What do you top your dress with?

Greenpitking said:

Maybe I worded it wrong. Did he notice any drawbacks to Maxsea? Quality dropped, sick plants, etc.

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Maxsea is good stuff. Just wanna stay organic and not have to feed so often. I put alot of good stuff in my old soil and I'll just top dress here n there as long as they stay healthy

thumper60 said:

all the meals really should be cooked into soil,or brewed an sprayed top dress be good for next run

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I mixed in most of it before planting but I like to throw extra on top

Dabbinblunted said:

Maxsea is good stuff. Just wanna stay organic and not have to feed so often. I put alot of good stuff in my old soil and I'll just top dress here n there as long as they stay healthy

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It's not the end of the world if you have to supplement organic soil with synthetic nutes once in a while. To avoid deficiencies, I generally start all of my larger soil transplants with several doses of organic nutrient tea. Insect frass seems to make them more immune to bugs, which is ironic.

Yeah I just remember reading somewhere that chem nutes can kill all the critters living in the soil maybe it's not 100% true

Dabbinblunted said:

Yeah I just remember reading somewhere that chem nutes can kill all the critters living in the soil maybe it's not 100% true

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Chem nutes can change the biology in the soil -- especially soluble phosphorous. Major ph swings can also be detrimental if you plan to stay mostly organic.
This is a good video:

Dabbinblunted said:

Maxsea is good stuff. Just wanna stay organic and not have to feed so often. I put alot of good stuff in my old soil and I'll just top dress here n there as long as they stay healthy

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I use my own home made mulch. Also the dead leaves that are pruned off I leave on top of the soil to biodegrade. Staying organic is a main concern of mine. I want the best tasting stuff I can grow. Organic is the way to go.

Bunny and horse bombs and their bedding straw/shavings

buckets said:

doesn't blood and bone attract critters that dig up your plants? I'll suggest worm castings for top dress and kelp meal. The kelp meal I actually found at pet stores! People also give it to their dogs.

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There's a good and a bad side to using bone and blood meal. Predatory critters often do dig things up driven by the smell of the bone and blood meal. Not many things worse than hiking in to find half your plants wilted because a fox or coyote dug up most of the hole.

The good part is if predatory critters do come into the area, their scent, droppings etc, might help keep rabbits and deer away. Nothing worse than hiking in and finding your plants eaten to the ground by an herbivore. So, it's kind of a double edged sword thing.


Your suggestions offer good alternatives if animals are in the area.

Dabbinblunted said:

I got this?

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Can you find this at agway or would I have to go to a garden supply shop?

thats the whole point of frass, its like giving them a vaccination, the low dose of insect irritants in the frass trigger the plants defense system, so when a real bug comes along, it has that much harder a time getting through them

Rob Roy said:

There's a good and a bad side to using bone and blood meal. Predatory critters often do dig things up driven by the smell of the bone and blood meal. Not many things worse than hiking in to find half your plants wilted because a fox or coyote dug up most of the hole.

The good part is if predatory critters do come into the area, their scent, droppings etc, might help keep rabbits and deer away. Nothing worse than hiking in and finding your plants eaten to the ground by an herbivore. So, it's kind of a double edged sword thing.


Your suggestions offer good alternatives if animals are in the area.

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AN ACT OF RESPECT WHEN DEMANDED BECOMES AN ACT OF SUBMISSION@Rob Roy

Ha never thought about it like that before, deep. I like that.



Thanks for the insight. I will have to consider this since I was gonna try the bone meal, Lot of critters around here and deer.

A pretty hat?

Rob Roy said:

There's a good and a bad side to using bone and blood meal. Predatory critters often do dig things up driven by the smell of the bone and blood meal. Not many things worse than hiking in to find half your plants wilted because a fox or coyote dug up most of the hole.

The good part is if predatory critters do come into the area, their scent, droppings etc, might help keep rabbits and deer away. Nothing worse than hiking in and finding your plants eaten to the ground by an herbivore. So, it's kind of a double edged sword thing.


Your suggestions offer good alternatives if animals are in the area.

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My dogs *love* regular bone meal but don't seem as interested in fish bone meal.
I recently bought some blood meal but have not used any yet. Probably better for tea...

Rob Roy said:

There's a good and a bad side to using bone and blood meal. Predatory critters often do dig things up driven by the smell of the bone and blood meal. Not many things worse than hiking in to find half your plants wilted because a fox or coyote dug up most of the hole.

The good part is if predatory critters do come into the area, their scent, droppings etc, might help keep rabbits and deer away. Nothing worse than hiking in and finding your plants eaten to the ground by an herbivore. So, it's kind of a double edged sword thing.


Your suggestions offer good alternatives if animals are in the area.

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Well you were right....i top dressed with blood meal and two days later my two dogs broke in under the fence and ransacked my shit...

Mine did the same thing last week. He kept coming off his chain.

Dabbinblunted said:

Well you were right....i top dressed with blood meal and two days later my two dogs broke in under the fence and ransacked my shit...

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Glad you was the Guinea pig for this, I also have a dog. looks like i'll leave the blood meal on the shelf. Not to mention all the other rodents and what not creeping around here.

Poor plants....I'd be pissed at my dog no treats for you 1 year...

Can't have nothing...story of my life..

Shit happens....just sucks when you put all that effort and money into something that they destroy...lol

A nice blouse?

Dabbinblunted said:

Well you were right....i top dressed with blood meal and two days later my two dogs broke in under the fence and ransacked my shit...

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Sorry that happened, but for a dog it's hard to resist.


In the bush, I learned not to rely on any one type of fertilizer, so if I had dig ups all was not lost Some might be set with blood and bone meal, while others were fertilized using slow release pelletized ferts and some ended up with both.

Herbivores can be just as bad fucking things up too. You could use a little bone meal and blood meal NEAR, but not on your plants to attract predators to the area, to keep herbivores away. If no predators leave signs they've been there and the bone and blood meal is untouched you might then take a chance and use it ON your plants. Good luck.