How Pesticides And Chemical Fertilizers Impact The Soil
You may already know the problems with pesticides. “Cide” means to kill. That’s what pesticides are for. Herbicides, for example, are designed to kill plants, but they also have a big impact on non-target organisms. They kill or at least injure plants and microorganisms at the same time. Same goes for all pesticides.
It’s important to realize chemical fertilizers are extremely harmful to soil life as well. In the soil they undergo chemical reactions that can produce acids with a pH lower than 1.2 or bases with a pH above 11. These are toxic to pretty much everything.
Even without these reactions, the fertilizers are salts that interfere with the cell walls of microorganisms, hurting and killing them.