Organic vs. Inorganic

Please one simple true answer...

what is the difference?

currently i am using fox farms ocean forest soil
with the flora nova nutrients (general hydroponics) (said to be semi-organic).
So another question would be:
can organic nutrients be used in hydro? why or why not?
can inorganic (synthetic) nutrients be used in an organic grow (soil)?
thanks

kngblnk said:

Please one simple true answer...

what is the difference?

currently i am using fox farms ocean forest soil
with the flora nova nutrients (general hydroponics) (said to be semi-organic).
So another question would be:
can organic nutrients be used in hydro? why or why not?
can inorganic (synthetic) nutrients be used in an organic grow (soil)?
thanks

Click to expand...

there is a distinction between "organic" and approved for "organic" gardening....

organic vs. inorganic
anything carbon based is considered organic, anything that does not contain carbon is inorganic, chemically speaking.

plants uptake various forms of elements, but mainly uptake inorganic nutrients. Salts are predominate. Some organic minerals can be assimilated by plants in soil, but this seems largely due more to healthy mycorrizhae population, that may or may not exist with all plant species....

So how does organic and organic gardening work then? Compost for instance is basically a balance ration of 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen, which breaks down carbon [mostly lignin, which is sugar] to feed microlife in the soil. The microlife in turn then basically shit out inorganic nutrients or precursors for other life, to repeat the same process. And they also can eliminate bonds of inorganic nutrients in the soil thru enzyme release, which then plants or fungi can uptake.

Most hydro setups are inorganic, ok, mainly salts of various forms. Organic solutions could be used, but the problem lies in converting the carbon into inorganic molecules and precursors just like soil. The reason is anaerobic fermentation. In soil, or in compost making, carbon breakdown even in aerated compost will go thru a stage where lack of oxygen is present and only certain organisms will survive.

When you attempt this process in water solution, so in true hydro that is constantly aerated, it will never go thru a complete breakdown process and problems will occur. Nitrates and ammonia will accumulate most likely, but can start to choke out oxygen if the concentration gets high, which start to affect pH and kH and on and on and on.

I actually think it can be done, hydroponically, but you would have to process your organic fert 1st....I have experimented [ing] with this. I make stinging nettle fertilizer, that I have been using for about 4 years. Last year exclusively.

I used bottled OMRI Alaska Fish Food and OMRI Growmore Seaweed Extract in the past and I cannot tell a difference as I haven't become more experienced.

I also make my own soil, that helps a lot too...

Sorry for the overload 1st!

Organic vs inorganic is a pretty broad subject. People have different measuring sticks... even when it comes to the government. Some states allow some hydroponic systems to be classified as organic, and some states require that it be grown in soil to be classified as organic. (How you can have a 100% organic hydro set-up is beyond me, but that's another topic...)

As far as science can tell, plants need nutrients, and so long as you give them to the plants in a form they can take-up... there is no difference.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12696944

The only negative research paper I've seen was done on leafy greens, and they had much lower beta-carotene and lutein than the soil grown plants. But then again, they weren't given direct sunlight either... the researchers even acknowledged that.

On the other hand, I can find lots of papers giving the benefits of hydro.

Ask a grower though, and it's one spectrum or the other. Most either hail hydro as the next coming of christ... or curse it with every breathe.

We've been experimenting with hydro since the 1600s (Francis Bacon actually experimented with it...)
We've been growing with hydro set-ups since the 1930s...
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t51g1sb8j;view=1up;seq=1
And we haven't found anything bad/wrong/dangerous about it yet.

Oh, and as for quality... lay out 8 or 10 strains for someone to try. Most higher-end dispensaries will be able to tell you if its grown in hydro or soil, as they know their donators fairly well. Have someone taste test all 10 and tell you which is hydro and which is soil. I've done it. I've made my friends try it. You can't.

As it is with most things... it isn't what's grown that messes up, it's the grower. You can screw the pooch in both soil and hydro and come out with terrible plants.
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The question of *can* something be used is also different than *should* it be used. *Can* you use your homemade worm casting and shellfish meal tea in your hydro set-up? Yeah, throw that shit in. *Should* you? No probably not, as your pumps and hoses will quickly get clogged from deposits in most cases.

As for soil and synthetics... soil is just a medium. Sterilized soil and RO water might be able to grow a plant, but it isn't going to be what you are looking for. Whether you are using a homemade tea, or your favorite go-go juice from the hydro shop... it still needs something. (Yes, even you TLO guys still add in what you need, you just do it while making the soil.)

Plants literally have a chemical recipe for success. Follow the recipe, and your plants will come out fine, whether it's in organic soil or the salt hydro of doom.


And for the record I grow in Happy Frog with Botanicare PBP, CalMag, and Molasses only. Just before the synthetic witch-hunt begins...

Organic has various meanings. In the agricultural sense for plant nutrition it means to be derived from organic matter. Organic matter is material that is alive or was once alive (organic compounds in chemistry contain Carbon with other elements particularly hydrogen).

Explanations can be long and drawn out, but the goal is basically to allow biology such as soil microbes to mediate nutrient uptake along with the plant. Nutrition is derived mainly from organic waste materials (manure\byproducts from herbivores, plant-derived raw material by-products or other once living materials (e.g. kelp meal, alfalfa) which are broken down into usable plant nutrient [ions] and humus\humic substances (which enhance nutrient uptake).

In order to really understand this, you have to know a little bit about how plants actually function and the basics of soil science. Plants have been growing on Earth without us for unimaginable periods of time but suddenly in the past century we get the idea that we know best. It has caused problems that come from mismanagement of arable land and ultimately has killed soil quality and plant health in many agricultural areas.

To answer the OPs second question, you can (and most do) mix organic and non-organic fertilizers for the most part. There are some things that do not mix well, as they will kill off the good microbes in your soil.

If you are really growing organics, I think you need to stay away from flushing your soil, you spend a lot of time building your microbial colonies within the soil, you don't want to wash it all away.