Question
QUESTION: What is bonemeal? What is the difference between bonemeal, orgrow and leafgrow? Can bonemeal be added to all sorts of shrubs, flowers, roses? Can bonemeal be purchased at the store or is this a make at home sort of thing?

ANSWER: Bone Meal (1-11-0) is a first rate, steady source of Phosphorus ('P').  It has a tiny amount of Nitrogen ('N') as well as Calcium ('Ca') and a speck of Potassium ('K'). It supports strong flowers and roots.  t contains about 27% total phosphate, and nearly all of that is available. There is a great deal of confusion about the phosphate content of bone meal because much of it is sold as a feed additive. In the feed industry, phosphorus is expressed on the label as elemental phosphorus, while in the fertilizer industry it is expressed as phosphate.

Posting 'Alternative Soil Amendments' at the NCAT website, they state: 'Phosphate gives a much bigger number (2.3 times as big) for the same actual phosphorus content. Twelve percent phosphorus is the same as 27% phosphate, and bone meal is sold under either of those (or similar) numbers; it's the same good, but expensive, product in either case.'  Read at your leisure:

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/altsoilamend.html#roc_min

You can mix Bone Meal into the soil of any shrub, flowering or not.  It is important to mix it into the soil because the nutrients cannot travel far to the roots; mixing it in will make that journey shorter and disperse the Bone Meal better.   Unless you have a few dead cows lying around, it is probably best that you arrange to purchase prepared Bone Meal, which comes in 5-, 10- and 20-lb bags.  They sometimes sell this at Home Depot, Kmart, Walmart, etc.; it is more expensive but more easily found at garden centers and is commonly used.

'ORGRO Biosolids Compost' is a brand of composted sewage, fertilizer specially treated with Lime, from your region.  They use ORGRO at the White House, which was a great publicity coup for SOMEONE in Maryland.  Your state runs one of the country's most progressive recycling programs in the country.  For an explanation of Maryland's recycled products, see:

http://www.menv.com/products.shtml

For an explanation of LeafGro, see:

http://www.menv.com/leafgro.shtml

and

http://www.menv.com/content/products/leafgro.htm.

For more on ORGRO, see:

http://www.nmwda.org/about/bccf.asp

A more recent recycling product is fertileGRO Organic Fertilizer, N-P-K analysis is 4-3-3 plus Micronutrients.  You can read about it here:

http://www.carrollgardens.com/fertilizer/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=420-18-13380

An independent study of LeafGRO and ComPRO was done at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland by the Center and the EPA et al.  Their report is posted online:

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/resshow/perry2rs/perry2rs.htm

Your tax dollars at work -- state of the art.

You'll hear 2 criticisms of Organic Fertilizers by people who back use of Chemicals and do not understand how they work.  Their arguments sound perfectly sensible.  They'll first declare that the Chemicals are higher in nutrient value (analyses are usually something like 20-30-20 or 25-15-30, higher numbers at times indicating there is -- correctly -- MORE Nitrogen, MORE Phosphorous and MORE Potassium in the bags).  Then they'll point out -- again, correctly -- that these Nutrients reach the plant being fertilized IMMEDIATELY; Organic Fertilizers work over a LONG time frame, for YEARS.  Sounds logical, right?

And all of this is true!  So what's the problem?

The problem is that plants DO NOT NEED such high Doses of Fertilizer so giving them all that good stuff is not giving them anything they need.  Like washing clean clothes, pouring excessive Nitrogen etc on a plant does not make it healthier.

That's for starters.

MOST of that high-number Nitrogen rinses right through their soil.  It's gone within HOURS.  Money out the window, pollution down the drain into the environment, plant is no healthier because you wasted all that Nitrogen.  And there's more.

Remember: A plant is genetically pre-programmed to do 'x'.  It is not going to 'x plus y' because you gave it huge doses of Nitrogen, any more than if you eat more calories make you smarter, your eyes greener, etc.  You'll reach a certain height, and that's it.  You'll have a certain IQ, that's it.  A Tomato plant will have tomatoes weighing 'x', and that is it.  Flowers will be 'x' big in 'x' quantity, and that's it. Giving it megadoses of anything will not change its genes.  But people think of that old advertisement when we were growing up with Miracle Gro and those tomato plants 'with' (watermelon sized tomatoes) and 'without' Miracle Gro, and they are brainwashed.  Easy to do that.  They did it.  Of course, a tomato plant that is fertilized will be healthier than one growing in sterile dirt.  That's the photo they took.  It's legal.  And half true.  But caused a huge misunderstanding.

Next: Slow release fertilizer is BETTER!

Organic fertilizer takes a long, long time to work.  It gets started, and it works and works for YEARS.  Because it 'conditions' the soil in addition to 'amending' it.  Microbes -- bacteria and fungi -- break it down (if they're in there) and release all the N-P-K a plant can ever dream of.  The soil doses those roots constantly, with the highest quality fertilizer money can buy.  It's like a premium slow release chemical fertilizer, which tries to copy organic fertilizer but make a nice big profit for the fertilizer company and the retailer.  The real thing is better.  And this Bone Meal is the real thing.  Ditto, ORGRO, LeafGro, etc.

We are learning a lot about plant tissue and cell growth.  We don't know everything.  We don't know much about soil microbes.  We don't know much about plant metabolism and food synthesis.  But we're learning every day. And what we know so far changes EVERYTHING they discovered 100 years ago when they started using chemical fertilizers.  Remember the Great Depression Dustbowls?  If they had been doing organic farming, it would not have happened.  But they were using chemical fertilizers and 1930s style (but state of the art, back then) farming methods.  We know more now.

Chemical fertilizers are bad enough given the pollution they leave and the kick-in-the-shins way they force feed plants.  But they have another disadvantage.  They wipe out a high percentage of living microbes in the soil when they are applied.  All that stuff is BAD for microbes.  One shot and poof!  Then the population has to regenerate, and this does not happen overnight.  You help build it when you put in Bone Meal and other delicious nutritious things in your soil.  This is sophisticated stuff.  Don't expect most people to understand it.  I've been studying it for years and there are things that still confuse me, plus the stuff they are learning and the stuff we're not sure about.  But I can explain it pretty well.  Given the chance.  So I thank you for that.

Any more questions from you, Claudia, therefore are welcome! Thanks for asking!



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: As always, thank you for your very thorough responses. I felt bummed when i read your comment that only one dose of regular fertilizer can put all of the microbes out of whack. I was hoping that because I had only put down one dose, that it wouldn't be as hard to rebuild my microbe population....I guess not!

However, all of the knowledge which you so graciously share with anyone who wants to read these threads is so valuable. I really feel that most of the folks that use the regular fertilizers are really trying to help their lawn but just don't know what other good organic options there are out there. Thanks for opening up our eyes! I even thought about having the TrueGreen or Chemlawn folks work my lawn, I was about to give up until I heard the rumor that these lawn care companies often put more weeds into your lawn to keep themselves in business. I promise to pass on the "organic fertilizer torch" and I've already told several people how in trying to help our lawns we actually damage them.

Here's my plan of attack for the fall and next spring:

Fall: in August I'll put down more conr meal gluten. In September/October I'll reseed and maybe do core aeration, thought I did this last fall and i don't know if I need to do this every fall, it's quite a job! I may also do the orgrow or leafgrow, a thin layer of it.

Spring:  I'll put down the corn meal gluten when the daffodils start to come out.

I know these are the basics but I wanted to share my plan of attack. Like you said, rome wasn't built in a day but i'll keep working at it now that you've armed with me the truth about organic fertilizer.

Thanks again!

PS - No, i don't have a pile, so I shouldn't be spreading clippings. We'll talk Compost tea (tea compost) when I get to that, thanks for all the links! Oh, by the way, I'm leery of Miracle grow stuff being that Scotts bought Miracle Gro. I have no ladybugs, can you buy them somewhere?

Answer
Very important, Claudia, NOT to put down seed a month after you put down Corn Meal Gluten.  The CMG will keep the Grass from sprouting, just like it does with the Weeds.  Do I think you should skip one of them?  No way.  Not with YOUR Weed problem.  Get the CMG down in LATE July, and wait 3 months, then seed.

Ladybugs are expensive in the mail.  Surely there's a garden center near you who sells them.  Make some phone calls.  These are worth it!  If you can't find them, you'll get super Ladybugs from Gardens Alive! and scores of other suppliers, but the shipping will kill you.  Try to buy locally.  It sends a great message to the retailers who carry them while sending out your own Ladybug Forces into the Garden on a search and destroy mission.

Miracle Gro was a state of the art product decades ago.  But we know a lot more now.  It's obsolete.  Scotts will be pushing it however, very effectively, for years to come.  As for your one dose of Chemical Fertilizer, what's done is done. It will recover.  If you want to accelerate the recovery, sprinkle around some Compost Tea.  It doses up your soil with good microbes and innoculates it just like a chemist in a lab.  Let me know if you need a recipe.  Just promise you won't drink it.

I would like if you don't mind to share with the world the definitive article by Mike McGrath posted on the WTOP news website discussing all this stuff we talk about here:

http://www.wtop.com/index.php?nid=47&sid=1075981

My favorite part: 'American homeowners have been led down the garden path when it comes to lawn care:

They are tricked by chemical companies into vastly overfeeding their turf. ('Four steps' is two steps too many for turf in our region.)

They allow lawn care companies to scalp their sea of green with cuts so close it virtually insures weeds will move in. (Because those companies get paid by the cut, they are reluctant to do otherwise; cutting higher would make the lawn grow slower and they wouldn't get to bill you as often.)

Even worse, you or they spread herbicides whose ingredients have been linked to increased rates of cancer in males, decreased fertility in females, and a higher risk of Parkinson's for everyone down the line.

People, people, people! Stand up to these tricksters! Grass is a weed! Stop overfeeding it, let it grow to a normal height between cuttings, and crabgrass and other weeds will flee to the nearest embassy, seeking asylum! It's time to stop treating that lawn of yours like a toxic waste dump; it doesn't need all those nasty chemicals-and neither do you and your family. Let's make this the year you get your lawn off drugs!'

Amen.