What organic matter makes the soil more phosphorus?I put all my veggy scraps in my compost so I was wondering what makes more phosphate? If you know of a website that I could go to to find what organic matter makes which mineral.I an trying to learn all about makes what. Does that make sense? I have learned a lots from garden stew.Thanks for this website.
Any plant matter you add will have traces of phosphorus. So compost will help, as will plant based mulches. Did you have a soil test that says you need phosphorus in particular? If so, it is possible to buy "rock phosphate" a mined source. There is also "soft phosphate" which is available as a powdery or gritty clay. Bone meal is an okay source, too. Please know that "phosphorus" means the element phosphorus while "phosphate" refers to the somewhat soluble form (ionizes in water, especially acidic water, I think) of phosphorus. So if you are shopping for a product, look for phosphate as well as phosphorus. On fertilizers (organic or non-organic) that have an analysis of the major nutrients, the second number given is the percent of phosphorus. So for example if you see a fertilizer labeled, "5-5-5" that means it has 5% nitrogen, 5% phosphorus, and 5% potassium.
