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00:00Can you make cheap, bad soil better by simply adding some fertilizer?
00:04We've all been there before. You go to the garden center, buy some cheap soil on sale,
00:08plant out your garden, only to find that your plants have grown out all sad and stunted.
00:12So in this video, we're going to answer the question and see if adding a scoop of
00:15fertilizer can save your dead soil. For the setup of this experiment,
00:19I took the bottom two performers and the top two performers from the previous test.
00:23So for the bottom two performers, I have eb stone, raised bed and potting mix,
00:28Kellogg, patio plus. And for the top two performers, I have the VibGrow all-purpose
00:32potting mix and the Miracle-Gro potting mix. Now, what we're going to do is set up three
00:37grow bags for each soil type. And what they're going to have is one is going to have nothing.
00:42It's going to serve as a control just like the last experiment. And then another one is going
00:46to have a full dose of synthetic fertilizer. The third bag is going to have a full dose
00:51of an organic-based fertilizer, in this case, the down-to-earth all-purpose mix.
00:55Now, the goal of this experiment is to find out whether you could take a low-performing bag of
01:00soil and make it perform as good or even better than something that we know already does well.
01:05Now, let's get into the plants that we're using. It is going to be cabbages.
01:09I have 12 identical cabbages to go into this experiment. They're all the same variety,
01:13grand prize. Now, the fun thing about using a cabbage for this test is that at the end,
01:18we're going to weigh every single one and we'll see just how much impact each one of these tests
01:22had. Before we add any fertilizer, I have to fill all these containers up with the soil. What I'm
01:26going to do here is make sure that I fill each one all the way to the top. And if I have any big
01:31clumps of stuff, I'm going to break it up so we get a nice even fill of each soil bag.
01:39All of the bags have now been filled with soil and it's time to add the fertilizer. So,
01:43first up, we have this shake and feed, which is our conventional or synthetic fertilizer.
01:48The interesting thing about this one is it does have a few organic amendments, kelp, earthworm,
01:52feather meal, and bone meal, but those are just supplements. The main actual MPKA is coming from
01:57synthetically derived urea, phosphorus, things like that. So, the way this is measured is it's
02:03by the container size. It says for a 12 inch container, which is what these five gallon bags
02:07is, I need three tablespoons. Three tablespoons is equivalent to one and a half ounces because
02:12each half ounce is a tablespoon. So, there's three tablespoons right there. I'm going to go ahead,
02:17sprinkle it into the top of my container, and I'm going to work it into this top layer only.
02:22The reason why I'm not mixing it all the way through the soil is because if I did, every time
02:26I watered, the stuff on the bottom is just going to leach away. So, that's all we're doing. We're
02:30mixing the top layer with all that fertilizer and now this bag is ready to go. Next up, we have the
02:35organic fertilizer, which is a 462. And actually, just for comparison, this one is a 1248. So, they
02:42do have different numbers, but the dosage is also different. For this one, according to the package,
02:47I actually need anywhere from five to ten tablespoons for this bag. So, I'm going to just
02:52fill this all the way, which is equivalent to eight tablespoons. So, there we have the eight
02:56tablespoons. I'm going to do the same thing, sprinkle it on top, and then mix it into the
03:00surface. Now, I'm going to go ahead and add the fertilizer to all of the rest of the bags. And
03:04then after that, I'm going to be adding a label for organic or conventional. That way, I know,
03:09but I am going to be mixing these up so you guys won't have any clue which one got fertilizer
03:13and which one was a control. All the fertilizer has been applied and now I am just planting out
03:17all of these identical cabbages. Now, in terms of prediction, I'm expecting that these two over here,
03:23the top performers, actually might not do as well with the fertilizer added. The reason why I say
03:28that is because they both already have some amount of fertilizer included and too much of a good
03:32thing can be a bad thing. Now, in terms of the lower performing soils, my prediction is that the
03:38two that had fertilizer will probably match the controls of these two more highly performing soils.
03:44Now, once I get all these cabbages in, I will hook them all back into that same irrigation
03:48system as last time so that they each get the exact same water every time. And we'll check
03:53back in a few weeks and see how we're doing. This experiment has turned out quite interesting
03:57because over on this side, these two groups of three look pretty equal. That's kind of what I
04:02was hoping and predicting was that even the best soil should be matched by adding a little bit of
04:06fertility to it. But on this side, I'm starting to suspect that these might be the worst quality
04:12soils because this one and the one on the far end there are substantially smaller than not
04:18only their compatriots here, but the other groups entirely. So there are some clear pull-aways here.
04:24I can't tell, I don't remember, it is blind to me which one's organic, which one's synthetic,
04:29but there are some differences like this one looks more vigorous than that one and that one
04:32looks the least vigorous. So very interesting to see. Soon I'm going to have to take these covers
04:37off because these plants are getting too big and we're going to put some hoops and cover this
04:41entire area because we don't want any pests to mess up this experiment. But so far, things are looking
04:46quite interesting. It has been a few months since we first set up this experiment and now
04:51we are finally ready to see the results. Just a quick recap, we have four different types of soil
04:56in groups of three and what we did is we have a control, a synthetic fertilizer, and an organic
05:01fertilizer. So control has nothing added and now what we're going to do is collect every cabbage,
05:06weigh them, compare them visually, and see what differences we could discern from this fertilizer
05:11experiment and we're going to get started over here on the far right side. The first one we're
05:14looking at is that raised bednix that I added in and there are definitely some differences here. So
05:18right here, this is the one that got the organic treatment, so we'll set that aside. This is the
05:23conventional and then this one is just the soil as it is. Control, synthetic, organic, what are the
05:29differences? Well, the organic one is definitely the smallest overall but the thing I noticed was
05:34that the head actually feels very dense and tight. The conventional one feels very sloppy, loose, like
05:39there's air holes as well as the control there. Now the other thing I'm noticing is that there isn't
05:44any huge aphid pressure, maybe a little bit on this leaf right here, but now let's go ahead and weigh
05:50them. Organic is one and a half pounds, conventional is two pounds just a hair over, and then the
05:56control here, one and three quarters pounds. So the one that got synthetic fertilizer was definitely
06:01the biggest, the organic was the smallest overall, but I think in a normal condition this one feels
06:07tighter. I think that would be the better eating cabbage in the long run. When I flipped these
06:11cabbages over I realized that the one that had extra synthetic fertilizer actually has a ton
06:16of aphids all over the bottom. This one has a very small amount and that's actually to be expected if
06:21you over fertilize. You could often get aphid issues and that's exactly what I think is happening
06:26here. The next one we're looking at is the patio mix from Kellogg's. This is a soil that has done
06:30me dirty in the past, so no surprises here. These all look pretty terrible, I have to admit. The one right
06:36here is the conventional fertilizer and it looks like a joke. I don't even know if it's worth weighing
06:41it. It is so covered in aphids it's actually a bit gross, so we'll set that one aside. Nobody's eating
06:48that, that's for sure. Then we have the control here, which looks not that impressive either, but at
06:54least it doesn't have any aphids. So again, too much fertilizer can definitely be a bad thing, that's
06:59one thing that this has shown already. And then over here we have the organic one, which actually
07:05looks the best. So that's interesting to see from this soil. Let's weigh them and see what it looks
07:09like. And this is weighing in at just over half a pound, and this guy is weighing in at three quarters
07:16of a pound. And then finally the organic one, which definitely is the largest, just over a pound and a
07:21half, probably like 1.6. Now one thing I want to show you guys real quick here is that if you look
07:26at this cabbage, it's pretty green. There's no tinges of purple or anything like that, but this one here
07:31has all this purpling through the leaves, and that is a common sign of nutrient stress, probably
07:36potassium or phosphorus. Whereas this one got absolutely destroyed by the synthetic fertilizer
07:42and just attracted aphids in the end. So organic definitely pulled ahead on this one. This one is
07:47the vigro potting mix, one of the top two contenders from our last experiment. Right here is the control.
07:53It is a honestly nice looking head of cabbage here. Feels like it's going to weigh pretty
07:58heavy. Then we have the organic, which I think is going to be the biggest in this case. That's very
08:03interesting to see. And then we have the synthetic, which once again has the most aphids by far. So
08:09let's weigh these out and see what we get. Let's measure the synthetic one first. I want to mention
08:14right here, that is literally a pile of raining aphids. So this thing is going to have some extra
08:20weight from all day, it's for sure. And it's going to be weighing two and three quarter pound. Next up
08:25we've got the organic, which feels crazy heavy and dense. Oh wow, five and a quarter pound. And then
08:30we have the control, which doesn't feel as dense. Three and three quarters pound. So we have
08:35basically a pound and a half increase from the organic. Definitely a result I wasn't expecting.
08:40This might be the case where you have doubling up a synthetic fertilizer actually is counterproductive.
08:46That's definitely been shown over here with all of this crazy aphid damage. And maybe the organic
08:51is just a better solution overall for any soil. At least so far that's what I've noticed. Over here
08:56at the end we have miracle grow, which was one of the top contenders as well. Let's see what the
09:01control looks like. Overall a pretty solid looking head of cabbage. A little bit of aphids on the back
09:07but nothing too crazy. Then we've got the synthetic one, which has a ton of aphids but is a bigger
09:14cabbage. And then lastly we've got the organic, which is looking a little bit weird. Let's take a
09:19look at that synthetic one first. Definitely has the aphids all over the back and the inside.
09:24So in terms of weight, two and a half pounds. Not bad. Then we have the organic one and the reason
09:30why I said it looks weird is that the top is kind of folding in on itself. There's definitely a
09:34decent amount of aphid pressure on this one. And I'm gonna guess it weighs less than the synthetic.
09:39Two and a half pounds, maybe a hair over the other one. And then finally the control. My guess is this
09:44will be the heaviest. It's actually a little bit of aphids but less than the rest. Three and a half
09:50pounds. So that is one where the convention that we saw before has been bucked. The traditional
09:56nothing added one did the best. But the heaviest cabbage overall was the organic one from the
10:01previous section. So let's talk a little bit about why that may be. We've taken a look at all of the
10:06cabbages and we've weighed them and the conclusion, to me at least, is that I would not use synthetic
10:11fertilizer. Now that's something I've already sort of believe, but seeing all the insane aphid
10:16pressures on the ones that got the synthetic fertilizer just further proved that to me. Now
10:22the other thing I took away from this is that organic fertilizer works across all conditions.
10:26Even if you have a soil that started off with the synthetic fertilizer, the organic produced the
10:31biggest head of cabbage by far and also the densest. So I would always use organics. I would avoid
10:37synthetics. And honestly follow the directions on the package and you'll probably end up with a big
10:42old head of cabbage. Now if you want to see the original experiment video where we actually chose
10:48these top two bottom two soils, check out the video over here. And good luck in the garden and keep on growing!