Hey I have heard of people useing home vitamins to grow veggies, is this organic and if so does anyone have any recipes or tell me if you just put the vitamins in the whole (like under a tomatoe plant ect ect)just curious on this issue. Thanks Dave
I actually tried this once...had a whole bunch of childrens chewables that my kids wouldn't take. Didn't notice any benefits from it, though. On the other hand, I HAVE noticed tremendous benefits from fertilizers like Greensand, Glacial Rock dust, and Azomite...
There are plenty of free vitamins and nutrients in any plant or animal waste or remains or any food sources.
I like using rotten meats like fish scraps, old milk products, old candies or cookies, old breads, etc. Then I store them in separate 5 gallon buckets using a little rainwater and compost and molasses for extra microbial action and faster decomposition. Then I use a little of this rotting paste for extra nutrients and microbes in my various aerated compost tea brews.
Liquid natural biostimulants like compost tea or fish/seaweed teas are the most efficient ways to get nutrients and microbes into or onto plants or in the soil. Liquids are up to 20 times more efficient in foliar/soil drench applications than compost alone, or any other dry soil amendments.
Don't know about "dosing" plants with vitamins, but I did add some old ones to my compost pile. I found a bottle of multi-vitamins that hadn't been consumed and was expired. I figured if people could digest the coating, then the compost pile would break it down, too. And, never any harm in putting something I would put in my mouth in the compost pile, right?
My Dad's a chemist, and I ran this question by him a few weeks ago: I thought I might be dealing with a magnesium shortage with my tomatoes last year and wondered if I could just grind up some old tablets I've had around. Magnesium is a standard element, he said, so it shouldn't morph into anything you should be concerned about. Just watch for any fillers or added ingredients. He also said to use plenty of water as the pills are added to the soil so the element will be more readily available to the plants. I mixed it in with some compost when I dug my tomato holes.
