What are the common misconceptions about chemical fertilizers? A correct understanding is crucial
Because of years of cultivation and years of chemical fertilizer use, the soil has become compacted and degraded, nutrients are imbalanced, water quality is polluted by eutrophication, and crop quality has declined, which makes people reject food grown with chemical fertilizers and prefer crops grown organically. There is reason to this.
In fact, all of this is caused by unscientific and uncontrollable fertilization. Organic fertilizers and chemical fertilizers are like Chinese and Western medicine, highly complementary to each other.
Organic fertilizers and chemical fertilizers are exactly the same in function, the ions they break down into are exactly the same, and the nutrient elements absorbed by plants are also the same. Both are broken down into the same ions before being absorbed and used by plants. For example, under the action of microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, enzymes, organic acids, and so on, organic fertilizers slowly break down into nitrate ions, ammonium ions, phosphate ions, sulfate ions, potassium ions, calcium ions, copper ions, as well as iron, zinc, manganese, magnesium, boron, molybdenum, and other ions; chemical fertilizers also break down into these ions before being absorbed and used by plants. I do not know what differences in nutrient composition between organic fertilizers and chemical fertilizers cause everyone to reject chemical fertilizers, while producers cannot grow food without them. Organic vegetables reject chemical fertilizers, but phosphate rock powder can still be used (phosphate fertilizer is also purified from phosphate rock, and its heavy metal content is even lower than that of phosphate rock powder), as can calcium chloride. Are these not similar to chemical fertilizers? Moreover, the production of chemical fertilizers has many safety standards, such as the requirement that heavy metals in chemical fertilizers must not exceed the limit. May I ask, can other fertilizers do this? The idea that vegetables grown without chemical fertilizers taste better is, I think, misleading.
The vegetables I grow with tap water plus chemical fertilizer taste pretty good too. At the very least, they should be cleaner and more hygienic than vegetables irrigated with manure, and they should have far fewer harmful bacteria too. So why put chemical fertilizers on a blacklist? It feels a bit like turning pale at the mention of chemical fertilizers. In fact, as long as the amount of each element in chemical fertilizers is well controlled and they are applied according to the growth habits of the crops, the vegetables produced are not inferior to organic vegetables, and may even be better than organic vegetables.
Organic vegetables and hydroponic vegetables each have their own advantages and disadvantages. The organic fertilizers used for organic vegetables decompose slowly, and they are greatly influenced by the crop roots. In addition to natural degradation of organic fertilizers, plants also break down many organic acids, enzymes, and other substances to decompose these organic matter for their own use. For example, when a crop needs phosphorus and iron, it will secrete many organic acids to dissolve these substances. Or it will cultivate related bacteria, fungi, and other related microorganisms to decompose the organic matter. Therefore, crops have a certain selective and controlling effect on the degradation of organic matter. What about hydroponics then? Its nutrient elements are very easy for people to regulate at will, so as to meet the needs of plant growth.