higgledy wrote:
I bought a bag of bone meal to add to the soil when I transplant my
tulips. Why is bone meal a good fertilizer for flower bulbs and rose
bushes? Is any fertilizer high in phosphate just as good as bone meal?.


By the way, whether you use bone meal or superphosphate, it must be in
the soil where plant roots will find it. Phosphorus does not readily
dissolve and travel through the soil. Broadcasting fertilizer on the
soil's surface will not put phosphorus where it is needed.

If I want to provide phosphorus to an established plant, I must dig it
into the soil where surface feeder roots will find it. Otherwise, I
take a length of steel rebar and ram it into the soil about 18 inches
near the plant I want to feed, work it around to make a hole, and then
use a funnel to pour bone meal or superphosphate down the hole. I might
do this for three or four holes around the plant.

--

David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/

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