Re: [compost_tea] Soil amendments, compost making

From: Steve Bridges <kimas_at_texasgrown.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 19:28:26 -0500

On the bone meal, and blood meal.... If you check on the bag, you may find
that it says, "derived from bone(blood) meal". I understand that in such
bags of bone meal that they pump the phosphorus with Triple Super Phosphate.
And in the blood meal, with bags labeled as such, they pump the nitrogen
level with urea. Both are dishonest and certainly not organic. Here in Texas
we have a product line from Carl Pool that is truly bone and truly blood
meal.

For your fish, be sure that it is not made from Menhaden fish. They are
caught explicitly for making fish products and are not a byproduct of fish
caught for human consumption. The fish that we sell, and use, is Neptunes
Harvest. They catch the fish, put it on ice, boat it back to the docks where
they take the filet off for human consumption. They then process this rest
of this whole fish into their fish product. It is not what is left (and
swept up off the floor) at the end of the day from other common fish product
suppliers that contain high amounts of chlorine. I hesitate to list brand
names for fear of reprisal!

In the bigger scheme of fertilizers, many companies are trying, and
succeeding, at passing off hazardous waste products as fertilizers. It is a
loophole that our very conscientious politicians (NOT!) allow. Always ask
questions about any fertilizer, especially those that come from the large
fertilizer companies. For a true life story about such community poisonings,
read the book Fateful Harvest by Duff Wilson.

Sounds like your compost is top notch! Smells good, worms,,,,you got it
going on!

Steve Bridges
Kimas Tejas Nursery

----- Original Message -----
From: "irene bensinger" <irene_at_trilliumwoods.com>
To: <compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 2:58 PM
Subject: [compost_tea] Soil amendments, compost making


> Someone recently mentioned that canola was detrimental to beneficial
> microbes. I used canola meal as a soil amendment last fall -- is it
> now going to nullify the beneficial microbes in the CT soil drench?
>
> What else should I/shouldn't I add to my soil? Obviously nothing
> gross or chemical, but what about lime? rock phosphate? kelp meal?
> alfalfa meal? fish/bone meal?
>
> I'm confused about where the cycle should logically start -- right
> now I'm thinking that the things I add to the soil should then be
> innoculated with beneficial microbes and fungi via CT. Or is it the
> other way around?
>
> Should I perhaps be adding these amendments directly to the compost
> during the composting cycle? I have a lidded triple bin arrangement
> made with heavy wire screen and cedar posts, each bin being about 1
> cubic meter. The first bin is filled with chipped/shredded garden
> wastes, kitchen (vegetable) wastes, layered with the alfalfa hay
> litter from the chicken coop, plus coffee grounds from the local
> espresso wagon. I keep the bin's contents moist, and poked full of
> holes and stirred around until the bin is full. Then it's tossed
> (more or less upside down) into the next bin, where it immediately
> heats up again. This is the way I've been making compost for donkeys'
> years. But maybe there is a better way to be doing this? The compost
> is always *full* of worms and never smells bad, just earthy.
>
> Thanks to everyone who takes the time to answer all these newbie
questions.
>
> irene
>
>
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>
>
>
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>
>
>



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Received on Mon Apr 28 2003 - 21:05:50 EDT

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