Natural Mineral Fertilizers - Make Your Own

Oct 5, 11:50 AM

Would you like to remove the guesswork from growing healthy plants, and know you’re feeding them just what they need? The Mittleider Magic fertilizer formulas provide all 13 natural mineral nutrients that vegetable plants need, and if you can’t find them pre-mixed locally, you can mix them yourself.

The Food For Everyone Foundation website Learn section at www.foodforeveryone.org/learn has Dr. Mittleider’s fertilizer formulas, which have been tested and proven in 34 countries all around the world. Look under Grow-Boxes at the lower left of the main screen, and then go to Fertilizers.

If you have a large garden or farm you’ll probably want to mix your fertilizers from “scratch”, using the formulas. However, if you have a typical family-sized garden, or even just some containers to grow in, you’ll most likely find it much easier, and probably less expensive, to get a couple of 10 ounce packets of Micro-Nutrients from the Foundation’s website at www.foodforeveryone.org/store and then only have to buy 4 of the main ingredients, N, P, K, and Epsom Salt (magnesium), which are almost always available locally, and fairly inexpensive as well.

It’s easy and hassle-free to mix a packet of micro-nutrients with 25#’s of 16-16-16 and 4# of Epsom Salt to obtain a good Weekly Feed. It’s also very inexpensive, when compared to anything else that’s even close to comparable, such as Miracle Gro.

For those of you who can’t find pre-mixed 16-16-16, 15-15-15, 13-13-13-, or 17-17-17, all of which are usable with the pre-packaged micro-nutrients, then check a farm-supply store for bags of each separately.

For example, you may be able to find 21-0-0 (ammonium sulfate), and 0-45-0 (triple super phosphate), and 0-0-50 (potassium sulfate). If so, mix 15# 21-0-0 with 4# 0-45-0, and 6# 0-0-50. That gives you 25# of a 110-60-110 mix, which is approximately the ratio in which your plants use the three Macro-Nutrients, and is even better than 16-16-16, etc.

Then add 4# of Epsom Salt from your pharmacy – mix it all together and you have the Weekly Feed mix. There are numerous other mixes of the “Big Three” nutrients – sometimes with two of them combined, such as 18-46-0 and 15-0-53. If you find that, just find some nitrogen and mix enough to get the 110-60-110 ratio, and you’re there.

Vegetable Garden or Raising Animals, Which is Best

Sep 18, 12:04 PM

For a vegetable gardening guy to be talking about animals may seem inconsistent to some, but since both provide food they are closely related, so I will discuss the general topic a bit here.

From age 12 until I left home for college I had the full responsibility for a cow, to which were added chickens, rabbits, pigs, and even a goat at various times. These all contributed significantly to and were important to our family’s food supply.

However, I didn’t understand at that time that it requires between 10 and 30 times as much land to produce a pound of protein from an animal source as from a plant source, and looking back I realize that our vegetable garden produced much more with less inputs than did the animals.

Dr. Jacob Mittleider, who taught me almost everything I know about gardening, had a special perspective on this issue, because as a Seventh Day Adventist he was a strict vegetarian. While I am not a vegetarian I also believe that we are healthier when we limit meat in our diets, and our personal family diet is usually less than 10% meat.

And both Dr. Mittleider’s and my own experience around the world confirm that most people have very limited space in which to produce their own food, thus making vegetable gardening the best choice for the greatest return on investment.

I submit that a Mittleider-Method garden, when cared for properly and consistently, is the best use of your time, efforts, space and money, and that excess food grown in your garden can usually be sold or traded for milk, eggs, and meat more efficiently than raising your own animals.

Nevertheless, there are other issues to be considered. Vegetables can’t begin to compete for the special feeling you may get from caring for animals, and those of you who DO have space may still want some animals.

If animals are in your plans, I encourage you to keep their living spaces clean, separate them from your garden so they don’t destroy it, and whenever possible feed them your excess plant residue as soon as the crop is harvested.

Chicken tractors (Google it), can be used for both chickens and rabbits, but must have a wire floor on them if you raise rabbits, because they will dig their way out quickly. If used efficiently chicken tractors can help you keep your yard clean and organized. Each time the tractor is moved remember to till the chicken or rabbit droppings (both of which are excellent fertilizers), etc. into the soil for natural composting without making a mess. And the same goes for all other animal manure. Get it into the soil and let it compost naturally, rather than having it smell bad and attract pests.

For those who have more space – and are willing to accept the responsibility for at least twice daily care (milking, feeding, etc.) – larger animals may also be an option.

Goats are one possible choice, as they are fairly small, don’t take a lot of space to house or graze, and will eat a wide variety of plants, but they don’t give a lot of milk, are not easy to milk, and many people don’t care for the taste of their milk.

My personal preference for a milk-producing animal is one or two Miniature Jersey cows. They are about 1/3 the size of full-size cows; they are very friendly and docile – even the bulls; they produce from 2 to 4 gallons of milk daily when fresh; and they only require a fraction of an acre for grazing.

Many websites have details about the miniature Jerseys. They are a rare breed so far, and will be expensive to buy, but after the initial investment, if you use the best breeding stock, you may be able to recover your initial capital outlays by selling excess calves.

Meanwhile, I will continue to focus on VEGETABLE GARDENING, but encourage those of you who have the interest, the commitment, and the required space for animals to consider the most efficient ways to benefit from them.

Finding and Mixing Mittleider Magic Fertilizers Made Easy

Sep 13, 08:29 AM

Does anyone else have a hard time finding the ingredients in the Mittleider method?

A. We struggled with this issue for many years until Dr. M and I:
(1) simplified the Pre-Plant formula and
(2) decided to buy, mix, package, and sell the Micro-Nutrients ourselves on the Foundation website.

Now for the Weekly Feed Mix all you have to do is:
(1) go to www.foodforeveryone.org, put your cursor on MATERIALS, click on Fertilizer, then order the Micro-Nutrients. One package costs $10.95 at the moment.
(2) Mix with 50# of NPK* and 8# of Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate) to give you
60# of Weekly Feed Mix.

*You can use any combination of N, P & K from 13-13-13 to 17-17-17 successfully.

For the Pre-Plant Mix just mix calcium, magnesium, and boron in the ratio of 80-4-1, with calcium being lime if you receive more than 20” of annual rainfall and gypsum of you receive less than that.

The easiest source of magnesium is Epsom Salt, which is available at your pharmacy, and boron is available in most stores’ Detergent sections as 20 Mule Team Borax.

It is worth doing! The balanced natural mineral nutrients are SO much better than traditional methods you will be amazed at the difference in your plants’ growth, appearance, and taste.

Recently at the University Del Cauca a professor had his class conduct an experiment comparing the Mittleider fertilizers with other methods and the results were dramatic in favor of Mittleider Magic.

Pictures are in the Photos section of the free gardening group called the MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com.

Get 2 Years' Supply of Nutrients NOW!

Aug 30, 08:22 PM

I recommend every serious gardener review your supply of and need for the natural mineral nutrients with which you feed your vegetable garden, and stock up NOW.

You should have at least a two-year supply on hand at all times. There is no loss in strength or availability, so don’t worry about that.

Get them before another round of financial meltdowns – personal or global – make it too expensive, or even unavailable.

We seem to have a lull in the problems right now, and we were able to get the Micro-Nutrient materials in sufficient quantities that we can provide them for the moment at the same cost as in the Spring.

And as extra motivation for you to stock up I will issue a 20% REFUND back on to your credit card for those who order 5 or more packages by September 30, 2009.

Let’s all make sure you’ve got everything you need to grow a healthy, productive garden.

Order Micro’s and other gardening books and materials at www.foodforeveryone.org/store.

Is Crop Rotation Necessary? What About pH and Soil Type?

May 6, 04:18 AM

The above questions were raised , specifically about the Foundation’s Garden Master software as follows: 1: Does the Garden Master software allow you to enter the soil type and pH and and does it make recommendations based on these factors? 2: Does the software recommend crop rotation techniques for after year 1?

The answer is no to both questions.

There is no need to change your gardening plans based on soil type or pH.

In multiplied thousands of gardens – in every type of soil – in almost every known climate – Mittleider growers have grown highly successful gardens, with a wide variety of vegetables, with no soil amendments.

The ONLY thing you DO need to know is if you receive more or less than 20” of annual rainfall.

If you receive less than 20” your soil will be alkaline and you need to use gypsum as your source of essential calcium. If you receive more than 20” you need to use lime. The reason for this is that lime raises soil pH and gypsum does not.

There are three reasons for crop rotation – 1) disease, 2) bugs, & 3) nutrition.

There is not enough space in a family garden to move plants far enough to effectively avoid last year’s disease or bug problem. The cultural practices we employ are of much more importance and efficacy in minimizing problems with diseases and pests.

And if you follow the Mittleider Method of feeding, your plants will receive ample nutrition, no matter what you planted there the year before, so no rotation is necessary.

Mittleider Method gardening in Russia today

Feb 18, 11:33 AM

I have managed to communicate with some of the graduates of the Zaokski Agriculture College, and learned some amazing things about the Mittleider Method in the Russian Commonwealth countries.

There is an article posted in the Files section of the MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com Group website – called Russianreport.doc.

Most all of the graduates of the Mittleider Agriculture Training Course are the envy of their communities. Many of them are
now highly successful commercial growers; some are even teaching agriculture in colleges and universities; some have TV programs; some have newspaper columns; and many of them continue to give gardening seminars themselves – with attendance sometimes in the thousands!

According to the responses I received it appears that the Mittleider Method of gardening is the most productive and popular method of family gardening in many regions of those countries.

How Healthy is Produce Grown in a Mittleider Garden?

Feb 18, 10:25 AM

An important question was recently asked by a member of the MittleiderMethodGardening@yahogroups.com group.

He asked “Has any type of testing ever been done on the MM produce? Just curious as I am just learning about the MM and putting in my first garden this year.” Ron

One memorable “test” of the quality of Mittleider Method-grown produce that I believe everyone will benefit from learning about is a situation that took place in Russia in 1989, when Jacob first went there to set up an Agriculture Program in a small newly established Adventist college in Zaokski – about 2 hours from
Moscow.

It was still the USSR at that time, and they were very suspicious of this American. They were just SURE he was doing something to hurt the Russian people.

Their Agriculture Agents came several times to the gardens and “stole” his beautiful healthy-looking plants, in order to test them for nitrate toxicity, etc.

After doing this several times some of the Agriculture Department scientists came to Jacob and admitted what they have been doing. They said that not only was there no toxicity in any of the plants they tested, but that Jacob’s plants were the healthiest they had ever seen.

They wanted to know all about what he was doing, and how he managed to get such healthy vegetables. Jacob was happy to teach them.

The Communists ended up sending some of the graduating students from Timorjasjev (sp), their most prestigious Agriculture University, to Jacob’s 3 month-long intensive training classes, and some of those students said “we learned more about growing
food in 3 months than we did in 5 years at the University”.

The government also for several years gave formal Certificates from that University to the graduates of Jacob’s classes.

They honored Jacob with a PhD from Timorjasjev, and they made him the featured speaker at the Yalta Conference of Agriculture Ministers.

And the Agriculture Minister went on their national television and announced that “The only food grown in Russia that’s fit to eat is grown in a Mittleider garden.”

Conduct Your Own Gardening Seminars!

Jan 16, 08:43 AM

We are happy to conduct free gardening seminars for groups, and do so whenever possible, however the super majority of you are neither in Utah nor Alabama (where we live), and so can’t easily arrange to attend a seminar with us.

However, after you become a competent Mittleider gardener yourself YOU can conduct seminars for your own groups, becoming more competent yourselves while helping others, and really do some good for the world around you!

Simply order the Gardening Seminars CD from me, study the 4 PowerPoint Presentations and additional files I’ve included, and offer your services to others who are interested. The seminars range in length from 1/2 hour to 2 hours, and include lots of excellent pictures and instruction.

I’ve priced it very HIGH, so only those who are truly committed and wealthy can do it! That’s a joke folks – it will cost you $10 plus $3 shipping.

You can pay through PayPal to jim@growfood.com and include your address. Or you can call me at 205-607-6210 to make other arrangements.

Meanwhile, I recommend you look in the Files section of the Group site at MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoo.groups.com for two files you can use to remind yourselves of the steps, and show
others to help them learn. They are called 6 Steps Recap and
Traditional Method, and they fit on legal-sized paper – preferably
front and back on one sheet.

Growing and Feeding Bananas

Jan 16, 08:35 AM

The question was asked by a grower in the South Pacific if the Mittleider Method works on banana trees. Following is my answer:

Yes, the Mittleider Method and the Mittleider natural mineral nutrient fertilizers work well with bananas. Let’s first learn a bit about growing them:

Banana plants are perennials which grow from underground rhizomes. The stalks are not real tree trunks, but are pseudostems, or tightly packed concentric layers of leaf sheaths, which support the leaves, and the flower and fruit bearing stalk.

One pseudostem may produce as many as 40 leaves. The plant also has an underground rhizome or corm, and a large fibrous root system. The entire plant is called a mat

The banana inflorescence (flowering stalk) emerges from the center of the pseudostem 10 to 15 months after planting, and 3-4 more months are required to produce mature fruit.

When the fruit reaches full size, and before it turns yellow the entire stalk is cut down, leaving only a stump, and the process begins again.

This entire cycle traditionally requires 15 to 18 months, but it can
be shortened when properly using the Mittleider nutrients.

Bananas are typically grown by propagating the larger “sword” or “maidenhead” pseudostems (including roots and some rhizome) from a mature rhizome, and then reducing the growing time for the following crop by allowing a second stalk to begin growing from the main rhizome of each of those propagated plants about 6 months after the first stalk emerges.

Recommended feeding times and amounts of the Mittleider fertilizers are as follows:

Mix 8 ounces (240 grams) Pre-Plant (PP) and 4 ounces (120 grams) Weekly Feed (WF) with the soil under and around the rhizome before planting.

Immediately after planting apply 2 ounces of nitrate or urea nitrogen to the soil around the plant, keeping at least 4” (10 cm) away from the stem.

After one week apply WF, and continue monthly, starting with 4 ounces and increasing by 4 ounces each month to 32 ounces after 8 months, applying fertilizer to the root zone and watering thoroughly each time.

Continue feeding monthly until one month before the fruit is mature, increasing the amount by 4 ounces each time.

Loosen the soil at the surface and apply Pre-Plant mix again at the
end of every 6 months, using twice as much as the amount of WF you are currently feeding.

How to Grow Peppers from Seed

Jan 11, 09:49 AM

Pepper seedlings are among the hardest vegetable plants to grow, and some of the hot peppers are even more difficult than sweet peppers.

Seeds should be planted at least 8 weeks before the ALFD (average last frost date) in your immediate area. And you should not transplant the seedlings into your garden until after the ALFD.

Use a soil mixture of 65% sawdust and 35% sand. Peat moss, perlite, Coconut husks, rice hulls, coffee hulls, or pine needles can substitute for the sawdust, alone or in any combination.

Mittleider Magic Pre-Plant mix should be applied to and mixed with the soil before planting seed – at 1 1/2 oz (3 tablespoons) per cubic foot of soil – then NO fertilizer should be applied until after the seedlings emerge. Water with plain water and keep the soil moist, but not soaking wet.

If you’re only growing a few (less than 50) plant the seeds 2” apart in a seedling flat. For hundreds or thousands of plants place 100-125 seeds per row in 1/4”-deep furrows 2” apart in a tray.

Cover the tray with burlap to avoid moving the seeds as you water.

Keep the planting soil-mix moist and between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. No light is best until the seeds show above the soil, then immediate sunlight is needed for 8-12 hours each day, to prevent the stem from “stretching” to seek adequate light.

If you can’t give the seedlings direct sunlight they must have grow-lights within 1” of the plant leaves for 16+ hours per day. Two Fluorescent lights – one warm and one cool – work well.

Again, constant temperatures should be maintained in the 75-85 range.

A Constant Feed solution of 16 ounces Weekly Feed mix to 55 gallons of water (a scant 1 ounce per 3 gallons water) should be used for watering the seedlings immediately after emergence.

Seedlings should be transplanted 2” – 2 1/2” apart by the time they get their second set of true leaves. The soil for this transplant should contain both Pre-Plant at 1 1/2 oz and Weekly Feed at 3/4 oz per cubic foot of soil mix.

Peppers grow slowly and need warm temperatures to do well. They will also require a few days to recover from the transplant, so don’t be discouraged if they are still small after 3-4 weeks.

Before transplanting to the garden take seedlings outside onto tables in full sun for 2 to 3 days, to “harden them off”, or acclimatize them to the outside growing conditions. If the nights get very cold bring the plants back inside.

Some protection may also be needed after the seedlings are in the garden. Mini-greenhouses made with greenhouse plastic over arched PVC frames will keep cold winds off the plants and allow the sun to warm the soil much faster.

Remove the covers when outside temperatures approach 70 degrees, and make sure that temperatures in the beds do not exceed 80-85 degrees. Some air flow during the daytime is important.

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