The earth is everyone's garden.

dqhall

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Why don't we fertilize it so it captures more carbon?
Fertilizer is nitrogen, phosphate and potash. A Mosaic phosphate strip mine in Florida:
upload_2021-11-4_14-26-29.jpeg
 
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Kettriken

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Why don't we fertilize it so it captures more carbon?

There are many reasons, one of the most prominent being that fertilization is messy. Fertilizing might be letting gardens go to seed and decompose before we plow it under for the next season. Fertilizing might be spreading waste on the land we want to plant in next spring. Fertilizing might be letting land lay fallow for a year. Fertilizing might be not developing a valuable resource because we know we'll be better off waiting for the long run.

It is difficult to get agreement for the long term projects, however beneficial they might be.
 
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OldWiseGuy

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There are many reasons, one of the most prominent being that fertilization is messy. Fertilizing might be letting gardens go to seed and decompose before we plow it under for the next season. Fertilizing might be spreading waste on the land we want to plant in next spring. Fertilizing might be letting land lay fallow for a year. Fertilizing might be not developing a valuable resource because we know we'll be better off waiting for the long run.

It is difficult to get agreement for the long term projects, however beneficial they might be.


You've just expressed the real problem. ;)
 
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AgapeBible

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Where I live, the soil is so sandy one must buy potting soil, perlite, and natural fertilizer called black cow.
my dad can be stubborn, he would not help out my mom and I when we wanted him to make a bin of chicken wire and extra wood boards to hold a compost heap. We have a lot of kitchen scraps we could put in the compost heap. it can be very difficult to manage though.

There is a natural fertilizer, it comes from body waste, human and animal. It can also be toxic, depending on what was eaten.
 
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public hermit

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OldWiseGuy

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I agree, but what about algal blooms? Isn't fertilizer use one of the primary contributors to harmful algal blooms?

Maybe the payoff would be worth it? I don't know.

Algal bloom - Wikipedia

Algae is rich in nutrients and can be collected and used for fertilizer.
 
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OldWiseGuy

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Where I live, the soil is so sandy one must buy potting soil, perlite, and natural fertilizer called black cow.
my dad can be stubborn, he would not help out my mom and I when we wanted him to make a bin of chicken wire and extra wood boards to hold a compost heap. We have a lot of kitchen scraps we could put in the compost heap. it can be very difficult to manage though.

There is a natural fertilizer, it comes from body waste, human and animal. It can also be toxic, depending on what was eaten.

Some soils are difficult to improve. Best to just replace it with good garden soil.
 
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Kettriken

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I agree, but what about algal blooms? Isn't fertilizer use one of the primary contributors to harmful algal blooms?

Maybe the payoff would be worth it? I don't know.

A good question. Algal blooms can be compared to fungal overgrowth in our bodies.

Fertilizer in the right place and balance leads to lush vegetation growth. In the wrong place, like cow manure runoff in the chesapeake bay, it promotes algal overgrowth. Those algae suck the oxygen out of the water, thus inhibiting fish populations.
Sugars in the right place and balance feed our brains and muscles. Too much in the wrong form and quantity can lead to yeast infections and intestinal dysbiosis.
 
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