← Organic fertiliser FAQ

What is organic fertiliser made of?

Organic fertiliser is made from natural materials: plant meals such as alfalfa and rapeseed, seaweed, and mined minerals such as rock phosphate, polyhalite and sulphate of potash.

Nitrogen usually comes from plant proteins and meals, such as alfalfa, rapeseed or a fermented amino-acid extract. Phosphorus comes from mined rock phosphate and, in many organic feeds, from animal by-products like bonemeal, though Dr Forest keeps to plant and mineral sources. Potassium comes from sulphate of potash and mined polyhalite. Seaweed adds trace elements, while humic and fulvic acids mainly condition the soil and help hold nutrients rather than supplying any themselves.

The blends are multi-input, so alongside the main nutrients you get minerals like gypsum and basalt rock dust, fermented biochar and malted barley, each doing a specific job for the soil.

Because the ingredients are natural materials rather than refined salts, the analysis is more modest than a synthetic and the nutrients release over weeks. That is the trade you make for feeding the soil as well as the plant. Every ingredient is on the label, so you can see exactly what you are putting on the garden.