fish carcasses form fertilizer

[augiedog55]

heres a question i've got for you guys and gals. i fish alot and fillet crappies. would the dicarded part of the fish be a good soil amendment. ? basically i'm just taking the meat off the bone so its the skin , head , tail, gut ect are left.. I've read where the indians put a fish in the mounds when the planted maze. if yes is the answer how long should the carcasses be put in the ground before planting?
thanks
bruce.

[sirtanon]

Absolutely! My wife, who used to live on a farm in coastal Australia also worked in a fish-and-chip shop that got deliveries of fresh fish daily. There were lots of left-over fish bits and she frequently would take them home and bury them in her garden. She had GREAT results. We would do it where we live now, but we're in Phoenix, and don't really see much fresh fish.

Nevertheless, we buy fish emulsion and put that in our watering cans.. Fresher is always better, of course, so I say go for it.

[augiedog55]

So if I buried them now it would be good to go by may?

[sirtanon]

I'd say so.. if you're concerned, cut them in half or quarter.. just make sure you bury them down at least a foot, especially if you get raccoons where you live.

[Hermitian]

Puree it in a food processor, then use it in soil mixes. If you have to store it, then mix it into a 5 gallon bucket with soil and keep a tight lid on it. Spray the outside of the bucket with lavender oil.

[TexasSue]

I use to live on the hot coast and we fished a lot. I buried every scrap and bone ! I grew 3' chard and 1 collard the size of a round table ....... In your cold area,the decay will take longer so use gloves when planting and good shoes as I found out the hard way several times but your garden will be FABOLUS !!

[eddie46]

That is the way the native Indians taught us to plant corn. Bury the fish and plant corn. Some things never change.

[ContainerTed]

When we lived out in Moses Lake, Washington, I used to fillet lots of fish and bury the remains in my rose garden. Most were crappie and bass from Moses Lake itself.

I had the prettiest roses!!!!

(and lots of curious cats)

[dice]

The Love Apple Farm method uses a fishhead under each plant (and
lots of other stuff):
http://www.growbetterveggies.com/gro...how-to-gr.html

[peebee]

Just make sure its not in an area where dogs can be. I once had a dog dig up, and eat, an large fish head that was at least 6 months old. Needless to say, it was a very stinky, dirty dog I had on my hands that day. Since then, my veggie garden area has been fenced off. You'll have to dig quite deep as you might get cats in your yard too.

[dice]

Love Apple Farm suggest 2 feet deep for fishheads, but a fence is probably
a good idea anyway.

[tuk50]

pruee it. My son was off work 3 months from stepping on a fish bone through a flip flop. Had to have major surgery to remove the tiny bone tip. Great fertilizer though.

[Plantersville]

Originally Posted by tuk50

pruee it. My son was off work 3 months from stepping on a fish bone through a flip flop. Had to have major surgery to remove the tiny bone tip. Great fertilizer though.

I can relate to that.........
I've been throwing catfish carcasses in the garden for a long time and when I til the garden the bones come to the top so I til again to get em down under ground. Always wear boots when walking in the garden. My problem is the buzzards that gather in the tall trees after I bury a few. Dont know how they know Ive done it but they do.

[tuk50]

Yeah, it was a catfish spine he found........
at least buzzards won't eat everything in the garden like my quail covey's........ LOL!

[augiedog55]

With catfish you have to watch the spikes right behind both gills too. They are like the one that comes out the top fin.. They will put the hurt on you if you sare not careful