Hi guys, new to organic gardening here! I read about fish emulsion, whats that exactly? Also whats the best fertiziler for tubers? The companion planting I have done so far is pretty cool and I am actually excited to see how our garden does with organic means compared to my step fathers which is in neat little rows with miracle grow fertilizer used.

I am hoping to learn a good deal more about the all natural means of gardening since I do not like the idea of all those chemicals in mine and my familys bodys. I am learned a ton already just from reading on this site and I look forward to reading and learning more.

Fish emulsion is thick fish "stuff" (I have no idea how they make it). It's mixed with water and provides an all purpose 8-12-2 food for your plants. It is comparatively low in nitrogen so it is primarily for vigorous root growth and big blooms.

Bulbs and tubers like lots of compost and a healthy dose of bone meal (2-12-2) at planting time. (The bone meal builds stronger bulbs and roots, the compost provides the nitrogen for good foliage, then feed with fish emulsion for the blooms.

Bulbs, tubers and rhizomes are storage units, so remember that when you feed them, a large percentage of the nutrients are being stored for the next years bloom.

I love fish emulsion!!!
Great stuff...
a little stinky though :p !!

*Fish tank water works pretty good too!*
Dead fish from your tank buried in the soil
next to your plants, work great too!!!

If you think about it, back when there were no stores to buy "products" for plants, what did
the gardener's of the olden days use???
All Manure's, fish piece's, dead leaves/stalks/decomposing barks, only natural things.

And also remember Grow a healthy plant, and you for the most part, you should never need the chemicals...
meaning; good growing practices, like not putting a moisture shade loving plant into the hot dry sun.. and the type of nutrients that the plant requires.. some times when a certain plant is given too rich of dirt, it draws bugs to the plant, because it's not in the type of dirt it needs to grow properly....

Weezie

Okie dokie! I have found fish emulsion and some bone and blood meal to use. It will be going on squash, peas, and around butter beans. This is ok yes?

All good stuff....

When planting, you can either put it in the soil
and the planting hole area, ***I like to make it so it's in the soil, just not in the hole area alone, I dig it in all around the then hole and the surrounding dirt... that way the roots don't stay just with in the hole because all the nutrients are just in the hole area... does that make sense??? <img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" />
if it's all over the area where the roots would be, the roots will then go all over......

or you can scratch some into the top area of dirt and all around the drip line of the plant...
*The dripline area is the area around the plant if you took a hose and watered a plant or it rained on the plant, and it rolls off the leaves and onto the soil/dirt below....*

The fish emulsion you can use in the water as you water the plant or even as a foliar mist on the leaves in in the morning....***dilute in water and using a sprayer or spray bottle~you can spray on the leaves for quick food...but only do this in the morning hours....***

Weezie

Coffee grounds are one of the best sources for nitrogen! sprinkle them around plants or dig them in. Your peas and beans will "fix" nitrogen in the soil...and when you eventually pull the plants, drop them back onto your garden soil or throw them into your compost. Same with most any disease free plant parts. Scatter eggshells under your tomato plants or dig them into the garden (preferably crushed). I've found a great organic fertilizer at Lowe's Home Improvement that's much more complete than just bone meal, blood meal or cottonseed meal. It's called Plant Tone, made by Epsona. And corn gluten meal is all the flap now, it is totallly safe, but prevents seeds from germinating AND fertilizes growing plants...organic weed and feed! Check out Garden's Alive for tons of products. They're pricy but have great products.

Wow thanks you guys for all the information. I will check out Lowe's tomorrow when I make my city visit. Our squash looks lovely and the butter beans are doing well too!! Our sweet peas didn't make it so I am going to turn them under tomorrow and plant my tomatos in the row they were in. Wish I had gotten my fence up sooner but the rabbits sure did enjoy the peas.

Does anyone know how to make fish emulsion? The reason I ask is because a friend brought me a whole ice chest of fish tonight. They were already "cleaned" but when I got through getting them ready for the freezer, I have a gallon bag full of fish "stuff". So, what do I do with it to benefit the garden?

If you have a shredder put it through that and dig it into your garden beds. Bury the lot under some mulch and manures and leave for a month or so. If not, you can place some under each plant. Deep enough not to be a health hazard, say a foot. Plant the shrub or whatever on top. The smaller you can smash it up and the more you can distribute it the better. Neighbourhood cats are gonna love you. Better bury it real good or they're gonna dig it up.

mearow...you should look into some of pineapple ray's postings, he makes all kinds of extracts. I bury fish parts right in my garden, and so far, nothing has tried to dig them up. I go down at least 8-10 inches, and scatter the stuff so as to keep from having odors or nutrients too concentrated. Pineapple Ray ferments his stuff, but I don't know how to do that. If you've got access to stuff to add to or start a compost pile, you might use your fish as a nutrient to mix with lots of matter.

sorry 4ruddy...I called you mearow. oops! peppereater.

Thanks guys, I have used my yard up completely in garden and didn't leave a space for compost...because I have never done that before. i go to my nephew's and dig cow/chicken manure and turn in to the garden. I have been wanting to use fish emulsion, but would rather "make" it than buy it. I have family & neighbors that fish almost daily. My husband's sister use to own this house and her husband was a fisher...he would take all of the "fish stuff" and put it in 5 gallon buckets that had holes poked in the bottom and fill them with water and let it drain several times...the soil here is exellent. But I am really anxious to try the fish because I just I have white flies really bad...and just read that it may be from the lack of the fish nutrient in the soil! I'll try anything. Better go try to find a place for compost..I have a neighbor that said he could bring me fish every week if I would like!

That's okay, I have been called a lot of things...that is one of the nicer ones!

When I made a raised bed a few years back. I got some soil free to fill it. The soil was Sub Soil and had almost no nutrients in it at all.

So wanting to grow something that year I fertilized my veggies with Fish Stuff every week for a month them every other week.

I also scratched some manure in bags, around the base of the plants.

Anyway, everything grew good that year despite the bland sub soil.

I worked leaves and baged compost into the soil in the fall, To get my soil going good.

Well,I was a little hesitant about putting the fish "stuff" in my blender...so, I just threw it in the bed & covered it with manure. Now I have some fly friends that follow me around. I put it pretty deep, or so I thought but haven't got the mulch on yet...and low and behold...not a cat..but a dog came from no where and tried to dig it up! It has been a pretty comical experience I gotta say! But, I was potting some outdoor plants and put fish stuff in some and left it out of the others..it's now a contest to see which does better!