Using Blood and Bone meal

regine_Z 10 Fl gw

16 years ago

What is your opinion on using Blood and Bone meal in the garden? I was wondering when I would use it.

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Comments (7)

tclynx
16 years ago
My opinion on using them, I have, blood meal at least (my soil is pretty high in phosphorus already so I am not planning to use that.)

When you should use them, after you get a soil test that tells you that you need them.

In some ways that might be easier said than done. Here in FL the soil test for home owners doesn't tell anything about nitrogen which would be the blood meal. I also suspect that in much of the state, they are going to tell you that you have more than enough phosphorus which would be the bone meal. The soil tests only cost about $7 per test here in FL.
softmentor
16 years ago
I do not use them. After many years of recommending them, the folks at Rodale press reversed their position on them and now no longer recommend them. There are a small number of cases where there have been disease related to this in the garden. Not worth the potential health problem, even if it's only a small chance. There are plenty of vegetative sources without having to use animal sources.
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Sharon: THANK YOU FOR THOSE FANTASTIC PICTURES !! I also did red-cabbage test today Sat. 7/25/20. Distilled water boiled in red cabbage is actually acidic according to on-line info. "Pure distilled water should be neutral with a pH of 7, but because it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it's actually slightly acidic with a pH of 5.8." From your pictures above, the grayish blue solution is alkaline with pH 7.5. My pH 7.7 clay is a bit bluer (tested by Earth Corp. soil testing company). Black, gray, or clear solution is neutral pH .. means it's a fantastic buffer (good for plants). I tested COMPOSTED grass clippings and it's clear water above black solution. Buffer is great to neutralize the acidity of rain. Clay buffers better than sand/loamy soil, but the best buffer is composted organic matter. Coffee is also a buffer (at first pinkish, but after 20 min., it's a clear solution). COMPOSTED plant-matter is very alkaline and neutralizes acidic rain well. COMPOSTED leaves decompose to alkaline pH, when I stuffed a bunch of leaves in LOAMY & fluffy soil .. the next year that got converted into HARD CLAY, very alkaline. Green grass clippings stay fluffy longer (more nitrogen & more acidic). Brown leaves are considered "carbon" in a compost pile, and decompose to alkaline pH & hard like clay. My tap-water in red-cabbage is VERY BLUE, it's at pH 9 as stated on village's website. I also tested baking soda and it's more blue than my tap-water. I tested paver's sand or yellow coarse sand, and it's slightly alkaline. I tested composted manure and it's very alkaline (from the lime added to deodorize and kill weeds in the bag). The pH of composted manure is just as alkaline as my clay at pH 7.7. Your LAST pic. is slightly acidic. Rain-water is even more acidic & reddish purple. Rain water here is pH 4.5. I also tested some drops of vinegar and it's fuchsia red around pH 3. All my rooting-soil for cuttings are black or clear solution at neutral pH (they have lots of yellow sand or vermiculite mixed in). The clay taken from diseased & black spotted roses are slightly acidic, rather than blue like my pH 7.7 clay. I had tested 5 different roses with black spots in the past, and the soil taken from the root level is pinkish in red-cabbage juice. It's either acidic rain can't drain well from that spot, or else there's NOT enough buffer to neutralize the heavy rain going down.
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dchall_san_antonio
16 years ago
Down here there's a commercially branded organic fertilizer called Texas Tee. The ingredients are listed as feather meal, ground grains (the usual suspects), and blood meal. It is well known that blood meal is a fast acting source of nitrogen; ground grains will take about 3 weeks to show results; and feather meal takes forever to decompose. So what this mix amounts to is a fertilizer with quick greening qualities and other ingredients that will extend the effective life of the fertilizer for months.

The application rate is about 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Just guessing based on the contents, I would say that would be 8 pounds of grains, 5 pounds of feather, and 2 pounds of blood per 1,000 square feet.

So assuming you blend it in small amounts with larger amounts of grains, you could mix blood meal that way.
jean001
16 years ago
It was said:
"in FL the soil test for home owners doesn't tell anything about nitrogen "

That's standard procedure for soil tests anywhere.
Kimmsr
16 years ago
Blood meal could be used as a Nitrogen source in your compost, but because it is very water soluble it is not a N source to use in the garden, If you have enough organic matter in the soil to keep that N source somewhat stable you have ample N in your soil and do not need more. If you do not have sufficient organic matter in your soil to hold that nutrient it will simply flow out of your soil and pollute the ground water.
Bone meal is not what it once was and there are other, less expensive, sources of phosphorus that the Soil Food Web would find easier to digest. Simply because of how animals are fed to day means their bones are not what they were even 20 years ago.
Why spend your money on "stuff" you may not need?
regine_Z 10 Fl gw
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks to all of you for your advice.I don't think that I will bother with either one of them.
fertilizersalesman
16 years ago
I think they are both great. N release from blood meal is pretty rapid and bone meal is a much much more available source of P than rock phosphate. We regularly test ours for salmonella and e. coli. which have always been negative.

Using Blood and Bone meal

Comments (7)

tclynx

softmentor

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Using Blood and Bone meal

Comments (7)

tclynx

softmentor

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dchall_san_antonio

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regine_Z 10 Fl gwOriginal Author

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regine_Z 10 Fl gw
Original Author