GreenCycle Compost Rescues Seedlings
Seedlings BEFORE GreenCycle Compost
Mike Kandefer, Founder and General Manager of Urban Oaks organic farm in New Britain, CT, had a real problem on the farm. Young pepper plants were yellowing and dropping leaves, a sign that they were not absorbing nitrogen.
The farm had been using a commercial soil mix, but the young seedlings were wilting, not prospering. The culprit seemed to be harsh city water, with fluoride and chlorine. The fluoride was binding with the nitrogen in the soil, preventing the plants from drawing it up properly. “We added GreenCycle’s compost three weeks ago,” said Mike, “and it’s amazing how it helped. Our pepper plants, which were becoming bare, went from yellow to green and grew three inches! I really believe it was adding more biological microbes with the compost that made all the difference.”
Mike says Urban Oaks routinely adds one inch of compost to its growing areas and greenhouses. “We grow out of GreenCycle compost all the time. In our greenhouses, we had a topsoil base. We have added an inch of compost to the greenhouses annually. One application of compost per crop of plants is all they really need, but we add it every time we plant because we’re planting year-round,” Mike tells us. He’s found commercial organic fertilizers are too strong for his fragile seedlings. “Compost has just the right amount of what they need.”
Seedlings AFTER GreenCycle compost - thriving!
With a new plot recently added across the street from the greenhouses, Urban Oaks just took a delivery of two truckloads of compost from GreenCycle to prepare that plot for production. “Then I had to call Chris for even more compost today,” Mike laughed, “because we thought our tomatoes were doing fine, and then today they started turning yellow, too. So our tomatoes will be getting some great compost soon, too.” Visit Urban Oaks at 225 Oak Street in New Britain, CT. You can call them at (860) 223-6200 or visit them on the web at http://www.urbanoaks.org. Tour their greenhouses – they are amazing! Especially the fig trees. Check them out. And come see us if your seedlings are in need, too!
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