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Old 23-10-2003, 08:32 AM
Down Under On The Bucket Farm
 
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Default Compost - Blood And Bone Meal To "Activate"?

Hi Everybody,

I have read a number of times that it is good to add a bit of
blood-and-bone-meal to compost, to get it working faster. This
includes various Web sites, NG posts, and packaging for said
substance.

I have started adding a bit to my compost-in-progress.

However, I am wondering... What exactly is the
chemical/biological mechanism here? The b-b meal is a dry
powder, so I am doubtful of micro-organsms living in there. Is
it just based upon giving the compost a blast of nutrients???

Thanks in advance...


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Old 23-10-2003, 12:12 PM
Pat Kiewicz
 
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Default Compost - Blood And Bone Meal To "Activate"?

Down Under On The Bucket Farm said:

I have read a number of times that it is good to add a bit of
blood-and-bone-meal to compost, to get it working faster. This
includes various Web sites, NG posts, and packaging for said
substance.

However, I am wondering... What exactly is the
chemical/biological mechanism here?


Blood meal is used to ensure enough nitrogen to get the compost
cooking, especially when the bulk of your material is high in carbon,
like fall leaves, straw, or paper. I suppose you can consider it as
'activating' the microorganisms that are already there. (It's also good
practice to add some old compost to any freshly mixed pile to innoculate it.)

Bone meal is better used directly in the garden for plants that need
a boost of calcium and phosphorous. Depending on how it was processed,
it may or may not contain much nitrogen, which would be more in demand
in the composting process.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

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Old 23-10-2003, 01:42 PM
 
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Default Compost - Blood And Bone Meal To "Activate"?

On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 23:20:58 -0700, Down Under On The Bucket
Farm wrote:

Hi Everybody,

I have read a number of times that it is good to add a bit of
blood-and-bone-meal to compost, to get it working faster. This
includes various Web sites, NG posts, and packaging for said
substance.

I have started adding a bit to my compost-in-progress.

However, I am wondering... What exactly is the
chemical/biological mechanism here? The b-b meal is a dry
powder, so I am doubtful of micro-organsms living in there. Is
it just based upon giving the compost a blast of nutrients???


I'm a worrier. My concern would be BSE - mad cow disease.
I wouldn't use it, but would find some other non-animal
substance to add to my compost.

There are plenty of other substances that can be used for
this purpose (manure, even small quantities of commercial
fertilizer, greenstone - a natural mineral - various ground
rocks, etc.)

Pat

--
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name in its place.

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Old 23-10-2003, 05:32 PM
Pam - gardengal
 
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Default Compost - Blood And Bone Meal To "Activate"?


wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 23:20:58 -0700, Down Under On The Bucket
Farm wrote:

Hi Everybody,

I have read a number of times that it is good to add a bit of
blood-and-bone-meal to compost, to get it working faster. This
includes various Web sites, NG posts, and packaging for said
substance.

I have started adding a bit to my compost-in-progress.

However, I am wondering... What exactly is the
chemical/biological mechanism here? The b-b meal is a dry
powder, so I am doubtful of micro-organsms living in there. Is
it just based upon giving the compost a blast of nutrients???


I'm a worrier. My concern would be BSE - mad cow disease.
I wouldn't use it, but would find some other non-animal
substance to add to my compost.

There are plenty of other substances that can be used for
this purpose (manure, even small quantities of commercial
fertilizer, greenstone - a natural mineral - various ground
rocks, etc.)


Unless you are importing your bone meal from Europe, it is highly unlikely
this should pose any problems. One, there has never been a substantiated
case of BSE in the United States and second, the American method of
processing bone meal differs from the European in that it involves both heat
and solvent treatments, effectively destroying any potential pathogens.

Once again, we can thank the media for blowing things up out of proportion.

If this remains a concern, fish meal, feather meal, alfalfa meal or fresh
manure will work as well. Apply any sparingly - you don't need much to get
things cooking if pile is constructed carefully and aerated properly.

pam - gardengal


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Old 23-10-2003, 06:02 PM
 
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Default Compost - Blood And Bone Meal To "Activate"?

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 15:27:01 GMT, "Pam - gardengal"
wrote:



Unless you are importing your bone meal from Europe, it is highly unlikely
this should pose any problems. One, there has never been a substantiated
case of BSE in the United States and second, the American method of
processing bone meal differs from the European in that it involves both heat
and solvent treatments, effectively destroying any potential pathogens.


There has been in Canada, though.

I have read quite a bit about BSE in the UK, and I do not
believe that the consensus of opinion among authorities on
the matter is that either heat or solvents kill the prions
thought to be responsible for it. [This got to be kind of
an awkward sentence...] In other words, it is believed that
neither heat nor solvents kill prions, AFAIK.

If the authorities thought heat kills prions, believe me,
the British government would have acted on it before now,
and I suspect that the same is true of solvents - at least
any solvents suitable for meat intended for human
consumption.

I don't think there is any way known to kill prions.


Once again, we can thank the media for blowing things up out of proportion.


I don't think so. The media has nothing to do with it.

I have never, ever seen any article on a connection between
bone meal in compost and BSE: it was my own conclusion that
there might be this possibility, based on the fact that
meat-on-the-bone has been implicated in BSE in the UK.

Therefore, I think it's a reasonable conclusion that one
might not want to spread bonemeal around one's garden or use
it in compost - a conclusion that any reasonable person
might make (or might not make).

If this remains a concern, fish meal, feather meal, alfalfa meal or fresh
manure will work as well. Apply any sparingly - you don't need much to get
things cooking if pile is constructed carefully and aerated properly.


Yes, that was my point, perhaps not made as well as it could
have been. There are plenty of alternative substances that
will work.

Pat
--
To email me, remove the spam trap and type my first
name in its place.

CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/


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Old 24-10-2003, 02:02 AM
Fran
 
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Default Compost - Blood And Bone Meal To "Activate"?

"Pam - gardengal" wrote in message

(snip) the American method of
processing bone meal differs from the European in that it involves both

heat
and solvent treatments, effectively destroying any potential pathogens.


The protection against BSE in your example is the fact that there is not yet
any example of BSE having been found in the US. How the Blood and Bone is
made in the US is irrelevant as there is no current treatment known to
destroy the prions that cause BSE



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Old 09-11-2003, 09:32 AM
Noydb
 
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Default Compost - Blood And Bone Meal To "Activate"?

Fran wrote:

"Pam - gardengal" wrote in message

(snip) the American method of
processing bone meal differs from the European in that it involves both

heat
and solvent treatments, effectively destroying any potential pathogens.


The protection against BSE in your example is the fact that there is not
yet
any example of BSE having been found in the US. How the Blood and Bone is
made in the US is irrelevant as there is no current treatment known to
destroy the prions that cause BSE


Just out of curiosity, what solvent is used?

I count on my compost pile to kill off an awful lot of pathogens and
assorted toxins. I'll reserve judgement for now, but I rather suspect that
heat and solvents and the additional bacterial action and exposure to the
elements during composting are probably enough to eliminate the risk of
viable prions getting onto the food to something too low to calculate ...
and too low to worry about.

A hot compost pile followed by a year or two of aging may not be a panacea,
but it comes mighty close.

Bill
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I operate my own mail server (Postfix on Mandrake Linux). The above address
is filtered out and rejected.

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