Fish guts...

GIZZARDFARM · May 2, 2008

Last year while reviewing some of my great grand mothers notes i came across an interesting garden tip. She had a neighbor named Tom Crow..Tom was a Full Cherokee and she spoke of him each year putting fish heads and guts fom a days catch in the mater hole while planting, so being the old school i am I tried it out with a few plants and to my surprise really helped plants. My son and I caught a mess of 17 trout today and i used the remains under 17 boxcar willies,brandyboys and cherokee purples. Has anyone else tried this and what has been your experiences???? Gizzard

robin303 · May 2, 2008

Hi Gizzard, This lady does it and it is somewhere in here in her site. Just got to browse awhile:
http://www.growbetterveggies.com/

Biscombe · May 3, 2008

Good article! thanks for that..

She also says put 2 asprin in the planting hole! Anyone tried this?

lakeshorenc · May 3, 2008

If you have many racoons in your area they will toss the tomato plant to the side and eat the fish. Theresa

dice · May 3, 2008

Whole fish is good plant food. It is also good raccoon food,
so one may wish to put some traps around if using it.

Someone, either here or at GW, mentioned one time that
he buried a bunch of fish under a mound of something,
and turkey buzzards showed up, tore out the crop, and
dug out the fish.

Patapsco Mike · May 5, 2008

I did this last year, and raccoons dug up all the plants that had the fish heads/guts under them- destroying the plants in the process. Glad I hadn't caught that many fish...

Tomstrees · May 5, 2008

Sure have !
I live less than a mile for the Bay-shore (our own beach) - so when we catch weakfish, bluefish, and stripers (keeper size of course), I gut em and either dig into my garden - or - dump them into my compost pile ...

You have to be careful: dig them in SUPER deep - as one time, I had my dog running around my back yard with a half-rotten Bluefish head in his mouth !

GROSS !

~ Tom

ps. FISH ON !

jungseed · May 5, 2008

I just hope your support system is in place before you put the plants in the ground. The plants grow fast when you use fish for fertilizer.

Worth1 · May 5, 2008

I don't have anything against using fish in this way but I think the fire ants would have a ball.

Worth

bate181 · May 5, 2008

has anyone tried feeding plants fish oil?

robin303 · May 5, 2008

I use fish emulsion which you get in a gal for about $11at Lowe's and I make it weak and use when I water. Haven't really noticed anything except my cat really likes me now.
Stinky stuff may I add.

loveapplefarm · May 5, 2008

Hi all. I'm the one that posted those instructions on growing tomatoes on my blog. I have at least 8 racoons living on my property and three dogs. I've had more trouble with my dogs digging up the fish than racoons. But the ONLY time I had the dogs doing it was when I instructed someone else to bury some of the left-over fish heads we get from our restaurant account, and she only stuck them in the ground a couple inches. No wonder the dogs dug them up.

When I put fish heads in the bottom of my tomato planting holes, the holes are two feet deep. I also put a bunch of other stuff in the hole (including the aspirin, which is for blossom production and helping the plant jump start its immune system). I don't just rely on fish to fertilize my tomatoes. If I did, I'd get a whole lot of beautiful green growth and not enough fruit.

For info on the aspirin, you can go here: http://www.biology-online.org/articl...e_systems.html

robin303 · May 5, 2008

Welcome again Cynthia, I posted that article of yours way back on Perry’s on Humic Acid in which you responded. I brag about your site quite often. It’s not only inspirational but also like a gardening bible to me and others. Sure wish you had online courses or blogs for all the things that you teach. Thanks for your website.

GIZZARDFARM · May 5, 2008

I have lots of coons around here and Im on day 3 and havent had any plants dug up yet keeping my fingers crossed....I did post several piles of heads and guts around the interior of the garden on top of the ground as a distraction maybe its working....

dice · May 6, 2008

Gizzard: if you had an infrared camera out there recording
to a slow tape, you could find out what they are doing at
night.

Fish is one of their natural foods, one reason they are so
attracted to it. Out here they like to hang out on the
banks of creeks and fill up on spawned out salmon when
the salmon are running.

May 2, 2008	#1
GIZZARDFARM Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: COMFORT TENNESSEE Posts: 300	Fish guts... Last year while reviewing some of my great grand mothers notes i came across an interesting garden tip. She had a neighbor named Tom Crow..Tom was a Full Cherokee and she spoke of him each year putting fish heads and guts fom a days catch in the mater hole while planting, so being the old school i am I tried it out with a few plants and to my surprise really helped plants. My son and I caught a mess of 17 trout today and i used the remains under 17 boxcar willies,brandyboys and cherokee purples. Has anyone else tried this and what has been your experiences???? Gizzard

May 3, 2008	#5
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	Whole fish is good plant food. It is also good raccoon food, so one may wish to put some traps around if using it. Someone, either here or at GW, mentioned one time that he buried a bunch of fish under a mound of something, and turkey buzzards showed up, tore out the crop, and dug out the fish. __________________ -- alias

May 5, 2008	#7
Tomstrees Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NJ Bayshore Posts: 3,848	Sure have ! I live less than a mile for the Bay-shore (our own beach) - so when we catch weakfish, bluefish, and stripers (keeper size of course), I gut em and either dig into my garden - or - dump them into my compost pile ... You have to be careful: dig them in SUPER deep - as one time, I had my dog running around my back yard with a half-rotten Bluefish head in his mouth ! GROSS ! ~ Tom ps. FISH ON ! __________________ My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. ~ H. Fred Ale

May 5, 2008	#12
loveapplefarm Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Santa Cruz, California Posts: 2	Hi all. I'm the one that posted those instructions on growing tomatoes on my blog. I have at least 8 racoons living on my property and three dogs. I've had more trouble with my dogs digging up the fish than racoons. But the ONLY time I had the dogs doing it was when I instructed someone else to bury some of the left-over fish heads we get from our restaurant account, and she only stuck them in the ground a couple inches. No wonder the dogs dug them up. When I put fish heads in the bottom of my tomato planting holes, the holes are two feet deep. I also put a bunch of other stuff in the hole (including the aspirin, which is for blossom production and helping the plant jump start its immune system). I don't just rely on fish to fertilize my tomatoes. If I did, I'd get a whole lot of beautiful green growth and not enough fruit. For info on the aspirin, you can go here: http://www.biology-online.org/articl...e_systems.html __________________ Cynthia Sandberg Love Apple Farms Santa Cruz, California

May 6, 2008	#15
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	Gizzard: if you had an infrared camera out there recording to a slow tape, you could find out what they are doing at night. Fish is one of their natural foods, one reason they are so attracted to it. Out here they like to hang out on the banks of creeks and fill up on spawned out salmon when the salmon are running. __________________ -- alias

May 2, 2008	#2
robin303 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Austin, TX Zone 8b Posts: 531	Hi Gizzard, This lady does it and it is somewhere in here in her site. Just got to browse awhile: http://www.growbetterveggies.com/

May 3, 2008	#3
Biscombe Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Spain Posts: 22	Good article! thanks for that.. She also says put 2 asprin in the planting hole! Anyone tried this?

May 3, 2008	#4
lakeshorenc Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2007 Location: Lake Waccamaw NC Posts: 19	If you have many racoons in your area they will toss the tomato plant to the side and eat the fish. Theresa

May 5, 2008	#6
Patapsco Mike Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ellicott City, MD Posts: 62	I did this last year, and raccoons dug up all the plants that had the fish heads/guts under them- destroying the plants in the process. Glad I hadn't caught that many fish...

May 5, 2008	#8
jungseed Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Pardeeville, WI Posts: 318	I just hope your support system is in place before you put the plants in the ground. The plants grow fast when you use fish for fertilizer.

May 5, 2008	#9
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	I don't have anything against using fish in this way but I think the fire ants would have a ball. Worth

May 5, 2008	#10
bate181 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Southern California Posts: 74	has anyone tried feeding plants fish oil?