Mineralized phosphate (bat guano)

When do you add Mineralized phosphate (bat guano)? Throughout entire grow? Only flower or only in late flower?
Thanks for your time
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
There's lots of different guanos. The one you're talking about I'd only add during flower. Starting early flower. Remember it takes a bit to become available.
 

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
I'm starting to believe the phosphate is heavily used up during the stretch and that the potassium is used mostly during the flower (fattening) growth. Just a hunch, no scientific evidence up my sleeve.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
None of our plants need as much P or K as we feed them from some reports I read just a while ago.

Strange. The link worked before but now asks for a password and I can't seem to guess it right.


I would never use bat or seabird guano. The people who harvest that shit, (pun intended), don't give a shit about the damage they do. They trash seabird colonies and spread a fungus thru bat caves that causes white nose fungus and is wiping out bat populations in the US and elsewhere.

That's not a real organic-minded thing to do for sustainability of the planet now is it.

:peace:
 

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
None of our plants need as much P or K as we feed them from some reports I read just a while ago.

Strange. The link worked before but now asks for a password and I can't seem to guess it right.


I would never use bat or seabird guano. The people who harvest that shit, (pun intended), don't give a shit about the damage they do. They trash seabird colonies and spread a fungus thru bat caves that causes white nose fungus and is wiping out bat populations in the US and elsewhere.

That's not a real organic-minded thing to do for sustainability of the planet now is it.

:peace:
I'm looking into alternatives, fermented Plant and fruit juice for example.
 

hillbill

Well-Known Member
Fossilized Bat Guano is harvested from abandoned or collapsed caves and are very heavy with high minerals. At least the supplier claims. I don’t believe that is true with high P Jamaican Bat Guano. High N Bat Guano is harvested from active colonies. Looks too much like mouse shit for me.
Fish Bone Meal is excellent but it does smell like fish meal.
 

youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
It Depends. What's in your soil and how you are feeding your grow?

Plants need at least some Phosphorus at every stage of growth. So if you're in an inert medium like Pro Mix or something, without feeding anything else, you'll need some guano (or fish bone meal, or what ever else you like to use) from the beginning.

If you're using a "balanced," already amended soil you might just use the high P guano around stretch/early flower, like Week4 mentioned.

If you're regularly using a Complete fertilizer that already has P, or a special Bloom Fertilizer that that is high in P, you may not need the guano at all.
 

speedwell68

Well-Known Member
Fish bone meal is higher in P than bat guano and is made from waste after the processing of fish so less impact on the environment compared to guano harvesting.
Totally agree. A massive amount of unique eco-system is being destroyed by the Bat Guano trade. That is before we look at the carbon issues of shipping the stuff around the planet. As you say there are equally good alternatives available, but they don't sound as cool and are not as expensive, so can't be as good.

I use a lot of fish, blood and bone in my garden, for flowers and vegetables. One day I will figure out how much to give for my weed plants.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I've been gradually switching over to more of an organic grow using ProMix HP as my base then adding organics for almost 3 years now after 20 years of mainly DWC.

It has not been easy like DWC for me with a lot of fugged up plants and crappy yields but I have enough pot in the freezer I could quit for a couple of years before running out on my own. Like a lot of us I have friends in need so always looking for that strain that does it all. :)

I use 3 types of commercial composted and sterilized manures. Sheep, steer and mushroom. A variety of Gaia Green products, seaweed fertilizer and some flowers of sulphur which is natural sulphur harvested from around volcanic vents. A few other things here and there and am finally getting things blended correctly enough that I'm starting to get decent results.

I've done 3 outdoor grows using much the same things but some real soil and our own compost in the mix and had great results from my first try so hoping to replicate that indoors but without the compost and real dirt. It's all got to be indoors now as hemp farming has started around me to supply a hemp processing plant being built up the road. They had a great crop and I got plants full of seeds. :(

:peace:
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
I've been gradually switching over to more of an organic grow using ProMix HP as my base then adding organics for almost 3 years now after 20 years of mainly DWC.

It has not been easy like DWC for me with a lot of fugged up plants and crappy yields but I have enough pot in the freezer I could quit for a couple of years before running out on my own. Like a lot of us I have friends in need so always looking for that strain that does it all. :)

I use 3 types of commercial composted and sterilized manures. Sheep, steer and mushroom. A variety of Gaia Green products, seaweed fertilizer and some flowers of sulphur which is natural sulphur harvested from around volcanic vents. A few other things here and there and am finally getting things blended correctly enough that I'm starting to get decent results.

I've done 3 outdoor grows using much the same things but some real soil and our own compost in the mix and had great results from my first try so hoping to replicate that indoors but without the compost and real dirt. It's all got to be indoors now as hemp farming has started around me to supply a hemp processing plant being built up the road. They had a great crop and I got plants full of seeds. :(

:peace:
What do you think the mineralized phosphate is in Gaia?
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I just went and checked mine and have both those say that's in there but I'll be checking their web info next to see for sure where that is derived from. Have an unopened 10kg bag of the 4-4-4 and a barely used pail of the flower one. Too high in P for my liking and I've been drying and saving banana peels for a while now and plan to use them for some extra K.

Seriously thinking of just going back to DWC or HP fed with hydro nutes. Got enough of those nutes to grow for 5 years too. Four big bales of HP on tap as well.

:peace:
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
I just went and checked mine and have both those say that's in there but I'll be checking their web info next to see for sure where that is derived from. Have an unopened 10kg bag of the 4-4-4 and a barely used pail of the flower one. Too high in P for my liking and I've been drying and saving banana peels for a while now and plan to use them for some extra K.

Seriously thinking of just going back to DWC or HP fed with hydro nutes. Got enough of those nutes to grow for 5 years too. Four big bales of HP on tap as well.

:peace:
Instead of calling it guano they call it mineralized phosphate to fool the hippies, :lol:
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Instead of calling it guano they call it mineralized phosphate to fool the hippies, :lol:
Well they fooled this old hippy. If it said mineralized bat guano on the ingredients list I wouldn't have bought it. Still haven't checked it out yet. Busy trying to find a cheap quick release head for real nice tripod I picked up at a thrift store for $20 last week. Need that to screw the camera on. I wonder how much to get it from SLIK in the US. $14.95US + exchange + shipping or $60.74 from Amazon . ca. Hmmm . . .

:peace:
 

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
Bats gave us covid. Kill em all
Doesn't matter if you buy it or not, they will still mine and still make the same amount of products.
Can't label anything 'bat guano' in Canada. Can't buy 'bat guano' in Canada. But I can get 'mineralized phosphate.'. Lol. It's supposed to be ethically mined....but who knows.

Plus you're talking about saving the world, but buying things on Amazon?
Don't fall for hate fads.
 
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hillbill

Well-Known Member
I go ROLS and don’t mix any nutrients at crazy levels. Since my mixes are 60% re used, they have a basic background of nutes and just don’t add very much. Got a great deal on high P Bat Guano a couple times so I use it. I put a little Soft Rock Phosphate each mix also. What I mostly replace is Cotton Burr Compost, my own EWC and SPM.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Bats gave us covid. Kill em all
Doesn't matter if you buy it or not, they will still mine and still make the same amount of products.
Can't label anything 'bat guano' in Canada. Can't buy 'bat guano' in Canada. But I can get 'mineralized phosphate.'. Lol. It's supposed to be ethically mined....but who knows.

Plus you're talking about saving the world, but buying things on Amazon?
Don't fall for hate fads.
Chinese bats gave us Covid so go over there and kill their bats.

If nobody bought it they would stop mining it.

I saw a bag clearly labelled bat guano at the garden centre in Grande Prairie last time I was there. I bought EWC instead.

I only buy from amazon what I can't find from a Canadian or US business directly and have found a camera company in NY to order my part from.

Hate fads?
 

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
Chinese bats gave us Covid so go over there and kill their bats.

If nobody bought it they would stop mining it.

I saw a bag clearly labelled bat guano at the garden centre in Grande Prairie last time I was there. I bought EWC instead.

I only buy from amazon what I can't find from a Canadian or US business directly and have found a camera company in NY to order my part from.

Hate fads?
Yea like get on a hate train for guano or peat or whatever else the kids are against now a days.
No ill will, just thought it was funny that you don't want to use guano because of what the impact is on the environment but you order from a corporation like Amazon, who contributes burning tons of fuel delivering items, pushes out and crushes small business, etc etc.
Poor bats? Let's save our economy first then worry about covid bats
 
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