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what will you do differently?
Derald wrote:
songbird wrote: one writer down in Aussieland found a source of deader fish from such a place that he could use in his garden. wanted to know how to make fish emulsion. AFAIC fish are a near perfect fertilizer for high demand plants, why would anyone want to go through extra work when the worms, bugs and other soil critters will take care of the process? Well, for one thing, dead fish are exceptionally aromatic and, if buried deeply enough not to attract a rather large gamut of neighboring digging beasts, the decay product (which is, after all, what is desired) is largely unavailable to the garden. Down here in the sand, one must bury fish more deeply than, for example, cats (with which the burying of I have some experience....). Commercially produced fish "emulsion" has been processed, after a fashion, largely by simple cooking, to kill off pathogens and reduce the odor. ah, ok, makes more sense now. i'm used to this heavier soil where if it is down 8" it's not smelled. the only downside is that if the raccoons start finding the gardens smelling really good they might go after some of the plants thinking there is food down there. Here, the raccoons seem to dig randomly in search of subterranean treasure ("grubs"), although, they clearly do follow mole trails—in competition for the same food, no doubt. moles feed most often by running their tunnels looking for worms/grubs/whatever that falls in. they also feed frequently. so if you find their main runs you can often trap them within a few days. Here, the most likely pests to be attracted to garden soil amendments are free range dogs. we are lucky to not have those here. there are fox and coyotes around but as of yet they stay away. we don't have stuff out to attract them anyways. we used to have troubles with the onion transplants getting uprooted by raccoons because they could smell the fertilizer used on them. they'd pull the plants up and leave them laying on the surface, didn't eat them, just looking for food. That happened to me in 2014. The cute little monsters damaged the plants so badly that I just started over with new seeds and got the onions transplanted late. you gots acres there, some selected thinning and chipping would provide plenty of carbon. or just walking around picking up sticks might be enough. Oh, you know that I don't do that. I'm the guy who's trying to encourage more of this place to return to its native state. Besides, I have an unending supply of "brown": I have enough tree tops laid by from harvested firewood to last the remainder of my lifetime, +, and I certainly hope that I have more coming :-) It is fresh tender, ready to rot, _green_ vegetative material that always is in short supply. i only use that for worm food and as a bit of a N boost sometimes as a top dressing if it will be dry enough. as of yet, see no signs that this is not working well for all involved. minimal fuss and bother method. if i could make alfalfa pellets that would be fun, but it involves machinery and i don't really want to get involved with machines if i can help it. worms seem to not care and eat it up in any form. songbird |
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