Bone Meal - Probably off topic

Rodger Whitlock totototo@pacificcoast.net
Mon, 26 Jan 2004 13:20:56 PST
On 22 Jan 04 at 21:39, Robin L. Hansen wrote:

> I'm just now getting to finish the fall issue of The Bulb Garden and
> Ms. Richardson makes note of the fact that she considers "modern"
> bone meal generally useless as bulb fertilizer.
> 
> Can anyone tell me why?

In ye goode olde Dayes, bonemeal was ground-up bones that had 
fragments of meat still attached and the collagen still in place. 
These days, bones are processed for gelatin and such, and are 
nearly pure calcium phosphate -- which is nearly insoluble! This has 
been true for quite a long time, I believe.

Putting bonemeal on your garden won't harm it, but it probably 
doesn't do much good.

Don't waste your money on it.

-- 
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate

on beautiful Vancouver Island


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