Can I substitute bat guano for fish bone meal?

I'm still learning Organics and have ordered a lot from buildasoil. I don't have fish bone meal but I was trying to make the BAS flower top dress recipe below with what I have. Please correct me if I am wrong at any point because there is a lot I still don't know much about like CEC.

The mix looks to be about 80% composts/EWC, 10% peat moss and 10% bio char. If I don't have bio char can I just use 10% more compost?

I also have the listed amendments except fish bone meal. I believe this is a faster releasing high P fish bone meal. Can I substitute a faster releasing high P bat guano in its place?

In the Recipe:
Worm Vermicompost: 10%
BuildASoil Pinto Bean Compost: 10%
Prospectors OMRI listed Compost: 10%
Premium Oly Mountain Fish Compost: 50%
Canadian Sphagnum Peatmoss: 10% (Water Holding and Texture)
Pre-Charged Bio Char Made In Colorado: 10%
Fresh Comfrey Leaf (Home Grown By Jeremy Silva) 1% by Volume or about 2 Gallons of Rough Chopped leaves per yard.
Kelp Meal - 1/2 cup Per Cubic Foot
Neem Cake (Just Enough for some pest control) 1/4 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Fish Bone Meal - 1/2 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Gypsum - 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot

You might consider bone meal instead of guano. If you're in Canada black swallow carries soil ingredients and has fish bone meal.

Limeygreen said:

You might consider bone meal instead of guano. If you're in Canada black swallow carries soil ingredients and has fish bone meal.

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I don't have any bone meal and would just buy fish bone meal if I have to buy something else. I'm really just curious about the guano.

Where I am, the steamed bone meal tends to run about a 3-15-0, while the Alaska whitefish bone meal runs a 6-10-0 with 20% calcium.

Bat guanos where I am run 0-7-0, 0-5-0, .3-13..1(?) (with several in similar range), 9-3-1, and 3-10-1. The greatest difference being the age of the guano; fresher dried guanos being higher in N, aged guano (sometimes resembling crumbled sand stone) being higher P.

I used to grow with the anthropomorphizing idea that, like myself, my plants might prefer more variety, as "variety is the spice of life."

However, there were times I got carried away, as, just in the two items above, changing one out for the other often results in a change to more than just one or two nutrients/micro-nutrients.

I've found myself in a world of hurt when simply changing from delivered water to well water, at the same time the quality of the bat guanos I used 15-20 years ago went to shit (pun intended), and I became 'too creative' with my amendments.

Another series of chapters in the 'too much love fucked up the whole relationship' saga..

The simple answer is "Yes," but be mindful of what your desired levels are, what you're changing, how to maintain the levels in light of what you subtracted, or added, etc.

Your guano is substantially lacking in calcium, to my understanding. Your bone meal or fish bone meal typically have a fair amount of calcium. (*You can add cal-mag and/or dolomite lime for some of that need)

I hope to be posting a recently modified soil recipe I'm trying now, having recently shot myself in the ass using langbeinte in combination with older recipes.... to the displeasure of the plants, apparently.. :^(

It's nearly impossible to get P without Ca. But to answer your original question, yes you can totally substitute bat guano for the fish bone.

I know that bats and birds both eat things that have calcium, so it would make sense they'd have -some- calcium in their excrement, but I had always worked under the impression when using guanos (and I've historically used mostly guanos) that they have no where near the content of the various bone meals.

Thanks. I still learn something every day, when I try.

KIS said:

It's nearly impossible to get P without Ca. But to answer your original question, yes you can totally substitute bat guano for the fish bone.

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Where I traditionally would've used a single-sourced bat guano, lately for a cup of high P bat guano, I've been using a 1/3-cup of .5-13-.1, a 1/3-cup of 3-10-1 random Down to Earth bat guano, and a 1/3-cup of 0-11-0 Peruvian Seabird Guano.

I haven't ever tested the Seabird Guano for ph, but back when I first began using bat guanos (both high N for vegging, and high P for bloom) one of the selling features was the reading I'd done re. use in soils and teas and the report that it tended to be close to a 7 ph, or neutral.

ambertrichome said:

I like Peruvian Seabird Guano, but am not sure of the Calcium Content.

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http://www.organic-guano.com/guano.htm

This is one seabird guano, doesn't make it your brand but just an idea none the less. If you look up the brand and they don't post the information try emailing the company and seeing if they can tell you how much calcium is in theirs.

moose eater said:

I know that bats and birds both eat things that have calcium, so it would make sense they'd have -some- calcium in their excrement, but I had always worked under the impression when using guanos (and I've historically used mostly guanos) that they have no where near the content of the various bone meals.

Thanks. I still learn something every day, when I try.

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Yeah, all organic P sources I'm aware of also bring some Ca. If it's not on the label it doesn't mean it's not in the guano or P source. It just means the seller didn't declare a guaranteed analysis on the Ca.

Thanks.

KIS said:

Yeah, all organic P sources I'm aware of also bring some Ca. If it's not on the label it doesn't mean it's not in the guano or P source. It just means the seller didn't declare a guaranteed analysis on the Ca.

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