bonemeal?

i'm trying to create a balanced fertilizer for my roses and clematis. i have alaskan fish emulsion which is 5-1-1, but i'm also thinking since both plants are heavy bloomers i need something with more phosphorus? i have read bonemeal is really high in phosphorus but that it also raises the ph of soil. what has been your experience with bonemeal and any other recommedations for phosphorus?

hiya eviestevie,

You are correct on both assumptions that Bonemeal is high in P and it also will slightly raise pH. Your roses and clematis probably won't mind much if your soil is not on the edge of their tolerance for alkalinity already. A very good way to counterbalance the alkalinity issue is to blend the bonemeal with cottonseed meal. This material is a soil acidifier and also has about 6% nitrogen. Be sure to use organic cottonseed meal since most feed grade stuff is loaded with pesticide residues. We blend all of our own granular fertilizers here and bonemeal is a critically important source of P for us and we are victims of rather alkaline soils here in SoCal, so we are also cognizant of the pH issues.

best of luck to you,
Don

thank you for your informative reply and suggesting cottonseed meal :)

I desperately need more phosphorus and recently bought Bone Meal to use. But then I read that the Bone Meal was also high in calcium and my soil test showed my alkaline soil is high in calcium, so I didn't use it. Does that really matter? Is soft rock phosphate any better?