Bone Meal Uses In Gardening For Infestations

Is your garden fertilizer causing pest insect infestations on your plants?

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Is there a connection between the fertilizers you use and the pest insect problems you're having? Decades of research says "yes." Here's what you can do about it.

If you want to seriously geek out on where synthetic nitrogen fertilizer comes from and what its global impacts are, we suggest you read our article 5 Facts You Should Know About Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizer.

In this article, we're going to briefly discuss a side-effect of using synthetic nitrogen fertilizer that you probably don't know about. We'll also recommend a different, better soil fertility approach for you to consider.

Is Your Fertilizer Causing Pest Insect Infestations?

If you're not familiar with how soil microorganisms and plants interact, the notion that fertilizer could cause pest insect infestations might seem very strange. What mechanism(s) would explain the causality?

Let's take a quick look at what the research says on this matter:

From the USDA's SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education program):

A review of 50 years of research identified 135 studies showing more plant damage and/or greater numbers of leaf-chewing insects or mites in nitrogen-fertilized crops, while fewer than 50 studies reported less pest damage. Researchers have demonstrated that high nitrogen levels in plant tissue can decrease resistance and increase susceptibility to pest attacks. Although more research is needed to clarify the relationships between crop nutrition and pests, most studies assessing the response of aphids and mites to nitrogen fertilizer have documented dramatic expansion in pest numbers with increases in fertilizer rates.

How does feeding your plants synthetic nitrogen fertilizer cause them to attract pest insects?

Cultural methods such as crop fertilization can affect susceptibility of plants to insect pests by altering plant tissue nutrient levels. Research shows that the ability of a crop plant to resist or tolerate insect pests and diseases is tied to optimal physical, chemical and mainly biological properties of soils. Soils with high organic matter and active soil biology generally exhibit good soil fertility. Crops grown in such soils generally exhibit lower abundance of several insect herbivores, reductions that may be attributed to a lower nitrogen content in organically farmed crops. On the other hand, farming practices, such as excessive use of inorganic fertilizers, can cause nutrient imbalances and lower pest resistance. More studies comparing pest populations on plants treated with synthetic versus organic fertilizers are needed. Understanding the underlying effects of why organic fertilization appears to improve plant health may lead us to new and better integrated pest management and integrated soil fertility management designs.

-Altieri & Nicholls, "Soil fertility management and insect pests: harmonizing soil and plant health in agroecosystems." Elsevier's Soil & Tillage Research Journal, 2003

In short, if you want to create ideal conditions for a pest insect infestation, feed your plants with synthetic/inorganic nitrogen fertilizer. Then, you can spend lots of time, money, and effort applying pesticides to try to get rid of the problem.

However, if you want to grow healthy garden plants with strong immune systems and robust communities of symbiont microorganisms, we suggest you take a different approach: biological soil fertility.

With biological soil fertility, your plants won't be a magnet for pest insects and will be better equipped to fend off whatever pest insects they might encounter (especially if aided by predatory insects in your garden/farm system).

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Cofounder of GrowJourney.com. Aaron is an organic gardening teacher, heritage breed duck evangelist, writer, health nut, and entrepreneur. He's the former farm manager at Oak Hill Cafe & Farm, a no-till, permaculture, farm-to-table restaurant in Greenville, SC. Aaron is a Furman University) graduate. In addition to their collaboration on GrowJourney, Aaron and his wife, Susan, are cofounders of TyrantFarms.com, a popular blog dedicated to garden-to-table cooking, foraging, wild mushrooms, heritage breed ducks, and parenting. Aaron also writes for Edible Upcountry Magazine, WordPress (.com), Daily Harvest Express, Healthy Minds and other food, health, and tech-related organizations. He serves on the board of the Diversified Agriculture Committee for the South Carolina Farm Bureau.