You need fertiliser on your block to replace the nutrients you take away when you harvest fruit and veg or animal products like meat and eggs.
At Fertco, we often get phone calls from lifestyle block owners. The conversation usually goes something like this …
‘We don’t seem to have much grass and what we do have is a bit yellow-looking apart from a few patches which are really green. Also, the paddocks are weedy and when you walk across them, there are lots of bare spots. Do you think some fertiliser would help?”
If your place looks like this, then yes, you absolutely do need fertiliser.
Fertiliser worries
We’re all too aware that fertiliser can be confusing, difficult to source in the quantities block owners need, and awkward to apply (but see our advert on this page for solutions to these challenges).
Add to these issues the negative publicity and misconceptions circulating about the impact of fertiliser on soil biology and the environment, and it’s no wonder that many block owners question whether they should apply it.
However, we’re guessing that you chose to live on a lifestyle block because you want to grow healthy food and farm healthy animals.
You just can’t do that without fertiliser.
If you take away, you must put back
The number one reason that you must put fertiliser on your block (and your garden and orchard too) is that whenever you harvest plants and crops, or remove animal products like meat and eggs from it, you are taking nutrients out of the system.
Pasture that looks like a patchwork quilt due to random patches of green is a sure sign that it’s time to put some nutrients back. The green patches are growing grass only because they’ve been fertilised by animal urine and dung. The remaining pasture still looks sickly because it is nutrient-deficient.
If your block was once part of a larger farm, it would have been fertilised annually. So the pasture was probably okay for the first three to four years after the subdivision. However, many nutrients will now have been used up and the soil fertility reduced to the point where plant growth is poor and your animals no longer look as healthy as you’d like.
NZ soils can be deficient
Another reason you need to put fertiliser on your block is that many soils in NZ are inherently short of plant-essential nutrients like phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). So pasture plants, which rely on these macronutrients, do not thrive unless these are added to the soil.
Seasonal deficiencies can also affect pasture growth. Nitrogen (N) is a macronutrient typically short in NZ pasture during spring when clover is not actively growing. If the grass is slow to get going in spring at your place, you may want to boost things along with a fertiliser that includes nitrogen.
Fertiliser increases soil biology
If you’re worried that fertiliser impacts soil biology and worms, don’t be. Long-term research trials in NZ have repeatedly proven that applying mineral fertilisers on grazed land increases soil microbial mass and earthworm numbers. This is because more pasture means more animal dung and urine, and more dead and uneaten herbage, so more food for everything that lives in the soil.
Fertiliser and the environment
Nowadays, there is no need to worry that you are damaging the environment by applying fertiliser. By heeding the Fertiliser Industry’s 4Rs of nutrient stewardship (the right product, at the right rate, in the right place, at the right time), you can avoid problems like leaching and run-off. At Fertco, we live by these Rs. We’re continually sourcing and manufacturing fertilisers that release their nutrients in a more controlled way, and are safer and more accurate to apply.
Our advice
Finally, you might like to set up an annual fertiliser programme for your block. Include what fertiliser you applied, when you applied it, and what changes you’ve noted over the past year. Add some photos, and any soil test results. This will allow you to track progress and ensure you get the best value for what you spend.
This article was published in the Coast & Country News.
