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The way to Add Bone Meal to New Plantings

Though bone meal is sometimes added to the soil around established shrubs, it has been traditionally added to the soil as a natural amendment before planting bulbs of flowers that bloom the following spring. Bone meal is 28 percent phosphorus by weight. Unless your dirt actually needs phosphorus or you’re an organic gardener, weigh the advantages and disadvantages carefully prior to utilizing bone meal.

Bone Meal Principles

Bone meal doesn’t dissolve in water, but rather it discharges phosphorus gradually as it decays. Phosphorus doesn’t leach from soil easily, which means you may not have to add it. While phosphorus is necessary for plant growth and is one of three chief ingredients included in pesticide formulas, high levels can cause difficulties. Root tips exude acids that allow the penetration of useful fungi. These fungi help plants take in water and nutrients. When phosphorus levels in the soil are too high, the fungi spores move dormant. To compensate, plants grow more roots at the expense of the rest of the plant. Transplanted seedlings may suffer shock from deficiency of fungi from the soil. The best way to understand whether you want to add phosphorus is to analyze your soil. A home test kit gives a basic notion of this phosphorous levels.

Year One

Flowers that grow from bulbs contain all the nutrients they need for the first year of growth, notes the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center. If you think your soil lacks phosphorus and you plant a bulb from the fall, incorporate 1/3 tsp of bone meal into the soil three weeks before you plant it. Work with the bone meal deep enough so the origins of this bulb need to grow through it, in the process gleaning all of the phosphorus the plant needs. To get a larger area of dirt, work 3 pounds of bone meal into the top 3 inches of each 100 square feet.

Following Years

If you leave the bulbs in the ground to bloom again, then you need to fortify the dirt having a balanced bulb food after the flowers have faded in spring. This is when bulbs store food for flowering the next calendar year. Chicago Botanic Garden advocates a 10-10-10 or 10-15-10 slow-release, balanced fertilizer. Use the fertilizer at a speed of 2 cups for each 100 square feet into the top of the dirt then lightly cultivate the soil to perform the fertilizer in then water it well. If you’re an organic gardener, include well-rotted compost or cow manure at the fall of their second year of growth. Work a 1- to 2-inch layer of compost into the top 6 to 8 inches of dirt.

Other Considerations

The nutritional value of commercially ready bone meal is significantly less than traditional bone meal since it’s steamed before grinding to eliminate bits of bone marrow as well as scraps of meat. A drawback to using bone meal is that dogs, squirrels, raccoons and skunks smell it and dig up your bulbs looking for bones.

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