How should I use Neem Seed Meal in conjunction with other fertilizers

I’m looking into buying 6-1-2 Neem Seed Meal as a soil amendment and for tea. If I used both Bat Guano and Neem seed meal, would that be too much? Should I use them together but interchange them like one week Bat guano, the other week Neem seed meal? Or is it just preference?

I'm just beginning down my path of organics too. But it should be a simple way of growing.... get a big pot with 1/3 peat 1/3 aeration and 1/3 compost. Amend it with a 1 part organic mixed fertilizer and water..

I use and love it with Alfalfa and Kelp in my mix and teas. Good N source and makes things uncomfortable for pests. I don't use blood meal anymore and consider it a 2/1 replacement roughly. I top dress at 4 weeks and use it then also. I happen to like how it smells. Kind of a gassy garlic.

hillbill said:

I use and love it with Alfalfa and Kelp in my mix and teas. Good N source and makes things uncomfortable for pests. I don't use blood meal anymore and consider it a 2/1 replacement roughly. I top dress at 4 weeks and use it then also. I happen to like how it smells. Kind of a gassy garlic.

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Ok, so would it replace my bat guano? The Neem Seed meal, sounds amazing for the plant, but I still have a lot of Bat guano anf i’d Hate to not use it.

I have a big box of high N bat shit..... doubt I'll ever use it

The guano if high N will be much faster and not as gentle nothing wrong with partial substitution and that guano is pricey. Anything I brew in teas is fossilized or a plant meal or a mineral.i am still using up guano too, mostly for top dress and herbs. I hoard amendments! I switched to fish bone meal from Indonesian Guano and like it well.

hillbill said:

The guano if high N will be much faster and not as gentle nothing wrong with partial substitution and that guano is pricey. Anything I brew in teas is fossilized or a plant meal or a mineral.i am still using up guano too, mostly for top dress and herbs. I hoard amendments! I switched to fish bone meal from Indonesian Guano and like it well.

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Yeah I love amendments as well and the neem seed meal has a lot of benefits to it other than the NPK ratio

DankTankerous said:

Ok, so would it replace my bat guano? The Neem Seed meal, sounds amazing for the plant, but I still have a lot of Bat guano anf i’d Hate to not use it.

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Ixnay the guano, there are so many other amendments that do the same thing and aren't nearly as hot.

I used to use guano back when I followed Subcool's recipe. Not knocking the guy by any means, he's a great guy and I want it on record that I'm not trashing the guy.. it's just that he'll be the first to admit that he isn't knowledgeable with organics and has been quoted as having said something along the lines of "I don't know how or why this works, but this soil recipe works for me and I just thought I'd share".

The only amendments I use in my soil are neem, crab, and kelp meal and that's it. I simply cannot say enough good things about neem meal. Not only does it have great NPK ratios for veg, but the integrated pest management it brings to the table is worth adding it to any soil mix all by itself. Not only that, but when you have spare neem meal that you aren't using anymore you can easily turn it into a spray that will work just the same as neem oil. Neem meal is pretty much just the remains from when they turn the neem into neem oil, rather than throw the remains away it's packaged as neem meal. That's why when you make a neem solution with neem seed meal you need more of it than the neem oil, because much like cannabis oil the neem oil is much more concentrated.

I know it sucks that you have leftover bat guano, but I can't recommend switching to neem meal enough, even if it does mean you have leftover guano. I stopped using guano a few years back in favor of neem meal and haven't looked back.

kratos015 said:

Ixnay the guano, there are so many other amendments that do the same thing and aren't nearly as hot.

I used to use guano back when I followed Subcool's recipe. Not knocking the guy by any means, he's a great guy and I want it on record that I'm not trashing the guy.. it's just that he'll be the first to admit that he isn't knowledgeable with organics and has been quoted as having said something along the lines of "I don't know how or why this works, but this soil recipe works for me and I just thought I'd share".

The only amendments I use in my soil are neem, crab, and kelp meal and that's it. I simply cannot say enough good things about neem meal. Not only does it have great NPK ratios for veg, but the integrated pest management it brings to the table is worth adding it to any soil mix all by itself. Not only that, but when you have spare neem meal that you aren't using anymore you can easily turn it into a spray that will work just the same as neem oil. Neem meal is pretty much just the remains from when they turn the neem into neem oil, rather than throw the remains away it's packaged as neem meal. That's why when you make a neem solution with neem seed meal you need more of it than the neem oil, because much like cannabis oil the neem oil is much more concentrated.

I know it sucks that you have leftover bat guano, but I can't recommend switching to neem meal enough, even if it does mean you have leftover guano. I stopped using guano a few years back in favor of neem meal and haven't looked back.

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Is the neem enough for Fruiting?

Neem is basically a personal choice.
There are 2 trains of thought on Neem meal use.

1 is use it and prevent bugs.
2 is that it has anti bacterial/fungal properties, and may inhibit bio activity.

You choose.

I choose #2......I want all the bio activity I can get.

There are plenty of other source's for the nutritional values in Neem...

Dr. Who said:

Neem is basically a personal choice.
There are 2 trains of thought on Neem meal use.

1 is use it and prevent bugs.
2 is that it has anti bacterial/fungal properties, and may inhibit bio activity.

You choose.

I choose #2......I want all the bio activity I can get.

There are plenty of other source's for the nutritional values in Neem...

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Thank you! That is good info. Do you have any qualms with Bat guano? What do you use?

I'm another that constantly adjusts my mix to see what happens doing 5hings a bit differently from time to time. I have nothing @gainst bat guano per say. However many caves here are closed to humans with the white nose thing. Indonesian bat guano supposedly com3s from inactive collapsed caves but I switched to fish bone meal a year ago for some N and my main P source in my mix.

I've watered through with Neem Oil and the plants surprised me by not only not wilting but instead stand up tall with leaves pointing up! Been using Neem Meal in my mix since spring and the mix seems excellent. Grows anything that touches it!

Dr. Who said:

Neem is basically a personal choice.
There are 2 trains of thought on Neem meal use.

1 is use it and prevent bugs.
2 is that it has anti bacterial/fungal properties, and may inhibit bio activity.

You choose.

I choose #2......I want all the bio activity I can get.

There are plenty of other source's for the nutritional values in Neem...

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There is also a third point to neem. That is, it can have a devistating effect on seeds, seedlings, and young plants. The neemresources site even has a warning to this effect.

I was aware of this caution, but through an oversight on my part still found out the hard way.

I still love neem, but now use much less with no real loss of the beneficial aspects of neem for pest suppression. Using it as a N source was just too much.

A Bud summed it up well, "A big bag of kelp and a small bag of neem". For me, that's a 50# bag of kelp meal and a 10# bag of neem.

DankTankerous said:

Thank you! That is good info. Do you have any qualms with Bat guano? What do you use?

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No, not really. I have all kinds on hand but, other sources are too. I like plant matters for N quite a bit. Being rural and a farmer. I have lots of stinging nettle and other plants around that fill the N bill. You have to balance source's and release times too. All bat poo, tends to release quickly. Still need some for the long run....

Wetdog said:

There is also a third point to neem. That is, it can have a devistating effect on seeds, seedlings, and young plants. The neemresources site even has a warning to this effect.

I was aware of this caution, but through an oversight on my part still found out the hard way.

I still love neem, but now use much less with no real loss of the beneficial aspects of neem for pest suppression. Using it as a N source was just too much.

A Bud summed it up well, "A big bag of kelp and a small bag of neem". For me, that's a 50# bag of kelp meal and a 10# bag of neem.

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Good point! I forgot about that one.....Long term not user, you tend to forget the details and focus on why you don't...

GREAT POST!

I plant sprouted seeds in exhausted mix with a little added castings and kmag and transplant into 5” squares of my final mix at about 14-17 days and they do fine by then. I don't like to make teas with any animal product other than castings. My coarser trim makes canna meal for mixes also!

DankTankerous said:

I’m looking into buying 6-1-2 Neem Seed Meal as a soil amendment and for tea. If I used both Bat Guano and Neem seed meal, would that be too much? Should I use them together but interchange them like one week Bat guano, the other week Neem seed meal? Or is it just preference?

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Bat guano is mostly good for a couple weeks in mid flower, using it beforehand would be useless, in most cases, its too water soluble .. and using it during flower is quite touchy, it can improve sweetness if using the right kind, but it can effect your burn and cause black ash if used too late etc etc. So go for Indonesian if any. High P, low everything else. High P can also effect your myco relationships, though, so no need to go over board.. I never touch guano just for the record, and if you've seen pics of our herbs, it tastes as good as it looks!! Its often called the best anyone's ever experienced, so I dont mean to mis-sway a brotha..

The neem, I would run at 1% of total volume, in a big bed, or about a half cup per cu ft otherwise...

meanwhile, most people run it at 1/2 cu per cu foot, regardless, so maybe do a side by side and hit us back!!

that would be solid, anyways,

Cheers!

DT

After using neem for 5 or 6 years now my experience agrees with DT's recc of 1/2cup/cf.

A little goes a long way.

The numbers your neem boasts is also much to consider..

I use a 4-3-2 so less N, and a bit more P

DankTankerous said:

Ok, so would it replace my bat guano? The Neem Seed meal, sounds amazing for the plant, but I still have a lot of Bat guano anf i’d Hate to not use it.

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I would use your neem to amend your mix, at say half a cup per CF, and in a side by side, I would use the bat guano in a tea in third week of flower, and thats it, and see what happens; see how they perform, yield and taste, etc.

From there you will be armed with first and experience and knowledge, and can make an adjustment accordingly..

it will also come down to are you growing for volume or quality.. overall yield, or more so the utmost cleanliness and smoothness.. if you are immunocompromised or not may determine this for ya.

I switched to neem for all outdoor growing. Skunks, opossums and bears will dig up plants for the blood meal.