Using organic and chemical fertilizers together?

Horticulture
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There seems to be two camps on this topic.

:thinking: Has anyone tried using both organic and chemical fertilizers together?

Do chemical fertilizers reduce the microbiome in and of themselves, or is it the lack of organic material that causes the reduction? Both make sense to me.

I agree that organic creates a healthier environment for the tree, but have run into situations where I can’t find what I am looking for in organic form, see the great NPK debate (Do you really need low N fertilizer).

I have a dwarf pomegranate that flowers each time it is fertilized (Dr. Earth 5-5-5).

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Ive used both, and know of many people who use a combination as well. Most use hydroponic solutions to fertilize during waterings because they are immediately available to the plant. A few people I’ve seen use granules like osmocote as well. Careful application won’t cause harm to plant, however the overzealous application can cause leaf/root burn and/or significantly affect soil ph or nutrient load.

I use 5-4-6 organic pellets and Miracid this year to counteract alkalinity issues and related chlorosis. I hope to fix this next year during repotting so I can go back to using just organic pellets. I dont like to hassle with mixing fertilizer solutions and ensuring the correct application rates. Easier to apply pellets as desired every 2,4,6 weeks or whatever… I wont be using zeolite next year. Its job is done better by pine bark IMO and its cheaper.

Cheers!

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I use both, for the logic that chemical is available instantly and organic to feed the microbes for the longer term. Kind of primitive thinking that it’ll just cover all bases, though not sure it works like that. :smirk:

I’m also interested to know if there’s any scientific disadvantage (like the chemical fertilisers impeding the microbiome) in using both.