Organic Fertilizers – Part 4 - Animal Sources

Animals Provide Organic Nutrients

Getting this article on Animal Sources organized today, I found that the animal sources for organic fertilizers are limited.  The products that come from animals are few, but I did find some really good quality fertilizers, and some – not so much.
 
Let’s look at the –not so much- products first.
 
Blood Meal   As the name implies, blood from animals is the ingredient of this product.  Slaughterhouse floors are scraped and the products is pulverized into powder.  Processing of cattle is the usual source, but pigs, and chicken blood can be used.  High in Nitrogen, Blood meal has an N-P-K of 12-0-0.  This type of nitrogen is readily available, and may burn plants if over applied.

In strict organic production, blood meal is not allowed to be fed to organic livestock.  The risk of mad-cow disease is the reason for this ban.  Applying blood meal to crops as a soil amendment is allowed however.  As a precaution, it is recommended that during application of blood meal, a mask is worn to limit exposure of this disease.

Blood Meal is also used as an animal repellant and as a compost accelerator.

As a readily renewable product, resources (blood) come from processing 26.4 Billion pounds of beef annually.  22.5 Billion pounds of pig products are produced annually.


Bone Meal  The same industry as above, provides bone for organic bone meal. Bones are steamed, stripped, dried, and ground during processing.   Bone meal is high in phosphorus, and helps promote root growth in plants. Common use of bone meal is in the fall while planting spring flowering bulbs.


I recommend that indiscriminate application of any fertilizer be discouraged.  In the case of phosphorous, this element is not readily used,  (especially in soils of pH above 7)  and stays abundant in soil for a long time.  Over use can cause phosphorus to leach into the watershed, and cause algae bloom in area lakes.(Here again, I suggest a soil analysis, before applying amendments.)

There are alternatives to using bone meal and I will look into them in Step 5 – Ocean and Sea Products Used for Organic Fertilizers. 


Feather Meal 
Feather meal is also a by-product of the food industry, slaughtering poultry. It supplies a fairly good supply of Nitrogen. As  a slow release fertilizer, feather meal can provide nutrients for up to four months. Work powder into soil for decomposition to start.



Making feather meal is called rendering. The feathers are steamed to sterilize them and ground into a powder.

 
Poultry Litter   Poultry litter is a blend of poultry manure, feed, and bedding.  The nutrient values are 3-3-2.  It works best when worked into the soil.  Long-term benefits of this nutrition is evident even into the second year after application.  75% of N-P is available the first year.  The remaining 25% remains viable into the second year. The main cost of poultry litter is transportation to the marketplace, and the cost of applying it.  With so much litter available, this resource is being useful in another area – biofuel.

 

Example:  In the State of Minnesota, several farms that produce turkeys have found a way to dispose of tons of litter – 1.7 million tons, to be exact!  The litter is removed to a local power plant where it is burned in turbines, and generates thousands of KW hours of electricity.  This is enough electricity to power 60,000 homes!  The remaining ash of the turkey litter is returned to the farmers who use it as an organic fertilizer.  Win-Win – no mountains of litter piling up, no odor, and the resource is –indeed- renewable.

 
Manures   Animal sources of this organic product are several.  Horse manure – sometimes called mushroom compost – is used to top dress farms and gardens.  Cow manure – to me – is a better choice than horse manure. I’ve have found that cow manure is less likely to contain seeds that will gladly sprout all over the garden.  Since cows have a two stomach digestive system. the weed seeds are digested better.


 
Composted manures are starting that decomposition process, and nutrition is more readily available.


Bat Guano  Guano is another term for manure – of bats.  The three types of bats are sanguivorous – vampire bats that seek blood; the insectivorous bat who eats insects; and the fruit eater, the frugivorous bat.

Fruit eating bat
Insect eating bat
Blood eating bat


The blood eating and the insect eating bat guano is high in nitrogen and phosphorus.  The fruit eating bat guano has less nitrogen.  Therefore, when purchased, the label for Guano will indicate a Nitrogen Source, or a Phosphorous Source.
Arbico products

Guano extraction is bat friendly.


Tarps are collected after a week or so, and the guano is processed into fresh, fossilized, or semi-fossilized formats.  Macro- and micro-nutrients are available in huge amounts. These nutrients activate microorganisms in the soil.   Mix granular guano in holes when planting trees and shrubs, or apply to soil when planting grass seed.  A ‘tea’ can be made with guano, and used as a foliar spray as well.

   
Animal sources for organic fertilizers are readily available, but some concerns are noted.  What organic fertilizers do you use?  What do you  avoid?

Planting Spring Blooming Flowers

Tubers, Rhizomes, Corms, Bulbs 

  
Getting spring blooming flowers in the ground in the fall seems, to many, a misstep in thinking. But that is exactly when spring blooming bulbs need to be planted.
So many times while I was working at the garden center I had folks come in and ask for tulip bulbs or daffodils bulbs, or hyacinths ‘plants’ in March.  Sadly, March is when these beauties are strutting their stuff, but  March is not the time to plant them.

There are so many spring blooming flowers in the market place this time of year.  But not all spring bloomers are bulbs. 
Many of the smaller flowers like crocus and anemones grow from corms. When planted in the fall, the corms will develop roots.  Adding bone meal into the planting hole will help these and all spring bloomer’s roots grow. 



Tubers are a form of root that looks like this: Daylilies  dahlias, begonias, and some lilies grow from a tuber.  In my zone 6 garden however, dahlias and begonia tubers would not survive the frozen soils.  Zone 8 climate is milder and dahlia tubers will over winter safely. I need to plant dahlias and begonias after the last frost, in May.
Rhizomes grow plants like iris and ginger. 

Iris are hardy in my garden, but ginger, being a tropical (Zone 10) can be started in containers indoors and moved outside after the threat of frost passes (May 15 in zone 6).  Iris rhizomes are plants at the soil surface with the bottom in the soil where the roots will take hold.
Of all of the spring blooming flowers, bulbs are probably the best known of the early bloomers, Tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths are the most popular and relatively easy to grow. 

But these two early bloomers are snow drops and scilla. Always exciting to see them in late winter, when everything else is still muddy and gray. 

Muscari, or grape hyacinth, are small in height, usually four to six inches tall.  The scilla will be about six inches high, and the more popular tulips and ‘daffs’ will grow from six inches for some varieties, to 24” for others. 
These height variations will determine which blubs get planted in front of a planting or behind others to be seen.


As this chart shows, the bloom time is also considered in the planting scheme.  Planting bulbs depth is determined by the diameter of the bulb circumference.
Bigger bulbs need to be planted about 3x its size in depth.  


The same reasoning applies when planting a container. Spring blooming bulbs can easily be grown in containers.  I have not needed to give the pot any special care over winter, but if sub-zero temperatures are common in your area, the container may do better in a garage, or unheated shelter.

Planting en mass is a great way to get a colorful impact.  The planting hole is large and bulbs are set in.  If planting layers, cover the larger bulbs at the bottoms of the hole, and continue raising each group of bulbs.  
Digging a hole for a group of bulbs is simply done with a shovel.  However, if individual bulbs are being placed in the landscape, a few tools will make this job easier.






Any color you can imagine comes in a spring bloomer.  Mix pastels, or mass vibrant reds. Plant oranges with purples, or plant white and reds.

    The fragrant hyacinth is my favorite.  And when cut, they brighten any room. I really like the double blooms of daffodils. Look for the parrot tulips or the peony size tulips, stunning.

Any combination is a joy.  Check out garden center displays. Bulb companies have marketed color schemes and the possibilities are endless.  They have also packaged a mixed garden for a succession of blooms in the spring.

Fall planting of spring bloomers is important for good root establishment which enables the bulb to have energy to grow that first shoot, and then foliage, and then blooms.  Getting the bulbs in before the ground freezes is vital for this process. (However, I have known a procrastinator or two who planted bulbs over Christmas break, and the flowers did just fine.)

With 90 degree temps again this week, I find planning for fall premature.  But getting those bulbs into the landscape now will have endless rewards in the spring.
What are your favorite spring bloomers?  Do you put any in containers?  Thanks for stopping by today, and have fun picking up a few new residents for the garden.

Make Lasagna Garden with Fall Cleanup

Lasagna Gardens--Layers of Goodness - 

The leaves are really falling at my home here in SW Ohio.  And with this great source of organic material, I set out to put it to use in a lasagna garden

So I've put on my thinking cap, and decided to ease my chores which are seemingly endless.

Usually, I mulch the leaves back into the yard, adding much needed organic nutrients.  I've also bagged a few loads of grass and leaves to add to the compost pile.  Over winter this will turn into black gold for my spring garden. 

                                 Another option for an organic gardener is to make a lasagna garden.

Planning ahead for your spring garden is sooo easy.  Find a spot along a fence, or an area out in the sunshine for a vegetable or cutting garden. Raid a local dumpster for cardboard, or gather old newspapers at least 7 - 10 sheets thick and lay out your garden.

Here is where the 'lasagna' comes into play.  Layers, and layers.  Add the leaves, and grass clippings on top of watered down cardboard.  Overlap the paper layer to block out any weeds. That's right!  No removal of sod, weeds or even rocks is necessary.  Add peat moss several inches deep, and add layers of compost  too.

Anything you would put into your compost pile is fair game.  Pruned branches, kitchen scraps, (no bones or meat), aged manures, coffee grounds, shredded junk mail, wood chips, or bonfire ash. 

 The bedding material from the kids rabbits is also great. Add bone meal and wood ash for a good source of Phosphorous and Potassium - the P-K, of the N-P-K needed by your plants.

Just think how nature gardens - the forest floor is a layer upon layer, season after season of debris which turns into the dark, rich loam we covet in our own gardens.   

This lasagna bed has a border of straw bales so this gardening is approximately 14" deep.  As the organic material degrades, the microorganisms get to work to provide nutrient rich planting material.  This also makes the need for fertilizers less next season.  Avoid using treated lumber as a border.  The chemicals can affect your food crops.

The no-till garden bed that is loose, crumbly, and fluffy is a great advantage.  Over wintering your lasagna garden is an ideal way to plan for spring.  We have all the ingredient for a very productive crop next year. 
The moisture of the fall rains, and the freezing and thawing of the winter weather aid in the breakdown of the organic materials. 

The lasagna garden has many advantages.  The no-digging, fewer weeds, holds water well, and drains well.  Using less fertilizer lowers you costs and the organic material is free for the taking. 

AAHHH....

Envision your space. Enrich your space.  Enjoy your space. 

Thanks for visiting today. What will you do with your spare time?