. These are biodegradable and mix directly to the soil. The moisture level becomes friendly for the plants. Besides, they protect trees and plants from diseases.
Here are some organic materials to add nitrogen:
Banana Peels
It’s the thing we eat for healthy nutrients. After eating the banana, we can use the peels. You can use the peels directly into a flower bed. You can also use them by adding to the compost pile bottom. Dig holes in the soil and place the peels. Leave the beds alone for a couple of days and start planting.
Coffee Grounds
If you are a pro-level coffee addict, you can save time and money to add nitrogen to the soil. You can also collect them from the nearest coffee shops for the gross amount.
Coffee grounds can add magnesium, potassium, copper, phosphorus, nitrogen to the soil. They can increase or attract useful earthworms. Besides, slugs or cats stay away for the aroma of coffee grounds.
You can mix the grounds while preparing the soil for plant beds. You can also sprinkle them in the garden or the field. Then water the areas for the penetration of coffee grounds’ nutrients. Adding grounds to compost pile can be another to add nitrogen naturally.
Some experts suggest making diluted, weak coffee infusion with water. You can wash the grounds for a more neutral pH balance.
Leaves
Leaves can be an organic way to add nitrogen. You should use them before you start planting. Scatter 2-4 inches of leaves to create leafy mulch on the garden beds. Then water them for keeping them in place.
You can also use the leaves to make compost piles. But you should ardently keep in mind that using wet leaves may spread unpleasant smells from the compost.
Cover Crops
Some crops are beneficial to boost the nitrogen level. These are not actually for harvesting instead of organics to grow other plants well. Clover is such a fantastic crop to be used as a natural fertilizer.
The problem with these crops is you may need more effort to remove them and suppress weed growth. You may use plastic mulch method as an alternative to this situation.
Fish Emulsion and Tank Water
Fish emulsion is a commercial product usable on crop fields, gardens. It is made of fish bones, scales, skins, etc. You can also make this at home by cutting small fishes into pieces and mixing them into soil. The soil gets a sufficient amount of nitrogen from the fish emulsion.
Fish manure or fish tank water contains a high amount of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus. If you have a fish tank, clean it first. But save the old water in a pot or bucket. Then pour on the plant beds thoroughly. Avoid using fish tank water if you have used any medicine for the fishes.
Eggshells
Eggshells are a readily available product to make compost for plants. You can collect the old eggshells from nearby restaurants, neighbors if the need is more. However, dry the eggshells first and crush them. Then add them directly to soil or mix in the compost pile. It will add a low amount of nitrogen but sufficient calcium to the soil.
Food Waste
Plant-based food wastes are suitable for use in plant composts. But it takes long time to finish the process. You can add these food wastes to the compost: corn cobs, fruit rinds, vegetables, nutshells, stale bread, tea leaves, etc.
Manure
Domestic animal manure contains a large amount of nitrogen. Half-year-old manure is more comfortable to absorb. You can use these herbivorous animals’ manure like cows, goats, rabbits, ducks, horses, etc. Using manure, soil also gets phosphorus and zinc. You should use gloves before you start using the manure.
Ashes
Don’t throw out the fireplace ash to the bin. You can use them for planting. Avoid spreading the wood ash in a massive rainy or windy day. Keep the ash layer thickness below 1/8”.
Grass Clippings
This is another easily available thing to make compost for adding nitrogen to the soil. Bring a mulching mower and use it to collect all the grass clippings. You can also rake after mowing the lawn. Then shovel them directly to the garden. Make thin layers of grass clippings at the root of plants. Then, after a couple of days, your plants will get nitrogen and potassium.
Final Words
It’s not hard to believe that you can harvest plants and crops without using fertilizers. For adding nitrogen to soil, these ingredients, as mentioned above, are incomparable. You can easily turn them into compost or directly mix in the soil. However, these organic chemistries are helpful for the environment, safe, and sound for plantation.
Have a Green Day!