An organic fertilizer is composed of organic matter, like manure, ground alfalfa or soy, or the byproducts of chicken farms (feather meal) or fisheries (fish meal, fish bone meal, fish emulsion). Organic fertilizers need soil organisms to break them down and release their nutrients, so most of them release their nutrients slowly, over an extended period. Organic fertilizer blends can be built into the soil so they release over the entire season, instead of fertilizing every few weeks.
Chemical fertilizers are water-soluble salts that are available to plants as soon as they're dissolved in water. Because they're water soluble, they can be flushed through the soil by heavy rains, and contaminate streams, rivers, and lakes, where they can cause algae blooms and fish die-offs. "Dead zones" at the mouths of some major rivers may be the result of excessive fertilizers washing into the water.
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