Archive for the ‘SHOT Comparisons’ Category

Today I began a summer-long fertilizer comparison. I will put our ORMUS-based SHOT next to 7 other fertilizer, plant food, root stimulants, or soil amendment product. “Why?” You might ask. The reason is simple.

SHOT is a remarkable product. But as as both a small-commercial gardener as well as a home gardener, I want to understand more about how my plants will product. There are many products on the market that can enhance each other. For example, some products are designed to increase the mineral content in the soil. Others are designed to increase the humic acid in the soil. Still others are just designed as a fertilizer.

In this series of tests, I will be keeping records to see which products work best separately as well as symbiotically with SHOT. Of course, we will be documenting this entire process with dates, photos, and probably with videos as well.

The primary comparisons will be done on strawberries. I have a small commercial strawberry patch. We have eight double rows of strawberries, each 75 feet long. We will be testing the different products on different parts of the strawberries. We will measure growth rate, healthy appearance, size of fruit, time of fruiting, taste of fruit. We will also be adding SHOT to various other plants, especially tomatoes in the same 1/4 acre garden.

List of plant foods, fertilizers, root stimulants

Each of the products will include a suffix (A0-A9). The photos and discussion will reference these suffixes in order to track the progress.

Control Set (A0)

This set of plants will receive no fertilizers or enhancements of any kind. They will receive identical treatment in all other respects.

SHOT (A1)

Well, this one is obvious. Our purpose is to see how each of these products compare to or work with SHOT in a symbiotic way. SHOT includes fish waste (not emulsion), worm castings, and ORMUS. This is the only ORMUS product available in this series. However, we will use some of the other products in combination with SHOT in a series of B tests.

Miracle Gro (A2)

We are including Miracle Gro almost as a second control set. Many people are familiar with Miracle Gro. However, it is a chemical based product, so I will not use Miracle Gro on the remainder of my plants. However, it will be used as a measure of plants with some type of regular fertilizer as compared to the Control Set (A0).

Ferti-loam Fish Emulsion Fertilizer (A3)

Ferti-loam is also included because it is a popular brand, readily available in garden retail stores across the country. This will be used according to manufacture’s direction.

Monty’s Joy Juice (A4)

This product is available only online and through agricultural retail outlets. This product is more comparable to Miracle Gro. It is highly focused on N-P-K, not on a full-spectrum organic product. This product is labeled as 4-15-12.

NuEarth (A5)

NuEarth is promoted as a natural growth stimulant.  It is applied more to the foliage of the plant. This product has a very short shelf life.

ProtoGrow (A6)

Protogrow is advertised as full-spectrum plant nutrition from the sea. It is called a “naturally balanced ‘Superfood’ for plants.” This product, too, is instructed to apply to the foliage of the plant.

Monty’s Liquid Carbon (A7)

Monty’s Liquid Carbon is considered to be a humic acid soil conditioner designed to aid in breaking down organic matter. It is designed to increase the moisture retention of the soil. This is generally designed to work with other products.

Diehard Transplant (A8)

This is a unique product. “It is a mycorrhizal fungi stimulants trichoderma absorbent gel.” This product is designed to add to the soil once. It then creates healthy bacteria in the soil to help feed the plants.

Ionic Mineral Supplement (A9)

This product is unique. This is a complete full-spectrum mineral supplement. The manufacturers capture the “inland sea” full spectrum minerals of the Great Salt Lake. Mercury and other toxic menerals are extracted, and then it is formulated for appropriate concentrations. The purpose of this product is to restore the macro- and micro-nutrients in the soil.

All of these products are unique. Many of them may be integrated with each other. We will document the growth of these products through the summer.