Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
These are a few of my favorite dry guanos
A final note on guanos: don't use these fresh out of the birds or bats, or else you will most likely kill your
plants with them. Be very careful when collecting dry guano from bats or birds. Many dangerous things
can be lurking, including a few types of fungi that are very nasty to humans. Always use a respirator, and
be sure to compost the guano first if at all possible. It must be at least dried before it is safely usable in
container growing.
Bone Meal vs. Steamed Bone Meal
Thisisoneofthosethingsthatseemirrelevantwhenyouhavesyntheticmindset,butletmeassureyouthat
this is a very important distinction, and I'll tell you why. Typically both kinds have N-P-K ratios of 3-15-0
or so. The steamed variety delivers way more available phosphorus faster than the plant can use it. This
results in left over phosphorus, which locks up fast. Not only does that cause a domino effect of problems,
but it also really pisses off the good fungi and that is bad news for any living soil mix. On the other hand,
unsteamed bone meal is all good to mix in globally with your soil mix, and I always add some. Bone meal
buffersthepHfromdroppingdrasticallyandsuppliestheall-importantcalciumaswell.Ionlyusesteamed
bone meal in spikes, or layers, due to the reasons above.
