Why Nature Safe?
Since 1992, Nature Safe organic and fortified organic fertilizers have delivered a predictable, high nitrogen concentration product that reduced the need for frequent applications, improved soil porosity, enhanced disease management and strengthened root systems. We have the research, testimonials, high-quality ingredients and experience to support our claims. Here are six reasons you should support your soil, make the investment and choose Nature Safe products.
We offer high Nitrogen concentration in a slow-release fertilizer
Nature Safe's 13-0-0 blending base is the highest amount of organic listed nitrogen available on the market today and is used as an ingredient in many other Nature Safe fertilizers, such as 10-2-8 and 27-0-2. This specialized blending product is OMRI Listed® and is allowed under NOP guidelines, validating its use in certified organic crops. Research from Clemson University shows that Nature Safe's 10-2-8 delivers double the 100% organic NPK value with about 11 times more than the competitor's amino acid content providing food value at half the cost.
Predictable release of nutrients
Organic fertilizers provide amino acids (food) for soil microbes, and the soil microbes provide nutrients for the plants. The fertilizer that contains the highest level of amino acids will provide the most nutrition for the plants. Nature Safe has higher levels of amino acids than any other organic product available on the market. Most Nature Safe products contain between five and ten times more energy from amino acids than any competitors.
Read moreMore important than the amino acids content is how easily and thoroughly the soil microbes can digest the proteins. If you could look at proteins under a high-resolution microscope, you would see striated fibers wound around each other very tightly. When these fibers are heated, they begin to pull apart slowly. The more they pull apart, the more tender and digestible the proteins become. When there's too much heat, the striated fibers begin to mesh back together, reducing the digestibility.
Nature Safe is the only company that manufactures all the components that go into an organic fertilizer. Other companies that manufacture meal-based organic fertilizers purchase their proteins on the open market and have no control over processing or digestibility. If a customer purchases $10.00 worth of fertilizer from XYZ Company, they may only get $5.00 worth of nutrients for their plants because many nutrients are in hard-to-digest forms. With Nature Safe, they can count on getting their $10.00 worth of nutrients because our proteins completely digest in 30 to 45 days.
These hard-to-digest proteins will eventually break down, but first they accumulate in the soil and create a residual supply of nutrients that can start to release during extremely hot weather. That is why some organic fertilizers have a reputation for "exploding" during heat spells. Since all the nutrients in Nature Safe break down in a predictable length of time, there are rarely long-term residual nutrients left to cause growth surges during hot spells.
Other products may cost less per bag, but they cannot come close to providing the same level of consistent nutrition that Nature Safe delivers month after month, year after year.
Reduce the need for frequent applications
If you want to reduce the frequency of your fertilizer application, your soil needs to be alive and thriving. Organisms like mites, earthworms, fungi and bacteria act as a non-stop production facility, carrying out a highly sophisticated assortment of tasks to ensure proper soil health and composition. The Soil biota incessantly carries out various roles and life cycles to produce quality turf or improved crop yields. The key to reducing the frequency of your applications and maximizing the health of your soil is seeing the relationship as a partnership.
Here are three things to keep in mind when building this relationship:
Read more1. Avoid heavy treatments of harsh synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides or soil fungicides, as these materials can kill off beneficial microbes, or at the very least, upset the balance between these helpful microorganisms and soil-threatening pathogens.
2. The majority of soluble synthetic fertilizers are salt-based, and any high applications of these materials can dry out soil microorganisms, reducing the population of biota to negative numbers. Natural and organic fertilizers such as Nature Safe feed this microbial population and alleviate this problem.
3. Choose slow-release fertilizers like Nature Safe that supply nutrients at a steadier rate, which are more conducive to maintaining microbe populations with virtually no disturbance to soil life.
Improves soil porosity
A good organic fertilizer is an excellent choice to build soil microbe populations, which provides the turf with superior nutrition. Organics are safe to use because they have a lower tendency to burn the turf. Unfortunately, some organics can contribute to slowing down the infiltration rate of the root zone, and ash is the main culprit.
After an organic fertilizer is subjected to very high heat to remove the actual organic portion of the material, ash (the inorganic materials) remains.
Read moreNature Safe has a low ash content, and the soil microbes can easily digest it without leaving many indigestible portions behind. Most of the ash found in Nature Safe comes from the sulfate of potash used as a potassium source. This portion is labeled as ash, but sulfate of potash doesn't plug up pore spaces. Our 10-2-8 has an ash content of 23%, but without the sulfate of potash, it has an ash content of slightly under 9%. Once the sulfate of potash is accounted for, none of the Nature Safe formulations contain more than 10% ash.
The fact that most sewage sludge and manure-type fertilizers have meager nitrogen contents compounds the problem. Typically, these types of fertilizer contain 5% or less nitrogen. That would mean that one would have to use twice as much of a 5% N product to apply the same amount of N per unit area as you would if you were using Nature Safe 10-2-8. Therefore, if a manure product with 5% N and 45% ash were used to apply one pound of N per one thousand square feet, you would have to use twice as many pounds of fertilizer to get the same amount of N that would be available in 10-2-8. You would be applying nearly ten times as much ash with the manure product as you would with Nature Safe 10-2-8.
Enhances disease management
Synthetic fertilizers can provide all the soil's nutrition, but if the root system is diseased, the plant cannot take advantage of it. Soils depleted of their organic matter also lose the diversity of microorganisms. Conventional fertilizers replenish NPK, but they fail to deliver carbon, the energy needed to maintain a healthy and diverse soil microbial population. Plant pathogens are not great competitors in soil, but they are survivors, particularly in soils with low levels of microbial activity. Increases in disease pressure encourages chemical applications to control diseases, and this creates a cycle where there are further reductions in soil microorganisms. Chemicals will continue to be an indispensable component of plant protection, but organic fertilizers offer a viable strategy that gets to the root of the problem.
Read moreOrganic amendments, such as animal and green manures, were used traditionally by growers to enhance soil fertility and manage soilborne pathogens. Products derived from the animal processing industries, such as Nature Safe, consistently increase soil microorganism populations while at the same time reducing plant pathogens. These products have excellent batch-to-batch consistency and quality and can reduce populations of disease-causing organisms for several years.
Will not burn young plants or tender roots
Nature Safe products are known for producing healthy plants – which is a direct result of increasing root development through a multi-faceted process.
The process begins with chelated nutrients, which offer more to the plant than the standard chemical nutrients. The calcium found in Nature Safe comes from meat and bone meal and is released in a chelated form. The chelated form keeps the calcium from being chemically tied up in the soil and makes it readily available to the plant. This chelated source of calcium promotes the elongation and branching of the roots and creates a more fibrous root system that is better able to use available nutrients and water.
Read moreIn addition, Nature Safe feeds the soil microbes that compete with the pathogens in the soil, offering higher levels of amino acids (found in all of our products) than other organic feed. Amino acids serve as food for microbes.
By creating a highly concentrated food source for microorganisms, we can significantly increase the number of beneficial organisms in the rhizosphere, which better protects the roots by wrapping them in a protective layer of beneficial microbes. As a result, the roots grow deeper and produce more root hairs.
By using Nature Safe, you are ensuring the health of your turf by equipping it with all of the organic materials the soil needs to facilitate this all-important give-and-take relationship between carbon and the billions of microorganisms found in the ground.
And, because we're the only organic fertilizer company that controls and sources the essential ingredients from beginning to end, Nature Safe offers a reliable, consistent product to address all challenges facing your turf. Check out our complete line of organic and fortified organic fertilizers to find the right fit.
