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| Okay, here goes:
What does fertilizer consist of - That's a big question and it really depends on what type of fertilizer, but in general it's N,P,K. The N is extracted from the atmosphere. The P is mined from the Earth, The K is mined from the Earth. If you want to know the end products I can list that for you, but it's generally common knowledge.
Bonus Answer - Here are the plant available forms of the macro's: NO3- (Nitrate), NH4+ (Ammonium), HPO4(2)-, H2PO4- (Ortho phosphate), K+ (Potassium).
CEC - That would be Cation Exchange Capacity. Basically, an expression or measure of the ability of the soil to hold and exhange nutrients. More technically the cations we would be concerned with would be Ca++, Mg++, K+, Na+, and to a lesser extent H+, and Al+++. The amount of these cations the soil can hold would tecnically be described as CEC. Clay soils inherently have a higher CEC than sandy soils. CEC is not something that is changed without great expense or effort.
Fertilization practices - The days of fall anhydrous (I think that is what you are reffering to) applications are probably close to being over if the EPA has anything to do with it. The reason why farmers apply 1 lb N per 1 bu yield expectation is because that is what the institutions tell us. I personally can do it with a little less, but that's hard to prove because my chief nutrient source is Turkey manure. The reason why we apply most, if not all of our nutrients on ahead of planting, is because John Deere hasn't designed a machine to feed the crop every week yet. Seroiusly, you are partly right when you say it's too expensive or time consuming. Physically, that would be very difficult. I'm not really sure I follow what you're getting at with the spoon feeding thing. I think using animal manure may be the closest thing to that concept which could be why it works so well in row crop production. Could also be that there are always an excess amount of nutrients available to the plant at all times.
I answered your questions to the best of my ability. My credentials aren't really important, but I am an educated "boy," and consider myself to be fairly well rounded and open minded. If my questions took a sarcastic tone, I apologize, but you still haven't answered any of my questions. There is no need to get defensive or upset, providing you can back up claims with science or evidence. When I worked in the Turf and Ornamental business you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a fairy dust saleman with hollow claims, so that is why I am naturally skeptical of these kind of claims. Now with $5.00 corn I am seeing the same patterns of sales techniques for row crops.
Yes, in one hundred years everyone will know who is right and who is wrong. I won't care then.
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Soil Enhancer
