How to Apply Organic Fish and Bone Meal Fertilizers in Your Garden

Organic fertilizers made from bone meal are used in agriculture where additional calcium is needed to reduce acidity. Suitable for all garden and indoor ornamental crops. This is an environmentally friendly, harmless, long-acting fertilizer that becomes part of the soil within a period of 6 to 8 months.

Bone meal - organic phosphorus fertilizer

Phosphoazotine, or bone meal, is made from the skeletons of cattle; it is such a valuable fertilizer for the agricultural industry.

The composition of the bone substance includes the main nutrients needed by plants at various stages of the growing season:

• phosphorus;
• potassium;
• nitrogen;
• calcium.

Phosphonitrogen also contains trace elements. Most of them have a significant impact on the condition of green mass and roots.

The main element of plant nutrition is phosphorus. There are 3 types of substances, the amount of phosphorus in which differs in percentage:

• without fatty impurities - 35%;
• evaporated - 25%;
• ground - 15%.

There is less potassium in flour, but it is enough for feeding vegetable crops for a long time. The least amount of nitrogen is about 4%. Therefore, when adding phosphonitrogen to the soil, it is necessary to simultaneously use nitrogen-containing fertilizers - urea, saltpeter or ammonium sulfate.

In terms of nutrient content, phosphonitrogen is more suitable for cactus plants, since succulents require calcium in large quantities for growth and development.

It is necessary to use meat and bone waste on peat-boggy soils. Plants on such soil always lack copper, and bone meal contains 18%. On light sandy soils, nutrients are quickly washed into the lower layers and become unavailable to plants. Thanks to the long period of decomposition of animal residues, plants receive nutrition, grow well and bear fruit.

Benefits of Using Bone Meal

Meat and bone meal is used for all plants:

• in gardening, vegetable garden;
• for indoor decorative flowers.

A substance is used to prepare compost, the disadvantage of which is the lack of phosphorus.In this case, a good ratio of batteries is created. Manure or chicken droppings are a rich source of nitrogen and potassium. The bone mixture contains phosphorus and microelements, the main of which is calcium, it is needed to improve metabolism in fruits and increase taste.

The presence of both phosphorus and calcium promotes the development of the root system and fruit filling.

When using ground bones, plants' immunity to fungal infections, bacterial infections, and pests increases.

Phosphorus fertilizers have high pH values, so they are able to reduce soil acidity. Acidic soils are not suitable for some garden plants. Bone waste will bring acidity back to normal and ensure the absorption of nutrients and plant growth.

The fertilizer is completely natural and does not cause the accumulation of chemicals in the tissues and fruits of agricultural crops.

Bone meal for plants: how to use

Bone fertilizer is applied to the soil in the fall. The period of its decomposition is from 6 to 8 months, and by the onset of spring the nutrients have time to transform into a form convenient for absorption. It is enough to apply once a year so that the plants do not lack nutrition throughout the entire growing season. But experienced gardeners say that once a year is too much, and it is enough to use once every 3 years to maintain soil fertility.

As a feed additive, it is necessary to apply from 100 to 200 g per m² during digging.

For tomatoes and other vegetable plants

More meat and bone waste used as fertilizer is needed for vegetable crops. At the same time, vegetables will be much tastier due to calcium and potassium. The substance is applied either in the fall or in the spring during planting, adding 50 g of bone meal to each hole.

Tomatoes and eggplants respond best to feeding with meat and bone waste. Tomatoes have dense flesh without white streaks or seals. They have a uniform color and good seed material. The substance is used for preparing soil for tomato seedlings. It affects the growth of the root system and the full absorption of other nutrients - nitrogen, potassium and calcium by young seedlings. As a result, plants better tolerate transplantation into open ground and spring temperature changes, and begin to bloom and bear fruit earlier.

Tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, cabbage improve flowering rates, duration of fruiting period and nutritional characteristics.

For potatoes

Meat and bone meal is applied to potato fields or garden beds from 300 to 500 g of the substance per m². It is better to apply it in the fall before digging, since adding this fertilizer to each hole takes a lot of time. Phosphoazotine promotes the accumulation of starch and sugar in tubers, increasing their size and quantity. You can harvest 40% more when using bone waste.

The composition of potatoes is suitable for fishmeal, which contains more nitrogen for the growth of the above-ground part - shoots and leaves.

For roses

Roses need potassium and calcium to bloom. Not only bone meal, but also fish meal is suitable as fertilizer. The advantage of fish waste is its higher nitrogen content - up to 10%. Fishmeal also contains a lot of calcium and phosphorus, but it will be cheaper to use waste from fish production in regions located closer to the sea. The cost of flour is much lower.

For iron-deficient soils, blood meal—dried cattle blood—is used. It is mixed with meat and bones and added to the soil to feed plants.

For strawberries

The use of flour saturates the soil with useful elements for feeding strawberries. The substance is applied during the flowering period to strengthen the root system and increase the number of ovaries.

For bulbous plants

Meat and bone meal for bulbous crops is applied in dry form in autumn or spring. Ornamental bulbous plants are fertilized in the depressions around the root. After laying the furrows, they are covered with earth.

For berry bushes and fruit trees

When planting berry crops - strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, the substance is applied to the hole. There is no need to worry that the substance will damage the root system. It is harmless and will relieve the gardener from the need for fertilizing for a long time. The only thing you have to do is foliar spraying with urea to replenish nitrogen reserves. The second option is to sprinkle ammonium nitrate between the rows.

For indoor plants

For flower crops grown in pots, 1 part flour per 100 parts soil is sufficient. In a medium-sized pot, you can add 2-3 tablespoons of bone meal. The product takes a long time to decompose, so for the next six months you don’t have to worry that the plants will lack nutrition. If chlorotic spots appear on the leaves, use nitrogen sprays or fertilize with saltpeter. Potassium sulfate is suitable for indoor plants to stimulate flowering.

Bone meal for liquid fertilizers

With equal success, bone fertilizer can be used in dry form or in liquid solutions. To prepare a flour solution, you need:

• take 1 kg of phosphonitrogen;
• pour a bucket of boiling water;
• leave for a week, stirring occasionally;
• strain and add another 10 liters of water.

The resulting concentrate is diluted to 400 liters and watered on seedlings, berry bushes, and potatoes. It is advisable to moisten the soil before fertilizing so that plants can better absorb nutrients.

In gardening, green fertilizer is often used - an infusion of weeds or nettles, which contains a lot of nitrogen but little phosphorus. You can add bone products to the green infusion, enriching it with trace elements and phosphorus.

What happens if you overfeed?

It is almost impossible to overfeed plants with bone supplements. But there is a risk of disturbing the chemical and bacterial composition of the soil under the following conditions:

• if mixed with mineral complexes, you can add too much phosphorus fertilizer, which will lead to impaired nitrogen absorption;
• the use of stale products with mold can provoke an outbreak of fungal infection and crop loss;
• Exceeding dosages threatens to increase the alkali content, which will lead to growth inhibition due to poor absorption of nutrients by plants;
• application on neutral or alkaline soils will not be beneficial, at best it will not harm, because nutrition will become unavailable to the root system of most crops, except for those that are suitable for soils with high pH.

To completely dissolve phosphorus in the bone mixture, a slightly acidic soil reaction is required. For balance, it is recommended to mix the waste with peat, which has a low pH level.

conclusions

Phosphonitrogen will be more beneficial in acidic or slightly acidic soils. In neutral and alkaline conditions, the substance should be used carefully so as not to upset the balance of nutrients in plant tissues.