Bone Meal getting harder to find?
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so lucky
Almost Self-Reliant
Maybe it's being used for food in some third world nation. I'm not trying to be funny--we had a shortage of nyger seed for bird feeding several years ago, and I was told by the sales rep that it was being kept in Africa to use as feed for the people there, due to a famine. With the way nyger seed smells, can you imagine having to eat it?
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread, Marshall.
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread, Marshall.
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- #3
at all. SORRY, but bone meal [Blood Meal also] was believed to be a vector for 'Mad Cow' disease [the major use was the production of animal feed] The producers basically discontinued production rather than face the liability of such a problem and it was not worth the testing expence. Also the demand for it by Organic producers takes a large share of the small amount still being produced. The phosphorus provied can be replaced by 'Greensand' and the Calcium by by limestone or a whole group of Calcium materials like oyster shell or chicken egg shell. ~gdso lucky said:Maybe it's being used for food in some third world nation. I'm not trying to be funny--we had a shortage of nyger seed for bird feeding several years ago, and I was told by the sales rep that it was being kept in Africa to use as feed for the people there, due to a famine. With the way nyger seed smells, can you imagine having to eat it?
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread, Marshall.
Google "home made bonemeal", and all sorts of articles come up. This is one of them - http://notdabblinginnormal.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/making-bone-meal-at-home/
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- #6
Bone Meal
5-10-0
plus something like 4 for Calcium
Add to that, I tested using steamed Bone Meal on Tomatoes for to see what the overdose level was.
I transplanted, (in 2005, professional greenhouse conditions), 6" tall healthy Tomato plants into one (so called) gallon pots with various amounts of Bone meal. The potting soil was Coco (nut) based. "The Good Stuff". I planted a Tomato plant into exactly the recommended dose of Bone Meal, another into a double dose, and another into a triple dose, and one in a quadruple dose. I then mixed the bone meal 50 50 by volume for another one, and one I planted into pure Bone Meal. These were rootball intact transplants from 3 and a half inch pots. Only the minor professional finger flick on the bottom of the rootball was done as our normal uppotting technique is used to loosen the roots from the original rootball to grow out.
None of the plants died. The one in pure Bone meal only seemed slightly stressed. The plant given the quadruple dose grew the best. Real great! The plant given the 50 50 mix did almost as well. I decided that anything past a 4X dose of Bone meal was only a waste, and that for healthy 6" Tomato plants, there is no lethal overdose level of steamed white Bone Meal.
Bone Meal has a very long lasting beneficial effect on the soil. The Calcium in it is not the strong form that alters the soil ph very much, in fact, for slightly acidic soil, tends to slowly balance the ph. It also "seems" to provide a good habitat for soil microbes, and is one of the best things to add to a compost pile.
This business of feeding Cows, one of nature's most purely herbivore animals, true "obligatory herbivores", whose digestion system is designed for only processing plant materials, animal byproducts, and forcing on them Cannibalism, needs to end immediately.
So, since THEY are not producing Bone Meal for Cannibalistic use for cattle feed, and since organic plant growers use the greater majority, what in the holy berjeebers is there a shortage for?
5-10-0
plus something like 4 for Calcium
Add to that, I tested using steamed Bone Meal on Tomatoes for to see what the overdose level was.
I transplanted, (in 2005, professional greenhouse conditions), 6" tall healthy Tomato plants into one (so called) gallon pots with various amounts of Bone meal. The potting soil was Coco (nut) based. "The Good Stuff". I planted a Tomato plant into exactly the recommended dose of Bone Meal, another into a double dose, and another into a triple dose, and one in a quadruple dose. I then mixed the bone meal 50 50 by volume for another one, and one I planted into pure Bone Meal. These were rootball intact transplants from 3 and a half inch pots. Only the minor professional finger flick on the bottom of the rootball was done as our normal uppotting technique is used to loosen the roots from the original rootball to grow out.
None of the plants died. The one in pure Bone meal only seemed slightly stressed. The plant given the quadruple dose grew the best. Real great! The plant given the 50 50 mix did almost as well. I decided that anything past a 4X dose of Bone meal was only a waste, and that for healthy 6" Tomato plants, there is no lethal overdose level of steamed white Bone Meal.
Bone Meal has a very long lasting beneficial effect on the soil. The Calcium in it is not the strong form that alters the soil ph very much, in fact, for slightly acidic soil, tends to slowly balance the ph. It also "seems" to provide a good habitat for soil microbes, and is one of the best things to add to a compost pile.
This business of feeding Cows, one of nature's most purely herbivore animals, true "obligatory herbivores", whose digestion system is designed for only processing plant materials, animal byproducts, and forcing on them Cannibalism, needs to end immediately.
So, since THEY are not producing Bone Meal for Cannibalistic use for cattle feed, and since organic plant growers use the greater majority, what in the holy berjeebers is there a shortage for?
winstonlacewing
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Hi Marshall,
I'm in SoCal and haven't noticed a shortage down here. We get 50lb. bags for around $30. Have you looked for soft rock phosphate? That's probably the best comparable source. There's also high-phosphorus bat guano...much more expensive, but potent for sure. Greensand has a bit of potash, but no phos. Long-term/sustainable source would have to be from manures.
my two...
Winston
I'm in SoCal and haven't noticed a shortage down here. We get 50lb. bags for around $30. Have you looked for soft rock phosphate? That's probably the best comparable source. There's also high-phosphorus bat guano...much more expensive, but potent for sure. Greensand has a bit of potash, but no phos. Long-term/sustainable source would have to be from manures.
my two...
Winston
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