Fish

A question - I know from experience that buried fish parts put rich nutrients into the soil, but what are those nutrients? It would be the same as using "fish emulsion" on plants, I guess - which I've never done.

I'm a fisherman, and I'm lucky to have a good boat and some real good lakes and rivers nearby. I fish enough that I've got a permanent campground-style fish cleaning table built in my side yard. It has running water, overhead lights, a sink, plug-ins for electric knives, the works.

I quit adding fish parts to my compost piles for awhile because neighborhood dogs would smell them and dig them up. I've got a big enough pile now, though, that I'm using a tractor scoop and burying the fish about 4' deep in it. That's working fine.

When I've composted fish heads and parts in the past, I've found that they rot down into an extremely black, rich, nice-smelling soil with just a few little bones left. You've got to be careful of those leftover catfish spikes in the garden, though, they'll still stick you!

Using that kind of compost really gives plants a boost, so I assume it's rich in nitrogen. I wonder if there are other nutrients in there also?

Probably calcium and phosphorus from bones, among other things.

Karen

Trace elements, especially if the fish come from mountain lakes, or spring fed lakes. I would think ocean caught fish would have the iodine element in them. The Native Americans were already on the ball with natural fertilizer. One fish per hill of corn, and I'm sure their soil was fantastic. Iron maybe, and boron, and a few other good soil building ingredients in the fish. Ozark, I think you have what might be known as the complete organic fertilizer.

I have been wondering about fish. I heard somewhere that you shouldn't use it, but I thought that couldn't be right. My son has a houseboat and goes out there a lot to fish. So I'll be nagging him to bring fishheads and guts home.
It's parked with a lot of other ones so maybe ask all the other people for theirs.
Of course, he's never be able to show his face out there again

You may find this article useful in answering your questions.
http://deltafarmpress.com/news/051114-terra-preta/

Rj

I dig in to the center of a pile...aproximately two feet to stay out of trouble with fish. Have had no trouble with negative actions by any critter.

All quality fish oils for gardening contain about six percent nitrogen. There are many other valued elements in fish oil or compost including fish fully converted with the total.

Is Alaska fish fertilzer consider a fish oil?
Rj

I've often wondered about the value of fish but I use them a little differently. Whenever I clean my fishtank I pour the water on the lawn or on the flower beds. I don't know if the fish poo or algae helps, but I like to think it does. Plus, I'm not going to waste that water!

Melanie

Fishwater is good stuff. Fish heads sound great if you can keep the dogs out.

Dean

If you can get in the kitchen without your DW noticing, I'd suggest sticking any fish parts in a blender and adding them to the pile - or into soil - in a liquified form. I'd say it would break down *much* quicker, just as a chopped up fish will break down faster than a whole one.

4 feets a bit deep

Anybody add shrimp shells to the mix?

Dean

The blender suggestion is a good one. In my area second hand blenders show up in yard sales. Occasionally one shows up in the Salvation Army Store or similar outlet. Mine cost five dollars and has been grinding all sorts of vile stuff for years.

docgipe has a much better suggestion than using Mama's kitchen blender and safe too, I would think............grin

Well, it's all foodstuffs, right? I mean, it's not like you're blending anything you wouldn't eat in a slightly different... form, right?

Of course, if I had Mama beating me with a wooden spoon, it might be a different story, lol....

Oh no....not foodstuffs at all. My gardening tea bases would scare the hell out of the devil himself.

Ok, you convinced me!

docgipe,

Blending all kinds of "vile" stuff, eh? How about shrimp shells. Wouldn't those jam the blender? Or do you just do fish heads and guts, LOL!

Dean_W

Shrimp Shells..........do not know what they would do in a blender. I suspect you would end up with shrimp shell meal or soup.

My shrimp shells come from a North Eastern fish house on a "when I think about it basis". They go into my compost piles. Not being ground up they are present for natural biological conversion into compost, humus, humic acid and finally natural plant food. I go by the source several times a year. They will save me a bucket full nearly anytime I call in my wishes.

I never saw a break out on shrimp shell NPK but I am pretty sure they would equal crab industry waste which is a very good crab meal available from most organic fertilizer sources. Both shells should be roughly equal in trace mineral content.

I've been using a blender to feed my worm cultures for years, and I have found that it's a much more efficient means than the more traditional methods used by vermiculturists...if that's a word. I don't use fish parts, bannana stems, or celery since they get caught up in the blender's cutter head. Fish parts go directly to the garden, and I cut up most peelings into smaller pieces before blending with about a cup or two of aquarium syphoned water (a new idea from a DG'er).

I have gone through a few blenders over 40 plus years of raising worms as live food for native fish collections. The least expensive glass bowl types (under $40) from WallMart are what I used today.

My gardening started several years ago and I got creative with the "worm cassings" or spent media in making germination and potting mixes. This year I plan on keeping it simple: I will go exclusively with spent worm media as my germination and potting up mixes. I get about a 30 gallon bucket full of spent media by simply removing about 1/2-inch from the surface of the worm bins with a hand trowel. I regularly add new media (peatmoss soaked overnight in hot water and decanted using a four-inch nylon fish net) whenever I feed the worms in my four indoor worm compost bins (20 to 30 gallon plastic tubs).

I use Pagancat's suggestion of watering seedlings and indoor plants with the gravel syphoned water from my aquariums. I do not need to fertilize house plants or seedlings when using this water. It appears to provide sufficient nutrients to keep the plants healthy, and my seed planted tomato plants are 3 or more feet tall in 8 to 10 weeks.

Because I raised red wigglers for years for a different reason than making compost or germination/potting mixes, I have a slightly different approach to the more commonly used methods. But it works for me, and I like to Keep It Simple...

morgan

docgipe,

Now I won't throw the shells away. I'll "fish" them out of the trash and use them in the compost. I'll be sure to bury them to keep critters away.

Morgan,

Wow, you wrote a lot there. I have to think about using my old blender now. You get alot of worm castings. I have a bag full in the garage and was wondering what I should do w/ them? In the past I sprinkled some around my house plants.

Dean

Dean_W - Sorry buddy I got a bit windy there. I use my spent media for germination and potting mixes exclusively now. Once thing I do is heat process and grade the media before using to avoid pathogen and rogue tomato plants.

morgan

morgan,

How do you do the heat process and grade the media?

Dean

Wow, intense. Morgan, you are obviously someone who takes their vermiculture very seriously.... I'm in awe!

Hey Dean...

The oven I use is a small oven I used for processing field samples in another life. I keep it in my detatch shed where I heat the worm casings or used worm compost media. The screens I use are made of various shapes and sizes depending on what I am processing the graded materials into. The screen I use is the standardard 1/4-inch opening galvanized screen purchased at any hardware store in 3-ft widths and various lenghts. The frames I make are usually made of 1" x 4" white pine...the inexpensive stuff. I have made a number of these, but the three I use the most often are: (1) which fits over the top of my wheel barrel, (2) another that fits into a kitty litter box (germination mixes), and (3) fits over the top of a five gallon bucket. Obviously I screen a varitety of things!!!

One thing I do advise you against is DO NOT USE YOUR WIFES OVEN TO HEAT SPENT MEDIA....EVER !!! She will never forgive you if you do.

Pagencat...beleive me when I tell you I am no one to be in awe of. This is the ONLY subject I am even half way skilled at here. I am the one to be at awe in this place. I have learned more in the last couple of months, in DG than two years of randomly searching the net for information. Now, I just float through the threads looking for some new idea or technique to try. But thank you much for the complement...I will try to help out where I can.

morgan

Thanks, for the detailed explantion, Morgan. I will never use my wife's oven to heat compost or castings I imagine it smells horrible.

I agree Morgan,
People ask me what my secret is when they come through the garden, and my reply is no secret...Daves Garden!

Rj

Dean...it actually has an earthy smell to it...but it will permiate whatever room you place your oven in. Before building my shed last year I just set the oven outside of my garage where I had a convenient outlet.

morgan