The Advantages of Using Inorganic Rather Than Organic Fertilizers

Control

• The primary advantage of inorganic fertilizers over their organic counterparts is the ability to deliver controlled amounts of required nutrients. They can be manipulated in a laboratory to provide accurate nitrogen, potassium or phosphorus, or a combination of these substances, depending on the need of the client. Thus, they can improve almost any soil type, targeting the lacking nutrient areas -- organic fertilizers, which are not manipulated, cannot deliver consistent levels of nutrients.

Moveability

• Because they are refined from raw materials -- unlike organic fertilizers -- inorganic fertilizers are usually manufactured into a liquid, pellet or powdered form. This makes them easier and cheaper to both transport and distribute over land than their organic equivalents.

Availability

• Another result of inorganic fertlizers' refined state is that the nutrients within them are often made available to the plant quicker than those in organic fertilizers, promoting quicker growth and improving the soil's fertility.

Disadvantages of Inorganic

• Inorganic fertilizers tend to leech the soil of moisture at a quicker rate than organic fertilizers, so land treated with inorganic fertilizers must be watered regularly. However, this must be strictly monitored, as overwatering leeches the fertilizers through the soil too quickly, taking their nutrients out of reach of the plants' roots. Also, inorganic fertilizers have the potential to burn plants and some ingredients are extracted from environments that have finite resources, such as saline lakes. Overuse of inorganic fertilizers may cause chemical levels to permanently alter in the soil.