I thought this was an interesting study on growing tomato transplants with organic compounds and specifically using vermicompost. Some of it might be worth exploring in regular container growing. http://wormpower.net/pdf/Cornell_Organic%20_Transplant_Media_and_Tomato_Performance_2007.pdf The gist of it is plants grown solely with plant based nutrients did not do as well compared with those grown with mix amended with vermicompost AND blood meal. (though alfalfa produced acceptable transplant as well) Vermicompost alone and blood meal alone not effective --best results were with the 2 combined. Scroll down for brief synopsis of results and conclusions. Of course, you would have to be careful not to add too much of any air robbing component as Al points out. Fallofrain, I don't think you would be able to emulate the ideas in the book How to Grow World Record Tomatoes by Charles Wilber but for anyone interested in organic growing in- ground or in containers it is a very entertaining read. He has a set way of doing things and lays it out like a drill sargeant but you can't argue with his results as he held many Guiness World Records. He harvests 100 pounds of tomatoes (from one container/one plant) with his special compost. Available on Amazon.com for $10

To be technically correct, corn is digestible. But it lacks an essential ammino acid necessary for the protein in corn to be assimilated by koi. Corn gluten meal is a different story. Corn gluten meal is a plant protein ingredient known to be highly palatable. Corn gluten meal or combination of corn gluten meal and soybean meal can replace most of the fishmeal without any effect on performance of the fish. Basically, animal food manufactures put corn in food because they can claim that it provides a certain level of protein for your pets. While the protein is there, most pets (including dogs) can't use it, so it is wasted. Corn is nothing but filler for most animal foods.

I can't figure out how to start a thread...I go to the start a discussion box, put in my title, add the content and when I hit the green button nothing happens.

So...(You might as well sit down, cross your ankles, and light your pipes.)... another thing happened once. After my divorce, when I was living with my mother, I filled my mother's compost bin with a different, smaller, menhaden wash-up. She looked outside the next morning to see her Golden snugged up tight to the bin, walking around it, rubbing, with his neck and shoulders pressed against it. Exactly like you might see a dog do when it finds something especially disgusting on the ground in the woods. Afterwards the dog had an odor and texture to his fur that got mentioned ad nauseam for months. Another time---I hesitate to bring this up because it sounds so implausible, it makes me look like a teller of tales---I put a bucket of whole fish in my bin. I was leaping-in-the-air-horrified the next morning to find the fish sticking nose-first out of the 3"x3" gauge bin, the wrinkled, gray eye sockets, accusing. Evidently some raccoon had tried to drag them out of the bin, through the mesh, and, thwarted, left this grisly scene. I wrote about that here about 21 years ago. Anyone remember? Flora?