NPK blood and bone meals

[FlaDankster]

Theres 6,935,729,610 recipes online to make a water only or close to water only soil mix for organic growing.

But i never see the NPK's discussed along with these mix's.


So what are your thoughts guys.....what should one look for in the NPK department when purchasing blood or bone meals for their soil?Or does it even make a hoot?

I have only used the MG blood 12-0-0 and bone 6-9-0*in any of mine.

 

[heady blunts]

a lot of organic amendments have n-p-k ratings on them, but the reality is that in an organic system the plant feeds itself.

everyone that comes over to the organic side of the fence is faced with this same dilemma. n-p-k and pH and EC/ppm were the most important things to know. you basically were using them to calculate the appropriate meal each time your plant feeds. it's hard to let go i know.

you can still refer to the n-p-k on organic amendments to get an idea of the ratio of a product's constituents. fertilizer blends for example can be balanced (5-5-5) or weighted for bloom (3-8-3) or veg (5-2-2). the bloom might have extra bone meal, for example, which is a source of phosphorus.

as long as the nutrients are insoluble (most organic amendments are), you have a pretty wide margin of error between putting enough nutrients for the plant to eat vs "burning" it.

you are no longer feeding your plant -- you're feeding your soil, and your soil in turn feeds your plant.

learn a bit about what nutrients each amendment contains. then you're gonna want to mix in a good amount of the macro nutrients (n, p, and k), and in smaller amounts, the micronutrients (mg, ca, fe, co, etc).

it's also important to let a fresh mix sit for as long as possible before you use it. 3-6 months is ideal, but you can speed it up a bit with some compost tea. this gives the microorganisms time to begin digesting some of the materials you've given them. it also "mellows out" the soil so you'll have a rich, neutral, healthy soil for your plants.

good luck!

 

[Clackamas Coot]

FlaDankster

Here's a rundown on the various methods of measuring N-P-K in bat guano (specifically) but it applies to measuring the values in your bone and blood meal.

Bottom line is that bone meal is bone meal is bone meal. These numbers wouldn't mean diddly–squat to me given the games that are played by the 'fert industry'

HTH

CC

 

[Microbeman]

I'm not so sure I understand the whole thing with aging/cooking soil after making a mix. If one placed uncomposted materials into the mix then yes I guess give those things some time to break down. If you use composted materials, the way to get more microbial activity occurring is to have live roots in there. Of course in between crops you need a break for your soil in order to deal with the old roots. [I use AEM and composting worms for this] However other than this raw material issue I've never quite understood the soil sitting thing. I did not use anything like blood or bone though.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

I did not use anything like blood or bone though.

Microbeman

Same here. Fish meal over blood meal and fish bone meal over bone meal (swine or bovine sources). Both of the marine products are produced using enzyme/fermentation to get the final result.

The main thing about using marine sources over bovine sources is that the marine products retain their micronutrients, in part, because of the processing used.

Then there's the philosophical issues associated with using slaughterhouse by-products given the rather weird feeds & agents used to get cattle up and growing, steroids, growth hormones, et al.

I'll pass.

CC

 

[mad librettist]

If you are trying to avoid contamination, it doesn't make sense to avoid low trophic level land animals in favor of higher trophic level marine life.

I like espoma's approach - feathers. Lots of them, and hydrolyzed to boot.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

I like espoma's approach - feathers. Lots of them, and hydrolyzed to boot.

When their products became available (Epsoma) at one of the 'kinda' farm stores I looked at their ingredients and was pleasantly surprised to find 'hydrolyzed poultry feathers'

Nice products and fairly well-priced compared to other national fertilizer blends.

CC

 

[igrowone]

i use the MG bone meal with the 6-9-0 number
my experience is limited, but impressed with this stuff, actually it's my only nitrogen source other than the MG Organic garden soil
1 tbsp per gallon of soil, brew a tea from it with molasses
unless MG Garden is a super soil, the bone meal does seem to provide a nice slow release nitrogen

 

[FlaDankster]

Thanks for chimin in fellas.

So is my understanding going in the right direction here?

Say i got the LC #2 mix and am using recipe #1.Does it even matter what the npk's are on the blood and bone being the plant will take what it needs from the mix or do you guys feel that there is an area that one should kinda stay in concerning what the npk is?Or do yas feel this is just kinda a personal choice kinda thing?

 

[CT Guy]

I'm not so sure I understand the whole thing with aging/cooking soil after making a mix. If one placed uncomposted materials into the mix then yes I guess give those things some time to break down. If you use composted materials, the way to get more microbial activity occurring is to have live roots in there. Of course in between crops you need a break for your soil in order to deal with the old roots. [I use AEM and composting worms for this] However other than this raw material issue I've never quite understood the soil sitting thing. I did not use anything like blood or bone though.

I think the reason you let it sit is because when you mix the soil, most people are adding a bunch of amendments to it (kelp, fish, blood/bone meals, alfalfa, etc...) that the microbes need a bit of time to process and break down before you plant. In theory, wouldn't that fall into your "uncomposted materials" definition?

 

[Microbeman]

I suppose. The only things like that which I've mixed in rather than topdress is kelp and alfalfa in such minor amounts that I have not worried about nutrient lock up. It would be interesting to do a trial, mixing those materials into soil opposed to using those materials in a compost and mixing the compost with your soil.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

I add both alfalfa as well as kelp meal to both potting soils as well as adding to the humus that goes on the beds.

In the case of benefiting the soil structure, per se, kelp meal is preferable to using extracts as they perform different functions as well as sharing a large percentage of benefits.

 

[heady blunts]

I think the reason you let it sit is because when you mix the soil, most people are adding a bunch of amendments to it (kelp, fish, blood/bone meals, alfalfa, etc...) that the microbes need a bit of time to process and break down before you plant. In theory, wouldn't that fall into your "uncomposted materials" definition?

this is how i understood it.

 

[redneck shogun]

I think the reason you let it sit is because when you mix the soil, most people are adding a bunch of amendments to it (kelp, fish, blood/bone meals, alfalfa, etc...) that the microbes need a bit of time to process and break down before you plant. In theory, wouldn't that fall into your "uncomposted materials" definition?

I just wanted to add that the fact you don't really need to let your soil sit between runs is another advantage to recycling your soil. You can even run a cover crop in it if you have extra.

 

[Montana]

if anyone can prove to me or show any evidence that the chemicals/hormones or whatever they are using for bovine farming have any effect on bone/blood meals I'd love to see it, so far as I have seen from my own experimenting, bone/blood meals are superior to anything else out there, political ideals and opinions based on mostly conspiracy rumors going around hippie circles drive me fucking crazy, veganics and the like, fuck!! feeding plants to plants is a great idea with great results, but nowhere near as good as bone/blood meals, even better, is a balanced mix of both ideas.

Fuck am I ever sick of hearing/reading this bullshit, skinny, nutrient deficient lightheaded, low energy, weak ass hippie freaks trying to tell me about bad chems and bad slaughterhouse methods bla bla bla, it's all political, not science, it's a really bad idea to base your diet for you and your plants/family on political ideals, to me it's called natural selection, the strong survive, eat well and gain some muscle!

 

[wisco61]

Thats just ignorant. I like a steak as much as the next guy, but I realize that things like nettles and seaweed have properties that make them far superior to something basic like bone or blood meal.

 

[trichrider]

provide proof of animal vs. plant benefits.
plants offer more readily available nutrient values than say, dead animals.
not saying bone or blood meal are bad, on the contrary, they are just not available as plant matter is...
do not put animal wastes in compost! they take longer to provide nutrients as they need to decompose via the rhizosphere.
think slow release=animal waste.

 

[Montana]

no not using animal waste vs plant based ferts.....

proof that using hormones and chemicals in animal farming has an effect on the fertilizers made from the slaughterhouse waste.....