Is it better to grow organically or conventionally?
Conventionally (as well as hydroponically) grown plants grow faster and produce higher yields of higher quality. Some growers testify that organics produce better tasting crops; this may be true due to various organic components that become available to the plant during the breakdown process of organic matter. For this to be completely true the plant requires both organic plant and animal matter. For most organic nutrients, a breakdown process needs to occur for the nutrients to become available to the plant. This breakdown process is preformed by micro-organisms found in soil. These micro-organisms break down the organic matter into nitrates, ammonium, potassium oxides etc. These are exactly the same as what the conventional nutrients provide to the plants. The organic process takes time and the micro-organisms also consume some of the nutrients that the plants require. Plants grown using conventional nutrients tend to grow faster and yield more, but it’s also easier to over-fertilize
