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Bone Meal: was Organic Fertilizers

Shawn wrote:
>Hi Doreen. I was wondering where you found your information.
>Was it from a book or magazine article? I'd sure like to read
>more about it if you have any sources. I'm a little confused.
>One person says it doesn't release the nutrients, and you're
>saying it doesn't have any nutrients to begin with. What is it
>that makes rock phosphate better at releasing it's nutrients to
>the soil? Or is it just a pure nutrient? My bag of bone meal gives
>the NPK numbers (I forget now what they said), so does that mean
>that none of those numbers are actually available?
>You can e-mail me privately
>if you don't want to post to the list.
>Thanks,
>Shawn
>swestaway@smtplink.coh.org
>Claremont, Ca (USDA zone 9b, Sunset zone 19)
---------------------------------------------
I got this info in the latest issue of Avant Gardener--March 1997.
P.O. Box 489, New York, NY 10028 for a subscription.  They are
horticultural data processors--they scan all the technical journals
and publish bits in short form.  They say that bone meal used to
be potent, but it now comes from drug and food processors who first
take out all the vital nutrients.  The labeling may be based on
testing done years before.  Rock phosphate is nothing more than
rock dust that is high in phosphate and it is readily available to
the soil.  However, one must temper the phosphate thing with this
information.  Other studies have proven (including one done at
Texas A&M) that clay soil, and other soils that do not drain readily
have more than enough phosphate, and by adding more you tie up the
nitrogen and make it unavailable to plants.  The common advice from
county agents in Texas now is to use 9-3-4 lawn fertilizer for veggies.
Doreen
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