Best Nutrition for Vegetables - A Letter to Mr. Courier

Sep 23, 09:56 AM

The following response to a letter I received is important, I believe, in explaining some of the background as to why we do things the way we do. I invite all to study it, and appreciate any feedback (to jim@growfood.com).

Dear Mr. Courier:

What a detailed letter! You’ve obviously thought much about this subject, and I’ll try to give you Dr. Mittleider’s thoughts on the subjects you raise. If I understood you correctly, you are growing in 25% clay soil, 25% blow-sand, and 50% cottonwood chips. You are certainly wise to be concerned about adding proper nutrition to that mixture!

First, millions of field trials, in 75 projects conducted in 27 countries around the world for 37 years, which followed 19 years of experience as a commercial nursery-plant grower, have taught Jacob what he knows about feeding mineral nutrients to vegetable plants. You will have to judge for yourself whether or not that is sufficient to qualify his results as scientifically accurate. Universities on four continents think highly enough of his work to have awarded him PhD’s.

Knowing from this experience that the plant can best tell you what it needs, he has not been concerned about the cation exchange ratios, but has adjusted the Mittleider Magic formulas to produce optimum yields of healthy, disease and pest resistant crops. And yes, the formulas have been adjusted numerous times since the writing of More Food From Your Garden in 1975.

For the past two years Jacob (who lived in Assisted Living digs at the time) has been growing wonderful, healthy crops using the Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed formulas in a container garden with nothing but sawdust, perlite, and sand. And the roots cannot reach the ground because Jacob placed roofing tar paper everywhere to stop the nematode infestation. And he uses the exact same amounts as if he was growing in the ground.

We apply 2# of Pre-Plant mix, with the largest ingredient being calcium, to an 18” X 30’ soil-bed or Grow-Box, and do this one time per crop. On rare occasions we have found that more calcium, magnesium, or boron, or combination is needed, but not often enough to increase the amounts we recommend the home gardener apply at the beginning.

We apply 1# of Weekly Feed with the Pre-Plant mix before planting the crop. Thereafter, we apply 1# as a top dressing 4” from the plant stems along the row, and water it into the root zone of the plants each week until 3 weeks before maturity. This amounts to feedings of 3-5 times for such things as spinach, lettuce, and cabbage, and for ever-bearing crops we continue feeding until 8 weeks before expected frost, which amounts to 10-12 times in our temperate climate. I haven’t discovered where you got the idea that we apply Weekly Feed 22 times.

Our application of gypsum or lime is determined by the soil pH, with gypsum only used in drier climates with pH above 7. Calcium is always applied as nutrition for the crop, and applying it to the surface of the soil below the box before filling a Grow-Box assures plant roots a supply of nutrients as they extend beyond the Grow-Box soil mix into the native soil, which is almost always deficient in water-soluble calcium, etc.

Jacob has, as I mentioned in a previous paragraph, changed the amounts of nutrients, including calcium and magnesium. On occasion he has found improvement by increasing the amounts of these things, especially on ground that has been gardened for extended periods of time. However, the need for more ca and mg has not been general enough to warrant having all family gardeners change the application rates, or for us to change the formulas.

Jacob does not consider corn to be a very good representative for determining the needs of all vegetable crops, as it is a cereal – more like wheat or other grain crops. Our studies have shown that many vegetable crops use N, P, and K in close to a 110-60-110 ratio, and that is why the fertilizers use that ratio.

Regarding your concerns about leaching of excess minerals into the soil water, and eventually into streams, rivers, and lakes, we have had thorough independent tests conducted, by two highly respected soil labs, on Mittleider gardens of 4, 10, and 21 years’ duration. In no case was there a problem with either a build-up or leaching of mineral salts.

Consider that we apply less than 1/2# of actual fertilizers (including all nutrients, not just N, P, and K) to a soil-bed 18” wide by 30’ long, consisting of 3,000-3,500# of dirt just in the top 12”, and we do this between 5 and 10 times per year.

On the other hand, the “conscientious” organic gardener, who mixes 2”-3” of manure into his soil before planting, applies MANY TIMES more mineral salts to the soil than our average total application, and they do it all at once, making it far more susceptible to being leached into the ground water, etc.

We applaud you for trying to obtain the best information you can regarding the fertilizers you use to feed your vegetable plants. Very few people have the experience of William Albrecht in the things he studied. Dr. Albrecht very wisely determined that acid soil conditions were the result of nutrient deficiencies – as rainfall washes out the base elements including calcium, magnesium, and potassium. And he recommended replacing the nutrients as the solution to the problems of acidic soil.

Dr. Jacob Mittleider’s, experience taught him the same lesson, but the application was geared specifically toward growing healthy crops by applying proper amounts of nutrients, and backed up by real gardens in every conceivable growing situation. We believe this experience is unmatched by any individual or institution of which we are aware, in determining what is best as a single fertilizer formula that can be applied with confidence by all family farmers anywhere in the world.

Best wishes to you in your own gardening efforts. We hope you will give the Mittleider Method, including the Mittleider Magic fertilizers a chance to give you a great garden.

Sincerely,

Jim Kennard, for Jacob R. Mittleider

Is the Mittleider Method of gardening organic?

Sep 15, 06:21 PM

Opinions on whether or not the Mittleider Method is organic run the gamut. Some organic enthusiasts poo-poo it (Pun intended) as not being “pure” because something other than manure and compost are used.

On the other hand many people consider it “the best of organic” because it IS pure and does NOT put animal excrement and ground-up body parts into the garden, but instead uses natural mineral nutrients – all of which are approved by the USDA for use in organic gardening – and applies just what the plants need throughout the growing cycle, instead of manure all at once at the beginning.

In addition to the manure user not knowing what nutrition his plants are getting, applying everything before planting often burns germinating seeds and tiny seedlings, and then within 6-8 weeks the garden is starving.

The reason the garden is often hungry by summer in a manured garden is that rain and irrigation leach out the heavily applied fertilizer salts from the garden soil. They then take them to the downstream water supply, often causing a toxic buildup of nitrogen and other chemical salts.

Another reason we believe the “pure” Mittleider Method enjoys natural advantages over those using manure and compost is that manure and compost are almost never sterilized before being applied to the garden. Therefore, weed seeds, bugs, and even diseases are often brought into the garden with the manure and compost.

You are invited to compare a Mittleider garden with a garden that uses manure exclusively, and choose. We happily promise the world “a great garden in any soil, with NO soil amendments.”

There are several articles in the FAQ section of this website that discuss these issues in more detail.

Consider carefully, because the day is fast approaching when you may NEED to live on what you can produce from your garden.

And I for one am getting NEXT YEAR’s fertilizers NOW.

Jim Kennard

Are tomatoes your favorite garden crop? Grow the best!

Sep 13, 05:14 PM

We believe the ideal book for teaching you how to grow the best and most tasty tomatoes is Let’s Grow Tomatoes by Dr. Jacob R. Mittleider.

It’s available two ways, either as a part of the Mittleider Gardening Library, which is available in the Store section of this website, or as a digital download at www.howtoorganicgarden.com.

Let’s Grow Tomatoes has turned black thumbs into prolific tomato gardeners, and hobby gardeners into successful commercial growers.

Most importantly, it takes the guesswork out of growing tomatoes and makes it enjoyable as well as rewarding!

To promote this great book we’ve set up websites specifically for this important topic, featuring the book we think should be owned by every tomato grower.

We invite you to learn more about growing tomatoes by visiting one of the following sites: www.tomatogardening.info, www.tomatogardening.net, www.tomatogardening.org, www.growingtomatoes.info, or www.growingtomatoes.org.

Learn for yourself how to grow tomatoes in places the locals think are impossible, and harvest 4-6 weeks earlier AND later than your neighbors – it’s only $10.95 for the digital download at www.howtoorganicgarden.com.

Lots of Blossoms but Not Much Fruit – What’s Happening?!

Aug 8, 01:35 PM

Following is a seemingly simple question, the answer to which is very important to having a successful garden. To answer it properly is not so simple, but it is worth knowing, so I invite you to pay close attention to each element of my response.

Q. I have hundreds of blossoms on my tomato, squash and etc. plants yet very little fruit. I have observed that there are no bees (I have only seen 3 at any one time) around. Is this normal? What can I do to correct this situation?

A. The lack of pollinators is rarely a problem for tomatoes because their blossoms are “perfect”, meaning they contain both male and female parts. Even a gentle breeze or movement of the plant stems will allow pollination to occur.

Squash can be pollinated by hand quite easily, so long as you can find male blossoms. You must take a male blossom – which is the one WITHOUT a small fruit forming behind the flower – strip the petals off, then touch the tip, or stamen, to the pistil, or tip of the female blossom. One male can pollinate several females.

This must be done in the early morning, when both blossoms are fully open, or the female won’t be receptive to pollination.

Next let’s consider the bee situation. Many places in the country are currently experiencing a severe shortage of bees. Diseases to which bees are susceptible have ravaged many thousands of hives, and this is a good part of the reason honey is SO expensive lately.

First off, don’t use pesticides. They will very often kill the beneficial insects along with the problem ones. If you must spray a pesticide do it in the heat of mid-day when there is little or no wind. This is when bees and other pollinators are least active. And use the least toxic product possible that will accomplish your objective.

Attracting pollinators to your garden may be more difficult than just pollinating the squash yourself. Some people even resort to buying a beehive and placing it near their garden.

Many people also plant flowers near their gardens in hopes of attracting bees, etc. For maximum effectiveness you need to plant them in several bunches, rather than single flowers here and there. Flower colors that particularly attract bees are blue, purple, violet, white, and yellow.

Native plants are said to be much more attractive to native bees than exotic flowers. They are also well adapted to local growing conditions and require minimum attention.

Again for maximum effectiveness include several plant species that flower at the same time – to increase the number of bee species attracted to your garden – and plant a sequence of plants flowering through spring, summer, and fall, so that you attract a range of bee species that fly during different times of the growing season.

Another factor that could account for having very little fruit on plants is the temperature. This question was asked during the first week of August, which is usually the hottest time of the year.

Extreme heat is often the cause of plants not being able to set fruit. They do best in temperatures below 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and when it’s above 95 there is very little fruit-set.

Also, unless night-time temperatures are at least 15-20 degrees lower than daytime temperatures some plants won’t set fruit.

To mitigate the heat problem consider applying partial shade to your plants during the few hottest hours of the day. This is best done by placing a 25%-35% shade cloth directly above the plants, so that it shades only during the hours from 11 A.M. to 3 P.M.

Garden Master CD works with Linux Operating System

Jul 2, 08:49 AM

A current user of The Garden Master CD wrote in to tell us that it works perfectly on Linux, when using the WINE Windows compatibility layer.

He reports “I am currently using Ubuntu Linux, version 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon).

It may be a good idea to include on your website that Garden Master runs fine using WINE with Linux.

Of course, Acrobat Reader must be installed under WINE to access
the .pdf documents.”

This should be good news to some folks who use Linux – and probably Unix as well.

An opportunity to do some good with very little money

Jun 11, 11:38 AM

We just returned from Armenia and Georgia, where we worked for the past month on Family Food Production projects. We felt amply rewarded, as we helped people improve their garden yields tremendously.

Friends in Armenia who work for another Charitable Foundation named the Foundation for Armenian Relief have just asked for our help on a project they’re working on.

They’ve received most of the money they need, but are short $500 to finish things up right for a group of orphans.

It’s not about gardening, but instead has a definite religious context. This may appeal to some of you and may NOT be of interest to others. The details are included below my comments.

If you feel you would like to help these good people do something for those orphaned children which most Armenians feel is very important, please consider sending a tax deductible donation in any amount to them by emailing Marina at far@web.am or sending to us and we’ll forward it.

You can 1) correspond directly with Marina at the FAR office – far@web.am; 2) go on the website www.growfood.com and visit the Give section; 3) send any amount to me through PayPal at jim@growfood.com, or 4) mail a check to the Food For Everyone Foundation, P. O. Box 581052, Salt Lake City, Utah 84158.

Timing is important for this particular need, but we ALWAYS welcome your participation in the work we are doing, so if you’d rather support a gardening training project, just specify that.

Following is the letter our friend Marina sent us, which explains what FAR is doing, and how the hoped-for $500 will be used.

From: Marina Bazayeva
Date: Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 7:20 AM
Subject: Re: Hello!
To: Araksya Gevorgyan

“Hello, Araksya jan (dear)!
Thank you for not forgetting me and your kind attitude. I also have good memories and hope it will continue. As for my job it is really hectic and the day flies.

“Araksya jan, I am doing a very little fundraising for one of our programs and I am writing to my friends, so if you could help me using your friends over there I would very much appreciate it.

“I want to ask you to help me organize a little donation for a FAR program in the amount of up to $500. My request concerns money for organizing a christening ceremony for orphans who are beneficiaries of the Children of Armenia Sponsorship Program, which is under the auspices of the Women’s Guild of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America.

They are bringing crosses, towels from the States, co-funding baptizing expenses, and someone is donating bibles. So the only blank place is the refreshment ceremony and souvenirs for the children. I am given a task to do fundraising, which is not possible to do here.

The sum is really not huge but it will produce a huge effect. And it will be tax deductible, as are all donations to FAR, so I will give the FAR NY account and address so that the donor can make a tax deductible donation.

The money per se is necessary at the end of July but we need to know whether or not it will be available to know how to proceed. So if you could help me to organize it among your acquaintances there you would help me in a big way.

Pass my warmest congratulations to your brother and wish him happiness for me (Araksya’s brother is engaged). I am glad for him and for your family. Love, Marina

Thanks for reading this, and for giving it your consideration.

Growing Tomatoes Is Many Peoples' Favorite Garden Activity. Find Out Why!

May 17, 09:21 AM

Are you among the millions who love fresh vine-ripened tomatoes, but are not able to grow them very well? The book Let’s Grow Tomatoes, by Dr. Jacob R. Mittleider, will change that for you, and you’ll soon find that you can even become a tomato growing expert!

This book is a step-by-step guide to growing tomatoes (and many other of your favorite vegetables) that will have you growing many times more tasty crops than ever before in the same space, and will most likely make your garden the best in your local area!

There are hundreds of graphics and pictures, clearly illustrating everything you need to know, presented logically and clearly for quick understanding.

These are simply the best instructions available anywhere for growing tomatoes with great yields of the healthiest and most tasty tomatoes possible – either in the soil, in containers, or in a greenhouse.

You’ll learn all about:

1) Seedling production, so you can plant bigger, healthier plants into your garden, and do it earlier than ever before.

2) Transplanting, in several stages, so your plants grow strong healthy stems and green leaves.

3) Close planting, which maximizes the use of limited space, saves water and fertilizer, and minimizes weed growth.

4) Vertical growing of all vining and climbing plants to greatly increase yields – again in the least space possible.

5) Automatic watering, to take the drudgery out of this important but boring and time-consuming task, while saving water.

6) Proper feeding, that assures you have healthy, fast-growing plants, which are most resistant to bugs and diseases.

7) Weeding, done early when the weeds are tiny, so that they never do become a problem for you or your plants.

8) and Pruning to eliminate excess branches and leaves, and allow your plants to produce to their maximum capability.

Again, all these important lessons are illustrated with hundreds of pictures to reinforce the important points.

You’ll also learn:

1) The very best organic gardening methods,

2) How to build your own greenhouse,

3) How to grow your own seedlings using the “poor man’s hydroponic system”,

4) How to extend your growing season by 4 to 6 weeks in both spring and fall,

5) and how to multiply your garden yield many times by growing vertically.

I believe that after growing your garden using Let’s Grow Tomatoes, the biggest problem you’ll face is figuring out what to do with all the tomatoes, and you’ll be able to do this no matter what your soil or climate are like, using NO pesticides or herbicides, and using less than half the water of a traditional garden.

And you’ll be pleased to know you are helping support the work of the Non-Profit Food for Everyone Foundation, which was established in 1998 to continue Dr. Jacob Mittleider’s work of teaching the best possible gardening methods to families throughout the world.

Buy the electronic book now at $10.95 from www.howtoorganicgarden.com – in the Products section – and save more than 40% over the paper copy (which isn’t available at the moment).

On-Site Report from Popayan, Colombia

May 6, 09:43 PM

Below is the latest letter we received from Dr. Alfonso Tenorio, who was responsible for getting us to conduct a training project in Colombia from November, 2007 to March, 2008. His statements sound almost like “puffing”, but he has worked for 11 years trying to help the people of his community improve their health and self-sufficiency through family food production – without success, so he knows whereof he speaks.

“Dear Elder and Sister Kennard: Thank you for your support. I will give the (graduation) certificates in a special activity.

In the party and elegant lunch for 32 graduates, our students shared their testimonies about the project and its impact on them. I know with strong confidence that IT IS OUR SOLUTION. The impact of the global food crisis will be terrible for countries like ours, and we know that a very important opportunity will be this kind of project in small (family garden) size. The Minister of Agriculture in Colombia told us that this kind of projects should be pushed.

Elder, the capability to produce food with this method is incredible, incredible! You know that I have had “success” with the conventional methods, but with this method I now know real success. You have to see my garden… I have a lot of red beans (frijol cargamanto) that you planted in my garden, do you remenber? A lot! A lot of swiss chard in only 4 meters – only 4 meters!

My storage capacity is not enough for such an amount of foods. My spinach is perfect, my potatoes produced a lot, not big (harvested early), but a lot and delicious. My beans, my radishes, and my carrots are all excellent. But my cabbages are giant, giant! They are ready to win a contest.

We have a lot of rain, a lot (almost every day), however your tomatoes under the partial plastic solution are good, very good. The agronomists can hardly believe what they see, because it isn’t a complete greenhouse, only a small roof (traditional practice is to grow tomatoes only in greenhouses, because of the almost daily rains during much of the year).

Tata’s garden is beautiful, and you will not believe me if I tell you that she is the new provider of lettuce and cauliflower for the most important restaurant in the city (from a small backyard garden). Yes, that’s incredible.

The Dean and the professors of the (University Agriculture) faculty are happy and they want to expand the project. This new semester we will have several groups of students from the university working with us using this method.

In 15 days we will begin projects in 5 colleges of the city. In one week we will begin the new (training) course with 30 more members. The gardens of Elizabeth, Family Quina, and Gabriel are beautiful. (Probably those are the ones he’s seen. Other gardens were also doing great at last report)

Thank you Elder and Sister, thanks a lot for your support. Don’t forget the words of Gabriel and Elizabeth “we know that this project will be the remedy of our poverty”. I know it will!

Best regards,

Dr. Alfonso Tenorio”

You Can Figure The Perfect Fertilizer No Matter What's Available

May 2, 08:56 AM

Today I’ll teach you a very important lesson on fertilizers, which will let you figure out how much of each compound to use, so that you can get the perfect fertilizer mix at the least cost.

The goal is to obtain and use NPK in the ratio of 110-60-110. This is called by some fertilizer companies “the preferred horticultural mix”, and this particular set of numbers is the amount of actual fertilizer needed to grow a crop on one acre of ground – in pounds. For hectares the numbers are 125-68-125 in KG’s. Don’t worry about that for now, unless you are actually planting acres or hectares. The ratios are what is important.

No matter what fertilizers are available, so long as you have all three of the major nutrients, you can figure out and then buy and mix just the amounts you need of each compound to get those ratios. And of course in doing so you also want to buy the compounds that will end up costing you the least money.

1) Make a spreadsheet with the following headings:

Fertilizer – %’s Bag Weight Cost/bag “To Purchase” Cost N(125) P (68) K (125)

2) List the fertilizers that are available to you, with their weights and costs in the proper columns.

3)Calculate how much of each fertilizer you will need to buy to get the amount in brackets by that nutrient, by dividing the bracketed number by the % of fertilizer in the mix – such as 125/.46 = 272kg for Urea – 46-0-0.

4) Calculate the cost for that much urea and put that in the Cost column.

5) Do the same thing for each of the fertilizers you have available.

When you’re finished your spreadsheet should look like this, if you’re using the same fertilizers I’ve listed here.

Fertilizer – %’s Bag Weight Cost/bag “To Purchase” Cost N(125) P (68) K (125) SmBtch kg #
46-0-0 40 kg $35.20 272 kg $ 240 125 0 0 39 86
0-45-0 ” 25.20 151 kg 95 0 68 0 22 48
0-0-60 ” 39.20 208 kg 204 0 0 125 30 66 TOTALS 611 kg $ 539 125 68 125 91kg 200#

I’m sorry it is such a mess. The narrow columns don’t lend themselves to these things. I’ll save this article as a Word file in the Files section of the MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com for anyone who cares to see it in a better format.

Using the materials shown above you end up with an NPK mix of approximately 20-11-20 at a cost of $.88 per kg, or $35.20 for a 40 kg bag. This is much less – for a much better NPK ratio – than the $58.50 you would pay for 13-15-13 (this is figured in cost to Samoa from Australia).

Including smaller batch amounts allows you to mix the size batch that you need without losing accuracy. I chose the amounts I did to give you an amount of NPK in pounds that you can easily use with the pre-mixed Micro-Nutrient Mix available from the Foundation’s website at www.growfood.com in the Materials section. 200# of NPK would require 5 packages (10 packets) of MicroMix and 30# of Epsom Salt to yield 235# of Mittleider Magic Weekly Feed Mix.

If the fertilizers available are different than the ones I’ve listed above you will need to solve for the amounts a little differently. Start with the compound that is the only choice for a particular nutrient (DAP – or 18-46-0 for instance). Figure out how much P you will need to buy, then figure out how much nitrogen you received “free” in the deal and put that in the N column. When solving for nitrogen you need to buy less of the next compound because of what you already have in the DAP.

You can do this even when you have all three represented, such as 13-23-13.

Can We Learn Something From the Small Plot INtensive (SPIN) Gardening Website?

Apr 25, 05:58 PM

I received the following question, which I believe may be of interest to some of you serious vegetable gardeners:

“I am looking at several options in gardening and hope you can
clarify something – I am mainly looking at the Mittleider and the
SPIN Farming www.spinfarming.com processes. The two do not appear to be exclusive of each other but I know nothing of ether program (material ordered) so I am hoping you can provide any comparison/contrast if there is any and confirm if the two can be used in a single gardening system?”

I didn’t have much time to check it out, but I will do more later if
possible before leaving for Armenia and the Republic of Georgia, where we are working on two humanitarian projects.

It appears from the first glance that there are many areas of
compatibility, and that a person can learn much about marketing
crops from this website.

Two things I noted include

1) they use beds that are 2’ wide with 2’ aisles. This is not as
efficient as using narrower beds and wider aisles. Beds of 18” – tip of ridge to tip of ridge – which gives a 12”-wide planting area,
are ideal for plant spacing, feeding, weeding, and watering. Wider
aisles are also better. If you are growing smaller plants
exclusively you can use 2’ – or even narrower – aisles, but when you plant large plants, such as zucchini, and climbing plants, you need wider aisles to provide adequate space and light for the plants as they reach maturity. I suspect our plant spacing may be different (closer) than theirs also.

2) They also use only organic materials to feed their plants. This
certainly can work, but has drawbacks and hazards. Most manure and compost have not been sterilized, and therefore can have diseases, bugs, and weed seeds in it, which will flourish in your garden and substantially reduce your yield. Unless the organic material HAS been composted very efficiently in an aerobic process, which requires sustained temperatures of 140+ for several weeks, you get the aforementioned problems, plus you get much lower nutritional value.

And of course you do not know what or how much you are feeding your plants, since every batch of manure/compost is different, and
because none of them have been analyzed to determine their nutrient content. You can expect the manure to have much LESS nutrition than the original plant contained because of going through the cow, then sitting in a compost pile for months in the rain and snow.

Another problem with using organic materials – typically done one
time before planting – is that several inches of manure/compost
often contain much MORE mineral salts than are good for tiny young plants, and sometimes germination and growth are inhibited or the plants even killed with too much of a good thing. Then, in a couple of months, when large and ever-bearing plants need constant nutrition for producing several months of fruit harvest, the nutrition from the one-time-applied organic material is pretty much used up, and your plants stop producing – right when they should be really getting into it!

If you can learn and apply the growing procedures as demonstrated to be extremely successful in 32 countries around the world over the past 45 years, and use the marketing and other skills taught by these folks, you can have the best of both.

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Starting a New Garden - Winter Planting - Weeding, Watering & Care for Success Twenty Important Characteristics of the Food For Everyone Training Program