Bone Meal vs Fish Bone Meal

MegaBud

Well-Known Member
I'm curious as to what the difference in the two are, other than the source of bones that are used. Most descriptions I've found of the two are very similar.


Have any of you guys used Bone meal in place of Fish bone meal in Sub's recipe without any ill effects?
 

psillysimon

Well-Known Member
The original SS recipe calls for steamed bone meal. He then later changed it to fish bone meal. I don't know why/what his reasoning was. I've made both recipes. With the steamed bone meal i would suggest to cook it longer, i only let it go 40 days and got some burn.
 

kushking42

Well-Known Member
in the video from 2010 he says he made the switch because the fish is organic. pics of the original bone meal was happy frog. i believe that is not organic. both the bone meal and fish bone meal from down to earth are omri listed so he could have just switched to the dte bone and it would have been organic. but went the fish route..
 

nugbuckets

Well-Known Member
^^^^right....i also believe FB breaks down and becomes available much faster overall....it also has 3% N and bennies to help it along.....IMHO, i prefer it over BM because it doesn't have any residual hormones and anti-biotics as BM does.....i think cows are gross.
 

kushking42

Well-Known Member
^^^^right....i also believe FB breaks down and becomes available much faster overall....it also has 3% N and bennies to help it along.....IMHO, i prefer it over BM because it doesn't have any residual hormones and anti-biotics as BM does.....i think cows are gross.
both have same amount of N, the fish has more P. there are no added beneficial's to either. when u say more readily available do u have research to back this up? if so i would like to read. or are you just basing that on your own experience with both? i agree cows are gross. but bone/blood meal are derived from non bovine sources. at least all that i have come across are labeled as such.

edit: im refering to dte for both the fish bone and bone meal. and i do use the fish bone meal. i bought like 700#'s worth this year.
 

topcat

Well-Known Member
I think it's to eliminate any chance of Mad Cow Disease contamination. Jorge Cervantes no longer recommends blood and bone meal for that reason. However, there are alternatives like fish bone. Miracle Grow's Organic Choice blood and bone meal is derived from porcine sources.
 

nugbuckets

Well-Known Member
both have same amount of N, the fish has more P. there are no added beneficial's to either. when u say more readily available do u have research to back this up? if so i would like to read. or are you just basing that on your own experience with both? i agree cows are gross. but bone/blood meal are derived from non bovine sources. at least all that i have come across are labeled as such.

edit: im refering to dte for both the fish bone and bone meal. and i do use the fish bone meal. i bought like 700#'s worth this year.
this is the FBM i use...it has added microbes
http://www.mastergardening.com/organic-dr-earth-fish-bone-meal-3-18-0-2-5lb-box/
in my mind, smaller bones would break down faster.....fish vs. large animals....fish live in an environment (the sea) with little gravity, meaning their bones do not have to structurally support their mass, so their bones don't need to be nearly as dense as land roving animals.......where do you assume huge volumes of blood and bone come from?....it is a by-product material from slaughter houses.....
 

kushking42

Well-Known Member
this is the FBM i use...it has added microbes
http://www.mastergardening.com/organic-dr-earth-fish-bone-meal-3-18-0-2-5lb-box/
in my mind, smaller bones would break down faster.....fish vs. large animals....fish live in an environment (the sea) with little gravity, meaning their bones do not have to structurally support their mass, so their bones don't need to be nearly as dense as land roving animals.......where do you assume huge volumes of blood and bone come from?....it is a by-product material from slaughter houses.....
they say on the packages: non-bovine source. not opinion, fact

edit: cows arent the only thing slaughtered. mad cow is y, i would assume, its non-bovine

edit 2,3 etc lol: interesting hypothesis but they both are highly processed and bone meal might be more processed because its a much finer powder. fish bone meal still has bones visible. the more fine or broken up a material, the more readily available to the plant it becomes. thats how it works when dried plants are used as top dressing as well. ... im going to do some research
 

psillysimon

Well-Known Member
heh. that less gravity argument doesn't really work. i guess for tiny things it might, but bone is bone. osteocytes and all.

Edit: a fish that is around 20 feet deep has more pressure pushing on it than any land animal does. it's going to need a nice bone structure to support that pressure.
 

nugbuckets

Well-Known Member
heh. that less gravity argument doesn't really work. i guess for tiny things it might, but bone is bone. osteocytes and all.

Edit: a fish that is around 20 feet deep has more pressure pushing on it than any land animal does. it's going to need a nice bone structure to support that pressure.
ahhh....pressure...forgot about that.....nice......so what about small bones vs. large bones?....time to research bone density .......more research needed.....
 

Cooter@666

Well-Known Member
ahhh....pressure...forgot about that.....nice......so what about small bones vs. large bones?....time to research bone density .......more research needed.....
Does bone density really matter since the bones are pulverized into a powder?
 
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