Content
Every gardener understands perfectly well that good yields of garden and vegetable crops cannot be obtained on depleted, depleted soils. In the old days, our ancestors used only organic fertilizers. Many farmers today are not going to give them up.
With the development of chemistry, mineral fertilizers appeared that improve the structure of the soil and have a beneficial effect on the development of plants. One of the little-known fertilizers is Blood Meal, a substance of organic origin. Its properties and significance for the garden will be discussed in the article.
Description and composition
Blood meal belongs to the group of organic fertilizers. Russians still rarely use it on their garden plots. Fertilizer is not a product of the chemical industry, which increases its value.
Flour is a by-product of animal processing. At the slaughterhouse, blood is collected, which is then used to produce high-quality fertilizer with a high nitrogen content for growing plants. Fertilizer is sold in specialized stores. Some gardeners prepare their own fertilizer.
How to get fertilizer
To obtain Blood Meal, the blood of farm animals and poultry is used as fertilizer.
Processing stages:
- During the slaughter of animals, the blood is collected in special containers and mixed thoroughly to prevent clots from forming.
- A pump pumps liquid blood into a vibratory extractor, in which coagulation occurs - complete removal of moisture. This procedure is carried out with live steam.
- After this, the dehydrated semi-finished product is transferred to a dryer consisting of three compartments. After a certain time, the finished fertilizer comes out.
In addition to the blood itself, the fertilizer contains:
- semi-finished bone products;
- fibrin;
- protein;
- lysine;
- fat;
- methionine;
- cystine;
- ash.
This fertilizer does not contain phosphorus and potassium, which sometimes makes its use difficult.
Ready-made blood meal is a free-flowing granular substance that has a specific odor.
Characteristics
The main purpose of the Blood Meal fertilizer, judging by the description, is to quickly saturate the soil with nitrogen for successful plant growth at certain points in the growing season. Like any product, it can have positive and negative aspects. Let's look at these questions in more detail.
Advantages
So, what does the use of Blood Meal give:
- soil composition improves, acidity decreases;
- plants grown in soil grow faster and gain green mass;
- the greenery on plants becomes bright and healthy due to the absorption of nitrogen (yellow spots disappear);
- the productivity of garden and horticultural crops increases;
- the soil becomes more nutritious and its fertility increases;
- the unpleasant smell repels many pests, including rodents.
Flaws
Despite the fact that this is an organic fertilizer, it has negative aspects that gardeners should be aware of:
- reduces the amount of phosphorus and potassium in the soil;
- application requires the strictest dosage, excess leads to plant burns;
- reduces acidity, therefore recommended for highly acidic soils;
- limited shelf life; after six months, there are practically no useful properties left in an open package.
Features of application
Gardeners who encounter Blood Meal as a fertilizer for the first time are interested in how to apply it to plants. This is not an idle question, since organic matter is not recommended for all soils. In addition, application errors lead to negative results.
It is best, of course, to conduct laboratory tests. But this is not always possible for owners of private farms and summer residents. After all, the procedure is not only expensive. The reason is also that not every district, not to mention the village, has specialized institutions. Therefore, you need to know traditional methods using improvised materials.
Determination of acidity
Our ancestors, without any special agrotechnical knowledge, grew rich crops on different soils. They knew how to distinguish between acidic and neutral (alkaline) soils using improvised means and through observations of plants:
- Gardeners and gardeners have long noticed that not the same plants grow in different soils. Therefore, to determine acidity, we were guided by the presence of various weed. For example, woodlice grass, horsetail, plantain, creeping buttercup and other plants are lovers of acidic soils. On neutral and alkaline soils, such weeds are found in single copies and look depressed.
- Put a handful of earth and a little crushed chalk into a bottle and fill it with water. Cover the container with a fingertip and shake well. If the fingertip fills with air, the soil is acidic.
- Currants and cherries are not only berry bushes, but also excellent indicators for determining soil acidity. Chop the leaves and brew with boiling water. When the liquid has cooled, add soil. If the soil is neutrally acidic, the water will turn blue. Acidic soils color the liquid green.
- Mix the soil with water until a paste forms. Then add baking soda. If hissing and bubbles appear, the soil is acidic.
Terms of use
Bone meal can be used in any form: dry and diluted. Moreover, one part of organic fertilizer is diluted in 50 parts of water. The resulting solution must be thoroughly mixed and left to infuse for several days.
The container with the solution must be covered with a lid so that nitrogen does not escape and insects do not get in. Water the plants at the roots. This fertilizer is especially important in early spring, when the seedlings can be damaged by rodents. After all, the unpleasant smell of blood scares them away, unlike dogs and cats.
Blood meal has a high nitrogen content (up to 13%), therefore, thanks to this feeding, plants increase their green mass and their growth accelerates.But since plants need microelements such as phosphorus and potassium, it is necessary to add bone meal to the fertilizer.
Since plants are saturated with nitrogen quickly, blood meal can be used for a limited time. One or two feedings in the spring are enough, when the plants are building up their green mass and before budding begins.
If your soil is acidic, but you still decide to use this organic fertilizer to enhance plant growth, then first you need to lime the soil with fluff lime or dolomite flour.
Instructions
Blood meal is a universal organic fertilizer not only for garden and vegetable crops, but also for house plants. Due to the presence of a large amount of nitrogen, the soil structure improves, the vitality of plants increases, which leads to good productivity.
When working with fertilizer, you need to read the instructions and apply nitrogen fertilizing strictly in doses. Here are some recommendations for applying dry fertilizer:
- When planting vegetable seedlings, only 1 tablespoon of blood meal is added to the hole. For flowers, the amount increases by one and a half to two times.
- In large planting holes for garden trees and shrubs, add 500 grams of blood meal for every 30 kg of soil and mix thoroughly.
- For perennial flowers and shrubs, 50-200 grams of the substance.
- During spring preparation of beds, 150 grams of organic fertilizer are applied per square meter.
- Add 200-500 grams of fertilizer to the tree trunk circle of fruit trees and mix it with the soil.
- If you mix Blood and Bone meal in a ratio of 100 to 400 grams, you get a complex fertilizer that can be applied to crops 3-4 times during the growing season from spring to autumn.
Blood meal is often diluted in water. For a ten-liter bucket, add 500 grams of the substance and infuse for 5 to 10 days. This fertilizer is poured under the roots of plants. Since nitrogen is quickly and easily absorbed by garden and vegetable crops, you should not overdo it with fertilizer. Moreover, one feeding is enough for 6-8 weeks, so the timing of plant nutrition must be respected.
Other organic fertilizers for the garden:
