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Blood & Bone… did something silly

Sazz101Sazz101 Posts: 245
in Plants
With the price of compost so high this spring I decided to refresh last years stuff with fish blood and bone. I did not follow the instructions, instead eyeballing the dosing. Disaster. My garlic, which started so well, has turned brown and the cloves have gone mouldy. My seedlings are burned/ dead and even my large replanted strawberries (which are supposed to be hungry plants) are on deaths door. 
Only put 2+2 together today. So, Ive learned that you have to be very careful with blood&bone. 

Just curious, where/ how do people use it in their gardens?

Posts

  • FireFire Posts: 17,306
    I'm surprised it was FBB. It doesn't have extra chemical additives. Are you sure the plants didn't dry out? I wouldn't ever use it on seedlings. Mostly I only use it roses, trees and shrubs, about half a handful sprinkled around the base. I don't think plants in garden beds really need it.
  • pansyfacepansyface Posts: 22,274
    As a vegetarian I have never used it.

    The only blood and bone on the soil here come from what the sparrowhawk, the owl and the kestrel leave behind after their activities.

    I have two large compost heaps and they provide me with all the compost I need for everything from seedlings up to big plants in containers.

    Plants like tomatoes get a liquid feed but things in the garden just get on with it.
    Apophthegm -  a big word for a small thought.
    If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
  • Bee witchedBee witched Posts: 1,224
    Like @Pansyface I make lots of compost and leaf mould, and use seaweed liquid feed or our homemade comfrey feed. I tickle a bit of wood ash from our log burner around things like daylilies, and they seem to do OK.

    I don't eat any animal products (apart from our own honey), so I would never use FBB.
    It's just a packet of ground up dead things.

    Bee x
    Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders  

    A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
  • Sazz101Sazz101 Posts: 245
    Thank you :)  Agreed it is just ground up dead things. I assume FBB is all waste product but I know that by buying it I’m complicit in the animal farming industry. We do have 4 compost bins, no fire place ash and we can’t make enough compost for our small garden.  

    @Fire I don’t think they dried out as everything gets watered twice a week unless it’s already damp. The seedlings are just randomly going bad and although @punkdoc suggested frost damage, the dying ones were inside a cold frame while another set of unFBBed seedlings were left outside and are looking great. This is an example of seedlings. They all got a strange ‘v’ pattern on the leaves:

    The strawberry leaves have brown edges and then go limp. Thanks again for replying everyone.  Will use up the FBB on soil surface of more established plants going forward :) 
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,717
    Any fertiliser needs to be used carefully, I don't use it because I can't get it (and my dogs would love it) I'm a bit surprised that it burnt the established plants since it's a slow action fertiliser.

    Drown the strawberries.. and I really mean drown them, washing any extra away is probably the best chance of saving them.

    Compost.. yes it's lovely but I cannot make even a fraction of what I use.  I get kitchen scraps from a local social center and I compost everything from our house and all weeds, and that comes to maybe 2m2 per year I buy in about 2 ton per year I think.
  • Sazz101Sazz101 Posts: 245
    Thanks @Skandi! Great advice which I will crack on with tomorrow and see if they perk up. Would you pick off the most damaged leaves as well?

     Re. Compost I agree. We compost everything we can but it only fills maybe 3 x 50cm  pots a year. I can happily use 10 x that. 
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