Crab Shells

[rckymtnthuglife]

So I'm thinking of adding some crab shell meal to my soil mix. Problem is the 50lb bag I want to buy doesn't list the N-P-K.

I'm thinking its fairly low in N and K with around a 5 for P. Am I right?

If you use it in your soil mix tell me how you like it.

Thanks- Rocky

 

[guest2012y]

The NPK of crab meal floats around 5-2-5 .....some are claiming 5-3-0 and such...but it's not a bad supplemental N source (As in an additional source next to guano,alfalfa,EWC,Compost,or fish) considering the chitin it contains is the main reason we use it.
It's a slow release N. and that along with the insect control factor is great....I don't have root aphids or fungus gnats anymore and since I recycle my soil...I now have less and less N amendments to re-amend each additional recycle. (considering that I can keep track of how much I think was consumed and how much N I think I need to re-amend each time)

 

[Albertine]

Like Cheeze is saying, different manufacturers have different n-p-k levels. The stuff I'm using is 4-1-1. Crab is also high in calcium, over 20%, along with some magnesium, 1% or so. Down to Earth's meal is 3-4-0.

I love the idea of using it but don't have an opinion formed from experience.

So, Cheeze, you got rid of them? Wow!

 

[guest2012y]

Like Cheeze is saying, different manufacturers have different n-p-k levels. The stuff I'm using is 4-1-1. Crab is also high in calcium, over 20%, along with some magnesium, 1% or so. Down to Earth's meal is 3-4-0.

I love the idea of using it but don't have an opinion formed from experience.

So, Cheeze, you got rid of them? Wow!

IPM..(integrated pest management...indoor organic style) Using neem seed meal in the soil,neem/silicone drenches and foliars combined with the prolonged effects of the chitin has been extremely successful. I also give credit to some of the help from indigenous life forms such as predatory soil mites,spiders,soil centipedes,and possibly even some native beneficial nematodes due to using local undisturbed topsoil from an area nearby in my soil mix.
But I think most of the long term results I'm seeing are from the chitin and neem seed meal in the recycled mix.

 

[Albertine]

I got rid of the aphids using the Tanglefoot and toss approach. I feel sorry for all those guys in hydro etc. doing a nuclear thing.

Crab and neem just make so much sense - why not use amendments that have repellent qualities?

 

[guest2012y]

I got rid of the aphids using the Tanglefoot and toss approach. I feel sorry for all those guys in hydro etc. doing a nuclear thing.

Crab and neem just make so much sense - why not use amendments that have repellent qualities?

I feel sorry for the guys who smoke the stuff after all the crap they use to get through a cycle. Won't catch me hitting that shit...I can smell it a mile away....yep.

 

[Albertine]

Using all that shit then selling it for medicine.

 

[MrFista]

To clarify why the chitin is being emphasised by Cheeze...

The crabshell chitin that get's broken down in the soil is the same stuff insect exoskeletons are made of. So by adding chitin and recycling the soil a build up of organisms that use the chitin as a substrate is occuring. Some of the microbes that break down the chitin will also break down the chitin on living insects exoskeletons in your soil. Gnats and root aphids cannot complete their life cycles.

You can also use insect molt - locust cicada etc collected from trees. Lobstershell as well, crabs, insects, lobster - all arthropods. All have exoskeletons made of the same stuff - chitin.

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

thanks for the info for the down to earth product...trying to get some more P in my soil mix looks like I'll cut back on alfalfa a little bit and add a little crab meal. i'm also trying to get a little fish powder in there too what a dilemna.

Which makes me wonder? Fish bone meal? does it have alot of P? does it mess with fungi like regular bone meal?

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Crab/Shrimp Meal

Crab/Shrimp Meal

Capt.Cheeze1

The specific crab & shrimp meal that we source from both suppliers in Portland carry the product that used to be badged 'Marion Ag' out of Marion, Oregon near Salem. It's now badged 'Light House' which is the generic brand from Wilbur-Ellis.

This meal is made from the shells from the dungeness crab industry and the shrimp meal is from the small shrimp caught off the North Pacific from Alaska down to Northern California. They're what most folks call 'cocktail shrimp' - the little tiny ones.

Good product. Local. Inexpensive.

I also use the crab & shrimp meal as well as both neem & karanja seed meals. No gnats. No root aphids. Nothing flying around. No poisons. Nothing to 'flush' or whatever.

HTH

CC

 

[guest2012y]

Capt.Cheeze1

The specific crab & shrimp meal that we source from both suppliers in Portland carry the product that used to be badged 'Marion Ag' out of Marion, Oregon near Salem. It's now badged 'Light House' which is the generic brand from Wilbur-Ellis.

This meal is made from the shells from the dungeness crab industry and the shrimp meal is from the small shrimp caught off the North Pacific from Alaska down to Northern California. They're what most folks call 'cocktail shrimp' - the little tiny ones.

Good product. Local. Inexpensive.

I also use the crab & shrimp meal as well as both neem & karanja seed meals. No gnats. No root aphids. Nothing flying around. No poisons. Nothing to 'flush' or whatever.

HTH

CC

Thanks for the detailed source info. CC.......nice to know.
And YES...this is working greatly for me...not much flying around at all.

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

Well I'm in Montana. I do believe there was a Lighthouse on the the 50lb bag of crab shell meal. NPK wasn't listed on the bag and I couldn't find anything on the website listed.
I'll bug ya about it if that really is the brand definetly gonna add it to my soil mix.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

I do believe there was a Lighthouse on the the 50lb bag of crab shell meal

rckymtnthuglife

If it is marked Light House it should have the term(s) Crustacean Meal and the NPK is 4-1-0

CC

 

[tony clifton]

.

 

[tr1ck_]

Do shrimp shells contain Chiten? I have to feed raw shrimp to my Eel all the time, and I am constantly throwing away the shells.

Would it be a good idea to dry and crush some of this and put it into my soil?

 

[schwagg]

i put all shrimp shells in my compost pile.

 

[mad librettist]

shrimp shells are also made of chitin.

remember folks, that fungi are made of chitin too. Crab meal should tilt things toward bacteria, especially when buried.

 

[DARC MIND]

more on chitin and chitinase

CHITINASE
Chitinase or chitinolytic enzymes are key enzymes responsible for the degradation and hydrolysis of chitin (poly
-1-4-(2-ncetamido-2 deoxy)-D-glucoside). They are also considered as the major structural component of many fungal cell walls that use the hyperparasitism mechanisms against pests/pathogen attack, (Bartinicki- Garcia, 1968; Chet and Henis, 1969; Chet and Henis, l975; Chet, 1987). These biological agents also reduce disease producing agents by using other mechanisms such as antibiosis or competition mechanisms (Parl, 1960). This agriculturally important enzyme is produced or released by various organisms including plants and micro-organisms (Deshpande, 1986). For example, in plants, the chitinase enzyme is induced and accumulated in response to microbial infections and it is thought to be involved in the defence of plants against pathogen infections (Boiler et al., 1983; Boiler, 1985). Its presence in different forms in the ecosystem has demonstrated its effectiveness in the control of soil-borne diseases such as Sclerotium rolfsii and Rhizoctonia solani in beans and cotton, respectively (Ordentlich et al., 1988; Shapira et al., 1989). Biological control of damping off caused by R. solani was achieved by applying antagonistic fungi and bacteria isolated from coastal soils with chitinase activities (Ordentlich et al., 1988; Gal, 1992; Tweddel et al. 1994). One of the mechanisms proposed involves lytic enzymes that cause the degradation of cell walls of pathogenic fungi (Sneh, 1981; Elad et al., 1982; Hadar et al., 1983; Ordentlich et al, 1988; Chet et al., 1990; Singh et al., 1999). As biological control of most pathogenic diseases is increasingly gaining popularity in recent times due to their environmental friendliness, better understanding of the chitinolytic enzymes is likely to uncover more application avenues for this enzyme in agricultural systems and, consequently, increase plant growth and final yields.

more on soil enzymes & ther roles
http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajb/article/viewFile/58355/46700
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